Reforming drug laws would benefit economy

[neversickanymore]

Reforming drug laws would benefit economy
Ryan Najjar
October 2, 2014

It has become apparent that American society places a heavy emphasis on the use of the prison system, demonstrated by the United States producing more incarcerated prisoners than any other country. Although the United States only accounts for 5 percent of the total global population, it has nearly a quarter of the world’s prisoners, which begs the question of how many incarcerated individuals actually deserve to be in prison.

For certain crimes, like nonviolent drug offenses, the penalties are overly harsh. For instance, first-time drug possession in Kentucky can land the offender in jail for up to 10 years, along with a $20,000 fine. The sentences for using drugs, notably marijuana, are particularly absurd, given their nature. Marijuana is significantly less harmful to the body than cigarettes and alcohol, which are legal drugs. Historically speaking, the primary reason marijuana is designated as a Schedule I drug — with cocaine and methamphetamine being a less severe Schedule II — pertains to Richard Nixon’s presidency. Nixon denied scientific evidence that could have led to the decriminalization of marijuana and falsely claimed that marijuana was more dangerous than methamphetamine. In spite of the facts regarding the politics of marijuana criminalization, the U.S. prison system prioritizes incarceration over both rehabilitation programs and drug education, leaving millions of people incarcerated from the overcriminalization of drugs.

The American public must realize that not only do rehabilitation programs cost less than incarceration, but also they give people with drug charges an opportunity to change their behavior. Through rehabilitation programs, these former offenders can make contributions to society, rather than remain a burden on the economy. The New York Times surveyed 40 states in 2013 and found that “the annual average taxpayer cost was $31,286 per inmate.” Rehabilitative systems have already been implemented with successful results in Scandinavian countries. These more relaxed systems result in fewer incarcerated individuals, a more educated inmate population and lowered crime rates.

with links here http://www.nyunews.com/2014/10/02/najjar/

 

[Dresden]

While the views espoused by this article and also recently by Chris Christie, which favor rehabilitation over incarceration, are a step in the right direction, in time society will realize that drug use should not be punished at all because using drugs in a socially agreed upon manner is healthy and beneficial even to the individual, his society, and the overall economy.

In other words, if I want to use methamphetamine, then so be it. Just please don't send me to another 12 step based, brainwashing, expensive, and ineffective rehab. The only reason that 90% of rehabs rely on the 12 step model is that meetings are essentially free and thus by using them the rehabs, many of which already charge upwards of $30,000 a month, can reap even greater profits.

 

[theWhiteLarryBird]

If you look at places like Portugal, Amsterdam, and countries in South America, they all have very relaxed drug laws, that I bet could be applied to the US were we not wound up in a penalty-based system of violent dysfunction. The more aware you become, the more unnerving it seems..