Location
Federalism & Separation of Powers
Level of Education
Undergraduate
Keywords
drugs, drug legalization, drug decriminalization, constitutional right AND drugs, economics AND drugs, health effects AND drugs, drug overdose, drug trafficking, supporters of drug legalization, opponents of drug legalization
Presenter Names and Speeches.
Macy Montgomery
Abstract
The United States has been increasingly creating lenient drug policies. Seventeen states and Washington, the District of Columbia, legalized marijuana, and Oregon decriminalized certain drugs, including methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. The medical community has proven that drugs, including marijuana, have myriad adverse health side effects. This leads to two questions: Why does the United States government continue to create lenient drug policies, and what reasons do citizens give for legalizing drugs when the medical community has proven them harmful? The paper hypothesizes that the disadvantages of drug legalization outweigh its benefits because of the numerous harms it causes, such as increases in health problems, overdoses, deaths, and drug trafficking. The author uses quantitative and qualitative data: (1) court cases, (2) drug facts from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), (3) statistics on the total number of overdoses and specific drug overdoses, the groups of individuals who typically use certain drugs in the United States, and drug trafficking, (4) survey responses from supporters, opponents, and indifferent individuals of drug legalization, and (5) supporting and opposing drug legalization arguments. The paper emphasizes the worsening United States opioid crisis and rebuts the reasons for drug legalization, which include a constitutional right to use drugs and the health and economic benefits of drugs. United States government officials should wrestle with drug laws since the purpose of laws is to maintain law and order in society and keep the country’s citizens safe.
Included in
American Politics Commons, Biostatistics Commons, Constitutional Law Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Design of Experiments and Sample Surveys Commons, Economic Policy Commons, Epidemiology Commons, Health Law and Policy Commons, Health Policy Commons, Law and Economics Commons, Law and Race Commons, Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons, Legal History Commons, Legislation Commons, Longitudinal Data Analysis and Time Series Commons, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutics Commons, National Security Law Commons, Pharmacology Commons, Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons, Policy History, Theory, and Methods Commons, Public Health Education and Promotion Commons, State and Local Government Law Commons, Substance Abuse and Addiction Commons, Supreme Court of the United States Commons, Toxicology Commons, Vital and Health Statistics Commons
Drug Ideologies of the United States
Federalism & Separation of Powers
The United States has been increasingly creating lenient drug policies. Seventeen states and Washington, the District of Columbia, legalized marijuana, and Oregon decriminalized certain drugs, including methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. The medical community has proven that drugs, including marijuana, have myriad adverse health side effects. This leads to two questions: Why does the United States government continue to create lenient drug policies, and what reasons do citizens give for legalizing drugs when the medical community has proven them harmful? The paper hypothesizes that the disadvantages of drug legalization outweigh its benefits because of the numerous harms it causes, such as increases in health problems, overdoses, deaths, and drug trafficking. The author uses quantitative and qualitative data: (1) court cases, (2) drug facts from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), (3) statistics on the total number of overdoses and specific drug overdoses, the groups of individuals who typically use certain drugs in the United States, and drug trafficking, (4) survey responses from supporters, opponents, and indifferent individuals of drug legalization, and (5) supporting and opposing drug legalization arguments. The paper emphasizes the worsening United States opioid crisis and rebuts the reasons for drug legalization, which include a constitutional right to use drugs and the health and economic benefits of drugs. United States government officials should wrestle with drug laws since the purpose of laws is to maintain law and order in society and keep the country’s citizens safe.
