Would drug legalization help the Criminal Justice System?

Question

Positive effects?
Negative effects?

Answer 1

No, it would not. Many people believe it would, because then we could tax it. But, LEGALIZING SOMETHING DOES NOT MAKE IT SAFE!!!! It would be a total disaster; tons of accidents from people driving around high on whatever was legalized. Anyone who's not an idiot can see this fact, and I guarantee that anyone who tries to tell you legalizing drugs is a good idea is a drug user or has used drugs in the past...

Answer 2

Re-legalization would solve many problems. This was made clear when Prohibition ended. Some positive effects would be a far lower incarceration rate, a near complete reduction of crimes committed to obtain drugs and our children would truly be safer. Drug dealers don't care how old you are, responsible law-abiding businesspeople do. The largest negative effect would be on jobs that have been created by the drug war.

It makes no sense that retail prices of cannabis are higher than gold. This problem was created by the law. The intent of the Controlled Substances Act is to eradicate drug abuse and addiction by lowering purity and increasing price. With the exception of cannabis, the opposite has happened. Retail prices of heroin and cocaine are lower than ever and purity is very high. Even more disturbing is the fact that drug addiction rates have remained virtually unchanged since CSA was passed in 1970.

Answer 3

WOW! I love this question!! The legalization of drugs would definitely help. The law is not a deterrent-if it was, the nation wouldn't have the drug problem it has. Criminalizing drugs employs so many people. Not to mention the money it makes for those in the illegal drug trade. To decriminalize it would mean we wouldn't need as many jails and prisons, we wouldn't need as many police officers on the street and the overall population may be spared the drug motivated crime that takes place.

That's not to say that there wouldn't be drawbacks. The legalization of drugs would erode the social fabric, but only to a certain extent. Most of us either know users or are users, so legalizing it just means that those people can come out of the closet so to speak. Some may be more inclined to experiment because they are now legal-but again, I don't think the law is much of a deterrent so this number probably wouldn't be many.

If drugs were legalized, the revenue would be astounding and the money could be used for treatment, education and awareness, and to pay down some of the national debt.

But there would be a lot of people who would lose their jobs-but not to worry, with the new influx of legal money, they could easily go into another form of high paying work by working for legal drug manufacturers.

Answer 4

The question is not whether drugs are good or bad anyone that has seen the effects of illegal knows they are bad. The question is how it effects our legal system. We spend billions of dollars trying to stop drugs. Over 80% of people in prison are there on drug related charges. It costs about 40,000 dollars a year to keep some one in prison. We have over 2,000,000 people in prison. The gangs in the streets are better armed then the police if it was not from the selling of illegal drugs where would they get there money. You have whole countries run by people selling illegal drugs. The terrorist buy arms with money from illegal drugs. The worst kind of people are becoming richer. So we can continue with our failed policies or take the profit out of it and use the billions of dollars we are spending on education, re-hab and try a different direction. Sometimes in life there are no good choices but when you see something is failing you need to try a different direction.

Answer 5

I totally agree with VermilionPhoenix. Legalization of drugs would cause the general population to decrease its health. I have been adicted to Steroids before and I have seen the negative effects. You can not function very well with out them. You feel horable about your self and the way you look when you don't have them.

If you see a drug adict you will see that they will do anything for money to buy those drugs, and I for one feel that it would hirt the criminal justice system as it will cause more burglaries and assaults.

It has worked so far as it is. Lets keep it that way, only because it works

Answer 6

An almost certain consequence would certainly be the increase in the number of users. On the other hand, given the deleterious effects of drug abuse, the way non-users perceive it wouldn't change.

Since the dangers (especially to others) remain, the cessation of criminal prosecution would result in a drastic increase in private enforcement of anti-drug practices, such as employees' urine tests, etc. Some drug-related activities, such as DUI, would probably remain illegal. Other borderline behaviors, e.g. driving with an "open container of weed", would be subject of debate.

Without a doubt, this measure would lighten the burden on the CJS represented by non-violent drug offenders, but this very lack of control would further expose users to risky activities. For instance, it would make it harder for parents to teach their kids the dangers related to drug consumption.

In my opinion, drug legalization without an appropriate sensibilization campaign remains unthinkable.

Answer 7

No. Decriminalizing non violent use is fine and will relieve a tremendous burden off the courts and police which then can use to target large time dealers and smugglers. The person that states 80 percent of offenders are in jail because of drug related chargers failed to mention how a majority of that 80 percent were violent offenders. To me the best way to enforce the law is to do what we do with alcohol go after those who use drugs in a violent manner like those who are coked up and driving and what not.

Answer 8

i am faced with this question at the moment for an english assignment at school i believe it would deter people as alot do it for the thrill of it being illegal i know this because i know a few users that only do it because it is illegal but i also think the legalization should be limited to certain drugs such as pot because if somone had a heap of meth then got into a car its a disaster waiting to happen

Answer 9

Positive effects -- it would allow law enforcement to spend their time and effort toward preventing people who are causing violent harm to others, and it would free up prison bunks so we can impose longer sentences on people who commit violent crimes to others.

Negative effects -- people will be allowed to harm themselves if they choose.

The people saying that drugs cause problems are missing the point. Tons of things cause people to want to commit crimes. We cannot make all of them illegal. What we can do is punish the people who actually commit the violent crimes, whether caused by drugs or for any other reason.

But we cannot do that if our resources, police, courts and prisons are being over-extended and tied up prosecuting people for using drugs voluntarily. Just the USE of drugs does not harm anyone else. And if we're spending all our time trying to reduce the RISK of people committing crimes (which historically obviously does not work), we don't have the resources to deal with those who actually DO commit other crimes.

Focus on what matters -- stopping and punishing violent crimes and harms to other people. Stop wasting time trying to regulate behavior just because we don't like it.

Answer 10

I lived for six years in Germany. There is a city there where drugs, prostitution and pretty much everything else is legal. You didn't see a lot of violence as you do in America. Like the old saying goes " you don't want it until you have it" I think that Americans wouldn't be so interested in drugs, guns or sex if the government would just open the flood gates and say OK it's yours to have. Americans like the thrill of getting away with being the "bad boy" syndrome.