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Should The United States Decriminalize Drugs

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John Marron
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Individual Position Paper
Decriminalization of Drugs in Indiana “Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe of sweet hemp, and playing my Hohner harmonica.” If I asked someone to guess who said the quote above, most people would probably assume it was some kind of musician like Bob Dylan; however, that is a quote from the 16th President of the United States and arguably one of the most successful ones at that, Abraham Lincoln. The negative stigma that drugs has received from the media and government often paints a dramatic picture of the realities of drug use. The state of Indiana should decriminalize all drugs because of the negative effects the current drug laws have on the economy, prison …show more content…
This led to a jump in both the size and presence of federal drug control agencies. It would evolve into several new legislations such as mandatory sentencing, no-knock warrants, and random frisks. There was even a point in the early days of this drug prohibition that marijuana was placed in the Schedule One category, which is the most restrictive of all drug categories. Although the United States only accounts for about five percent of the global population it currently holds about a quarter of the worlds incarcerated population, mostly due to non-violent drug offenses (Winterbourne). Between 1980 and 1997 the number of incarcerated people increased from 50,000 to 400,000 respectively. During George W. Bush’s term he increased the militarization of law enforcement against the “war on drugs” resulting in some 40,000 paramilitary-style SWAT raids which often resulted in misdemeanor drug possessions (A Brief History of the Drug …show more content…
With major changes such as marijuana becoming completely legal in states such as Colorado, Washington, and Oregon for both medical and recreational use and almost half of the United States has legalized it for medical use or decriminalized it. It is time to roll with the changes and decriminalize all drugs in the Hoosier state. Just recently filed a Senate bill that would allow states to determine if marijuana should be decriminalized at the federal level (LoBianco). Furthermore at the judiciary level the Justice department recently announced that they would release the largest one time prisoner release in U.S. history at 6000 for inmates who received harsh drug related offenses (Horwitz). In conclusion, the war on drugs both at a state and national level has been a complete failure. There is virtually no decrease of addiction or use, and the only increase has been in incarcerated citizens as well as wasted tax payer money. It is time for Indiana and our nation as a whole to take a good hard look at the facts and put an end to a government created ‘war’ that we have been battling for over 40 years with no positive

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