Mexico announced decriminaliation of small amounts of drugs within the past week and Columbia has also followed suit. Brazil and Ecuador are considering taking similar steps.
Obviously this will free law enforcement to spend its resources on drug dealers and hopefully free up some money for treatment for addicts. But will that really happen?
The United States Drug Enforcement Agency published a paper in 2003 giving reasons why this should not occur in the United States. But with a weak economy and states and other government branches looking at ways to conserve resources and cut expenses, the drug decriminalization issue will surely come up again.
There are definitely pros and cons related to this issue and it is important to give consideration to both before stating an inflexible opinion. Methamphedimines appear to be a much larger problem than marijuana smoking these days.
States are cutting funding for many addiction programs and it becomes increasing apparent that decriminalization arguments will be heard in our country. As citizens we need to be informed about issues and take the time to share our opinions with our elected representatives.
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