Should Marijuana Be Legalized - 1331 Words

War On Drugs Decriminalization provides a solution the problems related to drugs. Decriminalization is not making drugs legal, it is treating the drug addicts as a patient instead of making them feel like they are criminals and putting them into a jail although selling drugs is still illegal. Drugs must be decriminalized because decriminalization has proven that the death rates and crime rates have decreased and the use of drugs have decreased in decriminalized countries such as Portugal, Uruguay and drugs have decriminalized in some of the states in Unites States of America. Decriminalization is not the same as legalization. All the drugs in Portugal were decriminalized since 2001. That does not mean that drug†¦show more content†¦Addiction treatment and rehabilitation become less expensive than incarceration. Individuals with drug abuse problems are much more likely to find recovery in rehab than in jail. Jail is one of the most easiest place to get drugs. People completing treatment can become good and supportive members of society much more easily than a person serving a prison sentence. Violence related to drug trafficking is greatly reduced. The drug use is changed when society sees it as a community health problem and not a criminal offence. In 2001, the Portuguese government tried to set up a new plan to get a control on the problems relating to drugs. It decriminalized the use and possession of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, LSD and other illicit harmful drugs focusing mainly on treatment and prevention instead of putting the addicts into jail would decrease the number of deaths and infections. Five years later, the number of deaths from street drug overdoses were cut off from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject heroin, cocaine and other illegal harmful drugs dropped from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006, according to a report released recently by the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C, libertarian think tank. One gram of heroin, two grams of cocaine, 25 grams of marijuana leaves or five grams of hashish: These are the drug quantities one can legally purchase