Simple possession of drugs

Drugs should be legalized for simple possession since doing so will eliminate many issues relating to the worry of unlawful ownership. First off, the number of drug-related offenses would decline. For instance, as Kalant (2010) noted, narcotics are so expensive on the illicit market that many people who otherwise could not afford them resort to criminal activity to obtain even little amounts. Additionally, because drug-related violence is unlawful, officials avoid becoming engaged in these cases. If therefore simple possession of all drugs was made lawful, their cost would drastically drop and people would not take extreme measures to acquire them; authorities would subsequently be able to control the situation (Kreit, 2009).

Secondly, the black market has posed a huge problem for the authorities and the public as well. If simple possession of all drugs was allowed, this market would seize to exist and drug cartels and gangs would finally fall apart. They would therefore be forced to create legal companies which are controlled by the government in terms of production and possession as pointed out by Miron (2010). Moreover, the number of convicts in prisons for the possession of simple quantities of drugs would reduce. As pointed out by Kreit (2009), at least 40 percent of prisoners are drug convicts. With legalization of all drugs, there numbers would greatly reduce and the tax they use to keep them there would be used for other purposes.

Portugal for instance, decriminalized possession of all drugs as pointed out by Hughes & Stevens (2010). Due to this reason, positive aspects have been seen, such as crime rate reduction and decrease in the number of deaths associated with drugs. Although there was criticism at first as pointed out by Hughes & Stevens (2012), it is now evident that their act has brought some good fruits and many people in Portugal agree with that decision. The rate of HIV infections has also progressively decreased in the country since legalization of small possession of all drugs.

References

Hughes, C. E., & Stevens, A. (2010). What can we learn from the Portuguese decriminalization of illicit drugs?. The British Journal of Criminology, 50(6), 999-1022.

Hughes, C. E., & Stevens, A. (2012). A resounding success or a disastrous failure: Re‐examining the interpretation of evidence on the Portuguese decriminalization of illicit drugs. Drug and Alcohol Review, 31(1), 101-113.

Kalant, Harold. (2010). "Drug classification: science, politics, both orneither?." Addiction 105.7: 1146-1149.

Kreit, A. (2009). Beyond the Prohibition Debate: Thoughts on Federal Drug Laws in an Age of State Reforms. Chap. L. Rev., 13, 555.

Miron, J. A. (2010). The budgetary implications of drug prohibition. Report from the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation.