The decriminalization of drugs is something of an intermediate product between prohibition and legalization and has been criticized by Peter Lilley as “the worst of both worlds,”[20] since the sale of drugs would still be illegal, perpetuating the problems associated with handing over the production and distribution of drugs to the criminal underworld. while not discouraging illicit drug use by removing criminal penalties that might otherwise cause some people to choose not to use them. Drugs. Proponents of drug prohibition argue that many negative externalities or costs to third parties are associated with illicit drug use. [38]: 2043 [40]: 183 External effects such as violence, environmental impacts on neighbourhoods, increased health risks and increased health costs are often associated with the illicit drug market. [36]: 3 opponents of prohibition argue that many of these externalities are created by current drug policies. They believe that much of the violence associated with drug trafficking is due to the illegal nature of drug trafficking, where there is no mediation body to resolve disputes peacefully and legally. [36]: 3 [40]: 177 The illegal nature of the market also affects the health of consumers by making it more difficult to purchase syringes, which often leads to needle sharing. [40]: 180-181 Prominent economist Milton Friedman argues that drug prohibition causes many negative externalities, such as increased incarceration rates, undertreatment of chronic pain, corruption, disproportionate incarceration of African Americans, increased harm to users, destruction of inner cities, and damage to foreign countries. [41] Proponents of legalization also argue that prohibition reduces the quality of drugs produced, which often results in more physical harm, such as accidental overdoses and poisonings, to drug users. [40]: 179 Steven D.
Levitt and Ilyana Kuziemko point out that prison overcrowding is another negative side effect of the war on drugs. They believe that by imprisoning so many drug-related offenders, the war on drugs has reduced prison space for other offenders. Not only does this increase in incarceration rate cost taxpayers more, but it could also increase crime by pushing violent offenders out of their jail cells and replacing them with drug-addicted offenders. [38]:2043 In 2021, Vancouver and Toronto city councils voted to decriminalize simple possession of all drugs; and submitted proposals in which the Federal Minister of Health requested a special exemption, citing countless scientific, psychological, medical and socio-economic benefits. [109] In 2001, Portugal began treating the use and possession of small amounts of drugs as a public health problem. [21] Instead of imprisoning possessors, they are referred to a treatment program by a regional committee made up of social workers, health professionals and drug experts. [1] It also reduces the amount of money the government spends on fighting a war on drugs and the money spent on keeping drug users in prison. HIV infection rates also declined from 104.2 new cases per million in 2000 to 4.2 cases per million in 2015.
Portugal is the first country to decriminalise possession of small quantities of drugs, with positive results. [22] Anyone caught with any type of drug in Portugal if it is intended for personal use will not be imprisoned. In 2019, Illinois passed the Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, making Illinois the first state to legalize recreational use through a state legislature. It entered into force on 1 January 2020. One way to legalize recreational drugs (e.g., marijuana) is to allow production, distribution and sale, but prohibit marketing. This form of legalization prohibits branding and advertising of products developed by industries to proactively increase sales, consumption, and profits. That is what is happening now with alcohol and it has been done relentlessly for tobacco for a long time. Costa Rica has decriminalized drugs for personal use.
The production or sale of drugs remains a criminal offence. In 1994, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that drug addiction was not a crime, nor was possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use. In 2000, the German Narcotics Act (“BtmG”) was amended to allow supervised injection rooms. In 2002, a pilot study was launched in seven German cities to investigate the effects of heroin-assisted treatment on drug users compared to methadone-assisted treatment. The positive results of the study led to the inclusion of heroin-assisted treatment in compulsory health insurance in 2009. On May 4, 2016, the Council of Ministers decided to approve the measure of legalization of cannabis for seriously ill patients who have consulted a doctor and “have no therapeutic alternative”. German Health Minister Hermann Gröhe presented to the cabinet the draft law on the legalisation of medical cannabis, which is expected to enter into force in early 2017. [61] [62] [63] [64] [65] Most illicit drugs are no more harmful than legal substances such as cigarettes and alcohol, and therefore drugs should be treated in the same way as these other substances. The main solutions to the drug problem focus on supply and demand.
Supply-side solutions include initiatives to pressure drug-producing countries to stop exporting illicit drugs, intercept drugs before smugglers can get them across U.S. borders, pass tougher drug laws, crack down on drug traffickers, and sentence drug manufacturers and traffickers to long prison terms. Demand-side solutions include education and drug treatment. A more radical approach proposes legalization (in other words, removing the drug offence from the penal code) as the only viable solution. After decades of criminal prohibition and intensive law enforcement efforts to rid the country of illegal drugs, violent traffickers still endanger life in our cities, a steady stream of drug-related offenders continues to flow into our prisons and prisons, and tons of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana still cross our borders unchecked. After the 2018 midterm elections, Michigan legalized recreational marijuana use in private. [116] The National Assembly on Friday submitted to the Ministry of Health its amendments that would place marijuana and plant kratom in the category that allows their authorized possession and distribution under regulated conditions. The ministry reviewed the changes before forwarding them to cabinet, which sent them back to the National Assembly for a final vote. This process was completed on December 25, 2018.
[48] Thailand was the first Asian country to legalize medical cannabis. [49] It should be noted that the proposed amendments will not permit the recreational use of drugs. These measures were taken due to the growing interest in the use of marijuana and its components to treat certain diseases. In 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada campaigned on a promise to legalize marijuana. The Cannabis Act was passed on June 19, 2018, legalizing marijuana across Canada on October 17, 2018. [106] [107] [108] However, what is generally presented as a relatively simple process of lifting prohibitionist controls in order to reap these supposed benefits would actually mean addressing an extremely complex set of regulatory issues. As with most, if not all, goods supplied by individuals and public funds, the main regulatory issues concern the type of medicines legally available, the conditions under which they are supplied and the conditions under which they are consumed (see page 21). Another factor to consider is the appeal of forbidden fruits.
For young people, often attracted by taboos, legal drugs can be less tempting than they are today. This is the experience of the Netherlands: after the Dutch government decriminalized marijuana in 1976 so that it could be sold and consumed openly in small quantities, use steadily declined – especially among teenagers and young adults. Before decriminalization, 10% of Dutch 17- and 18-year-olds used marijuana. By 1985 this figure had fallen to 6.5%. The legalization of drugs requires a return to the parameters of the Food and Pure Drugs Act before 1906, when almost all drugs were legal. This would require ending the government-imposed ban on the distribution or sale and personal use of some (or all) of the currently banned drugs. Proposed ideas range from full legalization, which would completely eliminate all forms of state control, to various forms of regulated legalization, where drugs would be legally available but under a system of state control, which could mean, for example:[15] The war on drugs has cost society more than drug abuse itself.