However, the federal government and its drug enforcement agencies claim there is no distinction in federal law. ... Classified as a Schedule I drug, cannabis belongs to the most restrictive categories for psychoactive drugs in the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) five categories. Drugs in this category meet three criteria: the drug has high potential for abuse; the drug has not therapeutic value; the drug is not safe for medicinal use. ... Today's marijuana is far stronger than it was two or three decades ago; therefore, a wide margin of safety would be enforced when its used ...

• Word Count: 1098
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

For more than 50 years, drug prohibition, with an emphasis on enforcement through criminal justice measures, has been the policy of the United States as well as rest of the world's countries (Levine 2002). ... Drug prices have also continued to fall, and drugs remain easily available for much of the population (Wodak 2014). ... Violence in drug markets is one of the negative effects of drug prohibition (Miron 2001). ... Because of an aggressive law enforcement campaign against the use and sale of illegal drugs, the rate of incarceration for drug offenses increased nearly tenfold from 1980...

• Word Count: 709
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The population of drug users includes a wide variety of different peoples as well, one can see the use of drugs spans across a spectrum of people of various backgrounds. Other aspects relating to the frequency of drug use by individuals can also demonstrate how diverse the population of drug users is, as well as it brings up the issue of differentiating between using, abusing, and being dependent on drugs. ... As the human race has developed not only have laws changed regarding drugs, but the drugs themselves have evolved. ... As time has progressed, one can see how technological improvemen...

• Word Count: 559
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

That is the amount of money spent on the War on Drugs each year-$1,271 per second spent on law enforcement, incarceration, and interdiction. ... Enforcement of drug laws causes law enforcement officers to be more confrontational, preventing public trust. ... McNamara is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group started by retired law enforcement officials who have fought in the war on drugs and believe that war cannot be won (Martin 2009). ... Drug enforcement laws do not prevent drug trafficking nor the violence associated with the illegal trade. ... If this were a l...

• Word Count: 1215
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

This extra funding could be used to create more efficient law enforcement upon violent crime. ... Law enforcement should not be using such a massive amount of time and resources busting young people with harmless amounts of marijuana, but instead looking at the bigger picture of who is distributing the drugs committing heinous acts of violence. ... Despite the U.S enforcing the hardest drug policies in the entire world, it is the leading all other nations in marijuana use amongst its citizens. ... Marijuana is a drug that would too greatly benefit the United States for it to remain illegal. .....

• Word Count: 1053
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In the book, The Case for Legalizing Drugs, it states, "Legalizing drugs would promote public health, not harm it. ... The drug enforcement authorities would reduce their budget requests, or most likely, focus more intensely on harder drugs and violent crimes. ... Federal, state and local governments spend about 100 billion dollars a year on law enforcement and criminal justice programs. There is about 35 billion dollars, which is directly related to drug law enforcement and probably another 15 billion related to crimes committed to obtain drug money. In one year, about 50 billion dollars ...

• Word Count: 1572
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Would your answer still be "yes" if you were told that sometimes the only drug that can help their pain is marijuana. ... It is not in the interest of law enforcement to drive patients to the illegal market. ... Patients who meet all of these requirements must also have proof of their identity and show it to any law enforcement officer who questions the patient regarding his/her use of medical marijuana. ... Some of these concerns include the fact that marijuana use can lead younger people to experiment with harder drugs. ... Can society ever look and think of marijuana as anything other tha...

• Word Count: 1318
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Through the legalization of marijuana, the Canadian society can benefit through positive effects, including; a control of the marijuana substance; a decrease of usage of both legal and illegal drugs; and an increase in tax revenues, along with a decrease in government spending on drug enforcement and crime. ... By allowing drug users a legal way of stimulating and achieving a similar high, many drug addicts would decrease or all together, stop the practice of using harder drugs, such as cocaine or heroin. ... However, through the legalization of "soft drugs" like marijuana in The Netherlands...

• Word Count: 1122
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Effects of Legalizing Marijuana Many feel today we are loosing the war on drugs. ... It is now time to look at alternative methods to solving the nation's drug problem. ... Such a dramatic decrease in drug dealers has not only resulted in crime reduction in England but there was also a decrease of drug use.                ... The drug itself may not cause violent crime but people involved in the distributing of marijuana do. ... Actually, the legalization of marijuana would put money which is used for law enforcement into the construction of better educational programs and p...

• Word Count: 658
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Out of that number 85% consider marijuana a "safe" drug. ... Decriminalization would involve the removal of criminal penalties for possession of marijuana for personal use and would save incredible amounts in enforcement costs (Marijuana Prohibition Facts). ... Other countries that have already decriminalized marijuana have continued doing studies on their population's usage of marijuana and other drugs. ... Marijuana continues to be the third most popular recreational drug in the United States despite 60 years of criminal prohibition. ... Even the U.S government's studies concluded...

• Word Count: 1417
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Eventually companies will be licensed to sell marijuana cigarettes or more commonly know as "joints" and the immense revenue made from taxation of marijuana and the saved budget once spent on the prohibition of Marijuana could be spent on anti drug programs targeting much more dangerous drugs like cocaine and morphine. ... Well on a dictionary outlook it means " A habit-forming substance whose use may lead to the abuse of drugs that are more addictive or more dangerous"; or more simply put a substance that opens the doors to more harmful drugs. ... Just because over the years it has become...

• Word Count: 704
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

People all over this country have argued over the safety and effects the drug would have on society. ... Sales taxes ($0.2 - $1.3 billion), enforcement savings ($6 - $9 billion), and the hemp industry ($6 - $10 billion). ... The next point that is usually brought up in a debate over the legalization of marijuana would be if this drug was legalized more people would try harder drugs because after all marijuana is a "gateway drug". To argue this, first of all there is no scientific proof that marijuana is a gateway drug. ... Legalizing marijuana will lessen the chance of children getting the...

• Word Count: 898
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Taube goes on to conclude that; Ottawa's proposed fines for simple marijuana possession should be scrapped or the police should at least be given wide discretion in deciding when they will be enforced. ... Inspector Paul Nadeau of B.C's marijuana enforcement team said 41% of grow-ops are now controlled by people with criminal records. ... After asking the morality question "Do we really want to make such a drug legal?... Taube's seventh argument about how marijuana should be legalized, decriminalized or continue to be criminalized can be mapped as follows: P1 Decriminalizat...

• Word Count: 1414
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

While most pot laws across America are becoming more lenient to their policies than they were decades ago, citizens being arrested for marijuana account for half of drug arrests adding to the millions of people incarcerated in prisons and the seven billion dollars the government dumps for prohibition. ... For something like weed which is used wide spread, punishing pot users and chasing after them is more of a waste of time for the police than it is for them to bust an underground meth lab- the drug itself is capable of offering harsher physical effects to the body than pot. ... While a flood ...

• Word Count: 1103
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate