Unmentionable Alternative: The Need for and the Argument Against, the Decriminalization of Drug Laws (From Drugs, Crime and the Criminal Justice System, P 111-137, 1990, Ralph Weisheit, ed., -- See NCJ-123316)

• NCJ Number: 123321
• Author(s): P B Kraska
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 27 pages
• Sale Source: Anderson Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Perhaps the most controversial solution to the war on drugs is to decriminalize or legalize many drugs currently proscribed under criminal statutes.

Abstract

Decriminalization is the reduction in severity of a criminal offense and the penalty associated with that offense. Legalization, on the other hand, is removing or repealing statutory proscriptions entirely. The consequences of the current extremist "war on drugs" campaign against youth and drug use include frequent violations of children's rights, exaggerating information about the dangers of drugs that often contradicts youths' actual experiences, and the profit-motive that brings lower-class youth into the realm of drug dealing and crime. One major reason for advocating decriminalization is that it has the potential to save billions of dollars through cutting criminal justice costs and generating huge revenues through governmental taxation of those drugs decriminalized. Also, it would diminish the illicit drug market and reduce crime. However, the costs of decriminalization could include increased drug usage, more crime, moral deterioration, and the message that drug usage is endorsed by the government. 71 references, 1 table.