Pubdate: Wed, 03 Feb 2016
Source: Dakota Student (ND Edu)
Copyright: Dakota Student 2016
Contact: http://www.dakotastudent.com/home/lettertotheeditor/
Website: http://www.dakotastudent.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2732
Author: Nick Sallen
Note: Nick Sallen is the opinion editor for The Dakota Student.

HELP ADDICTS, LEGALIZE DRUGS

It doesn't take long for drug addiction to stop you from achieving 
your dreams. Rotting in jail for the self-harm caused by addiction 
will further prevent any future success.

Currently, we have a broken criminal justice system that preys upon 
minorities and the poor who cannot afford a lawyer.

The United States has the highest percentage of its citizens in jail. 
Those with a dissenting opinion might say that incarceration is a way 
to instantly take the addicts off the street and force them into drug 
rehabilitation. "

By legalizing all drugs, you destigmatize the need for drug addicts 
to hide in the shadows of society"

- - Nick Sallen

Unfortunately, incarceration as a means of forced rehabilitation is 
near-sighted and not very effective. Addicts will not stop using 
because they have been caught. They will only stop using when they 
are ready to - oftentimes that means hitting rock bottom.

There are steps we can take to improve our criminal justice system. 
The first is to legalize all drugs. By legalizing all drugs you stop 
a major source of income for drug cartels and local gangs. This will 
free up the incarcerated individuals and open up a new industry for 
producing and distributing the newly legalized drugs.

Colorado was the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational 
use. According to state data, marijuana possession charges in 2014 
fell to 2,500, down from nearly 30,000 in 2010. In less than one 
year, marijuana alone brought $40 million in tax revenue. Colorado is 
ranked as one of the the fastest growing economies, with the 
unemployment rate at 4.2 percent - 0.8 percent below the national 
average and the lowest in Colorado since 2008.

In 2001, Portuguese legislators enacted a comprehensive form of 
decriminalization. They eliminated criminal penalties for low-level 
possession and consumption of all illicit drugs, reclassifying these 
activities as administrative violations.

Instead of being arrested, violators are brought to a local 
"dissuasion commision" to be psycho-analyzed to see if they are 
addicted to drugs. The focus is on rehabilitating individuals that 
need help. In over a decade of studies, there has been a significant 
decrease in adolescent users, drug overdoses, HIV transmission and an 
increase in drug treatment.

Nearly a decade and a half later, Portugal shows that 
decriminalization does not lead to increases in drug use or a culture 
of lawlessness. Instead, law enforcement and the criminal justice 
system function more efficiently, and Portugal has been able to 
invest in improving the health and wellbeing of people struggling 
with drug problems. Community relations with the police also have 
significantly improved.

I propose that a way of getting many of the newly freed inmates off 
the streets is to allow them into the new drug industries, as they 
should already have experience with the drugs and are in need of a job.

Obviously, limitations about who can work for the new industries need 
to be set. If I were in charge, I would only allow those with a 
non-violent record to work in the new industry. There also would need 
to be physician-regulated prescriptions for addicts trying to quit 
and research into the future for possible medicinal benefits of 
psychedelics and other stimulants.

Isolation and drug addiction often go hand-in-hand as the risk of 
getting caught with illicit substances is grave. Possession of a 
single gram of cocaine, meth and heroin is a federal felony charge 
that will make you all but unemployable based upon your record.

By legalizing all drugs, you destigmatize the need for drug addicts 
to hide in the shadows of society. Users will feel more comfortable 
openly discussing their addiction knowing they aren't at risk of persecution.

By knowing who needs assistance with their drug addiction, we can 
create a conversation with users about their problem to hopefully get 
them to volunteer for rehabilitation.

Ultimately, the end goal is to save drug addicts from ruining their 
lives. By legalizing and taxing all drugs, you help to fix our broken 
criminal justice system while bringing a lot of tax revenue into the 
states and focusing on rehabilitation instead of punishment.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom