Let`s take a closer look at the debate about drug legalization, the pros and cons of drug legalization, and what the research says about how drug decriminalization will affect young adults in particular. The legalization of drugs will lead to an increase in use and dependence. Legalization has already been tried and failed miserably. Alaska`s legalization experiment in the 1970s allowed teens in the state to use marijuana more than twice as often as other teens nationwide. This led Alaskans to vote to recriminalize marijuana in 1990. With an increasing number of states legalizing marijuana and other drugs, the debate continues over whether the negative effects of drug decriminalization outweigh the positive effects. Researchers, policy-makers and public health officials provide arguments on both sides. For mental health experts, however, the most pertinent question is how the legalization of drugs will affect addiction and addiction. Dr Hans Breiter, a psychiatrist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and co-author of the study, said: « People think that a little marijuana shouldn`t cause a problem if someone is OK with work or school.
Our data directly indicates that this is not the case. [111] A study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry states: « There is good evidence that cannabis use causes acute adverse psychological effects in a high proportion of regular users. [112] What do you think recreational drugs should be legalized or decriminalized? Which of them? Is drug legalization lax on crime? Does drug prohibition complicate police work and divert resources from other, more important issues? Join the discussion and share arguments and resources in the forum below. CONS: On the other hand, since psychoactive drugs, including marijuana, cause acute mental impairment when people use the drug, as well as addiction (approximately 9% of marijuana users), the increased accessibility, destigmatization and lower prices associated with legalization would result in more users and, therefore, more potential harm and harm to the population (e.g., driving under the influence of drugs) as well as substance abuse. And « poison » is also a deceptive Shibboleth. The widespread propaganda that illegal drugs are « deadly poisons » is a hoax. There is little or no medical evidence of long-term side effects due to persistent and moderate use of uncontaminated marijuana, cocaine or heroin. If these substances – most of which have been consumed in large quantities for centuries – were responsible for chronic, progressive or debilitating diseases, they would certainly have appeared in clinical practice and/or on the autopsy table.
But they just didn`t! While « state medicines » could be sold at a price low enough to eliminate competition, perhaps by subsidizing taxpayers to avoid a black market, the combination of low price and wide availability would lead to higher consumption and, consequently, increased dependence. The increase in consumption and drug addiction leads to drug-related crime. This argument of government regulation ignores the dangerously addictive nature of drugs. And finally, in a legalization scenario, there would still be a black market for drugs. If drugs were legal for people over the age of 18 or 21, there would be a market for everyone under that age — a faction of the population that can be targeted by those who want to profit from the sale of drugs. In Colorado, a sharp increase in marijuana-related charges filed under the state`s Organized Crime Control Act coincided with the legalization of marijuana, suggesting an increase in organized crime. [102] The Colorado Attorney General`s Office stated that legalization « inadvertently contributed to fueling the activities of Mexican drug cartels… Cartels now trade drugs like heroin for marijuana, and trafficking has since opened the door to drug trafficking and human trafficking. [134] Local officials said Mexican cartels grow marijuana under the guise of legal operations in Colorado and use it to feed the black market in other states. [134] [174] Cannabis, the scientific name for marijuana, is a plant that has three types (or varieties): Cannabis indica, Cannabis sativa and the less common Cannabis ruderalis. Marijuana and hemp are both cannabis plants, but marijuana contains higher levels of THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main psychoactive ingredient that causes euphoria. Hemp can be grown for industrial purposes such as rope and burlap cloth, or for a non-psychoactive drug with a low THC content.
This website uses the words « cannabis » and « marijuana » interchangeably and the words « recreational » and « adult use » interchangeably. There are legal recreational drugs such as alcohol and tobacco and other recreational drugs that are prohibited. The history of drug prohibition is long. Islamic Sharia, which dates back to the 7th century, banned certain intoxicating substances, including alcohol. Opium use was later banned in China and Thailand. The Pharmacy Act 1868 in the United Kingdom was the first modern law in Europe to regulate the use of drugs. This law prohibited the distribution of poison and drugs, especially opium and derivatives. Gradually, other Western countries have introduced laws to restrict opiate use. For example, smoking opium was banned in San Francisco in 1875 and the sale of opium in Australia in 1905.
Im frühen 20. In the nineteenth century, several countries such as Canada, Finland, Norway, the United States and Russia introduced bans on alcohol. These alcohol bans failed and were later lifted. Beginning in the 1960s, drug prohibition was tightened worldwide. The United States has been one of the main proponents of a tough stance against drugs, especially since Richad Nixon declared the « war on drugs. » The « war on drugs » has not produced the desired results. The demand for drugs has increased, as has the number of addicts. As production and distribution were illegal, criminals took control of the supply. The transfer of control of drug trafficking to organized crime has had catastrophic consequences worldwide. Today, drug laws vary considerably from country to country. Some countries have more flexible regulations and devote fewer resources to combating drug trafficking, while in others the criminalization of drugs can result in very severe penalties.
Thus, while in some countries recreational drug use has been decriminalized, in others drug trafficking is punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty. People who are criminalized by their addiction may feel less interested in society and slide more easily into other problematic behaviours. Addicts will also have to deal with criminals to get their drugs. Legalization would undermine existing drug gangs and could reduce drug-related violence. Here are some more arguments in favor of legalizing drugs in the UK and beyond: More than half of American adults, or more than 128 million people, have tried marijuana, even though it`s an illegal drug under federal law. Nearly 600,000 Americans are arrested each year for marijuana possession, or more than one person per minute. Public support for marijuana legalization has risen from 12% in 1969 to 66% today. Recreational marijuana, also known as adult-use marijuana, was first legalized in Colorado and Washington in 2012. Three to four times more Americans are addicted to alcohol than to marijuana.
[33] A Lancet study ranking the harmfulness of drugs places alcohol first, tobacco sixth and cannabis eighth. [48] A national survey found that people viewed tobacco as a greater health threat than marijuana by a margin of four to one (76% vs. 18%), and 72% of respondents believed that regular alcohol use was more dangerous than marijuana use. [43] Research confirms that marijuana use among young adults has reached historic highs, particularly marijuana vaping rates.
