People In Jail For Drug Use example essay topic

... This nation's so-called war on drugs has been a miserable failure. It hasn't'worked. The drug problem is getting worse. I think it is the number one problem facing this country today. I think that we as people and our politicians really need to put all of our options into perspective, and one of the things we need to talk about.

Common sense or logic would dictate that when you take this issue on, when you talk about legalization or decriminalization, if you are going to talk about that, you are going to have to talk about taking it in steps, and certainly the first step would be marijuana. All of us can make a list out of friends that have used drugs. Are our friends criminals for using drugs? Yes, they are today given the laws that we have. Should they be criminals? Are they criminals?

For the most part, no they are not. We are talking about federal law, and I see this as a national issue which is an extremely tough issue with politicians. There isn't a bigger taboo topic because if you " re going to talk about legalization, you " re talking about making it readily available for kids, but I read in a poll that 95 percent of kids in high school say illegal drugs are readily available. I know this isa fact because I once was a high school student and had the unfortunate experience to see this all around me. I don't know how it gets more readily available than that. I'm not advocating breaking the law, but personally, I don't think you should go to jail for smoking marijuana.

I think 75 percent of the people in this country would say, no, you shouldn't go to jail for smoking marijuana. 700,000 Americans are in jail or prison on drug related charges. That is something I have a problem with and think we as people and a democratic country is something we need to deal with. I am very confused about this issue and I am deeply concerned and feel this is something that needs to be dealt with and handled properly according to the facts. I am talking about legalization and decriminalization, but I'm definitely not condoning drug use. From what I know and what I see as an American citizen on a day to day basis it seems like there is no political support and no one is trying to do anything about it.

We " re spending more and we " re locking more people up for drug use in today's society which is a definite cause of the overcrowded prisons in our country. Personally, I have a fundamental problem with putting people in jail for drug use. I believe it is more of a health issue than a criminal issue. Legalization is a viable alternative to what we are doing now, marijuana or heroin becomes a controlled substance like tobacco or alcohol. Legalization will involve a whole new set of laws which could create a whole new set of problems. But I think those problems will be half of what they are today.

I hate to say it, but the majority of people who use drugs use them responsibly. They choose when to do it. They do them at home. It's not a financial burden. I was somebody who smoked marijuana. I made a bad choice.

But I still feel it shouldn't have landed me in jail. I was brought up learning that drugs make you crazy. Then I did marijuana for the first time, and thought it wasn't so bad. It was kind of cool. That's when you find out that anti-drug education efforts have been a lie and you loose faith in the system. Other than current and former drug czars, it is hard to find someone to praise the american drug policy.

While pointing to the overall decline in illicit drug use in the U.S. since 1980, those inclined to defend this policy must also acknowledge constant levels of addiction and intensive usage, periodic rises in adolescent drug use, the readily available and inexpensive illegal supplies of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, historically high prison populations, continued drug related social problems (most notably AIDS and hepatitis), along with the tremendous economic, social, and emotional costs of an ever escalating war on drugs. At one point, the focus of critics of drug policy was legalization-primarily of marijuana- and was associated mainly with community researchers who studied drug users in the field and were joined by a vocal group of drug enthusiasts. Although some preliminary steps were taken in this direction at the state level and by national commissions in the 1970's, this stance was largely polemic and quixotic, and has continued to be so in the U.S. At the same time there has always been a category of public health critics who decried the lack of focus on treatment of addiction. However, beginning in the late 1980's, drug policy reformers started to find legitimate national voices in Europe and, to a lesser extent, in the United States. This loosely organized group of policy critics began to focus on decriminalization of all drugs or just 'soft' drugs such as marijuana, as was tried in several states in the U.S. in the 1970's. Typically, decriminalization means not permitting legal sales of drugs, but dealing with users by other criminal sanctions.

Now that we are in the 21st century, this position has taken a number of new directions in the U.S. Widespread support for medical use of marijuana has been expressed in electoral initiatives. The term 'harm reduction' is now commonly used to describe policies to recognize and accept the continued use of drugs by many people and to prevent harms from this use, spread of AIDS. Needle exchange programs, as well as as reducing HIV infection, keep addicts healthier in general and offer them positive connections in society. In conclusion, it is very hard to say what side I am on in the decriminalization of drugs. There is so many positive positive points for either side, but I would have to say that I am for the decriminalization because I think it would generate massive amounts of money to get people with drug addictions the help they needed. I think we need to address this issue as a health one and not a criminal issue.

We need to put more money and effort into educating our children on the harm drugs can portray on your health and on your life. I think that role models and kids parents need to express better values on life and drug use. I feel people that kids look up that use drugs is the major problem with kids trying drugs then starting to abuse them. We as a country need to focus on getting this problem solved because it obviously just hasn't been working.

We shouldn't have to depend on politicians to get this settled, but that looks like what were going to have to do, but we as people can still make a difference and that's were the effort has to start..