The United States of America is the historic land of the free; however, its people are being enslaved by materials and pleasure.  One of the most well-known pleasures of the American society is drugs.  The United States drug laws are not only outdated; but also, wrongly enforced.  The most outdated law revolves around opioids.  The United States should adopt a harsher stance on drugs such as opioids in result of the growing crisis.  On the other hand, marijuana is illegal for the wrong reasons.  We should decriminalize marijuana, because of the numerous studies that have come out in its favor.  If the United States Government reviewed the nation’s drug policies with the help of modern research and statistics, the citizens of this beautiful country would be truly protected.  

The modern day opioid crisis originated in the late 1990’s.  According to the Government’s drug abuse website, “pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates.”  Following this, there was a substantial increase the number of opioid overdoses.  While patients turned to addicts, the types of opioids changed.  As prescription opioids became harder to get, synthetic forms such as heroin and fentanyl gained popularity.  As precautions were added to the prescription system and the government cracked down on faulty prescriptions, users transitioned to Heroin.  The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that, “about 80 percent of people who use heroin first misused prescription opioids.”  Addicts would buy from street dealers, not knowing exactly what their choice opioid contained.  This would put vulnerable American Communities at risk.  The United States Department of Health and Human Services proposed solution includes: increased accessibility to treatment, surveillance, and substitute pain management practices.  However, this problem calls for all Governments resources to prevent the crisis, instead of temporary solutions to the nationwide epidemic.   

After at risk America populations were introduced to opioids, addiction spread rapidly.  According to EPIC, “Any long-term use can put someone at risk of addiction, even if the substance is used as prescribed.”  Addiction is the biggest problem with these types of drugs whether prescription or black-market.  Once a tolerance is built up, risk of overdose skyrockets.  EPIC proposes a solution with its Opioid Treatment Team.  These treatment teams may be useful in recovery; however, we should take more drastic measures to prevent use and cut off supply.  These laws should be tightened, and penalties should be harshened for repeat offenders.  We should treat those who are addicted, rather than to ostracize them.

In addition, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency has created five schedules to classify dangers and penalties of similar drugs.  However, this system is corrupted.  After looking through the dangers of opioids, it is troubling to see how the DEA classifies drugs.  According to the DEA schedule two drugs include, “hydrocodone per dosage unit (Vicodin), cocaine, methamphetamine, methadone, hydromorphone (Dilaudid), meperidine (Demerol), oxycodone (OxyContin), fentanyl.”  Opioids have clearly caused a public health problem across America and need to be treated as such.  It is troubling that these drugs are not a priority.  According to the scheduling, Marijuana belongs schedule one with Heroin.  However, the statistics on marijuana are not quite as terrifying as those from Heroin and other opioids.  

Over the last few years the talk of marijuana decriminalization has picked up.  However, it is not moving quick enough.  Too many people are being jailed for marijuana crimes that are nonexistent in other states.  One of my biggest values is freedom.  I believe that if we are not free to do the things that we desire to, then we are not embracing American values.  I grew up in a hometown, where marijuana was abundant, so I’ve seen firsthand how the drug can affect people’s lives both positively and negatively. Personally, I believe the laws in place have more of a negative effect on our society as marijuana poses no real health threats. However, I keep an open mind because I do see the need of law and order in our society.  My county is a hot spot for many types of drugs.  Although drugs such as heroin are becoming deadly to users, marijuana remains to be safe to use but illegal to possess.  Many of my friends have been arrested for possessing/selling marijuana, and were unable to get good jobs after repaying their criminal sentence.  While politicians waste time throwing away money average American citizens are having their lives destroyed.  I would consider myself qualified to write about this topic, because I have done a good amount of research. The legalization of marijuana in many states has provided them with excessive amounts of revenue for business owners that is taxed by the government. That tax money is then put towards things like schools and roads. 

In “Lessons Learned: The Journey to Legalize Marijuana and End the Drug War”, Tony Newman states that the war on drugs is nearly a political sham to draw attention away from big pharmacy, tobacco, and alcohol companies.  Newman seeks to unveil the hypocrisy of the drug war.  He states that many prominent political figures have confirmed smoking weed before, but normal people are arrested for possessing the drug every day.  The author aims this article at those already supportive of criminalization.  Due to this, he can state facts to support the argument, rather than try to convince the reader.  Newman works with the Drug Policy Alliance, and has over 15 years of experience doing research on the topic.  On the Drug Policy Alliance website, one can see facts relating to the ongoing drug war. Newman argues the point that we are wasting money on fighting marijuana users when we could be making money selling it in a controlled way.

George Will gave us more supportive facts in “Would Drug Legalization Do More Harm than Good?”.  He states the similarity between criminalization and prohibition. When alcohol was made illegal it caused an increase in the illegal production of alcohol. This production was coming from violent gangs which resulted in a lot of violence. Similarly, the criminalization of marijuana leaves the table open for violent gangs to control the trade resulting in violence. If legalized marijuana would be a substance controlled by the government where it can be controlled for quality and safety purposes and eliminates the need for the risk of violence when purchasing marijuana. Will also references the idea that humans are naturally drawn to addictive substances such as drugs and alcohol. George Will is a well-respected conservative writer who wishes to display the facts for the reader to make his or her own decision.  His political party is against this article that leans towards decriminalization.  He expresses an understanding of history and how it should not be repeated.  He uses the prohibition as an example of how bans on alcohol, along with other drugs tend to fail.  Will has proven his credibility through many political articles that stray from the popular conservative view at the time.  He imbeds fact checking websites inside the article for easy reference.  The Washington Post is a slightly left news source, that earns credibility by providing facts in the articles rather than opinion.  

We are given an argument based on the health side effects of marijuana by Philip Boffey in “What Science Says About Marijuana”.  Boffey cites a study done in Britain where a panel evaluated the health side effects of every drug, and discovered alcohol to be the most harmful.  One of the biggest health effects is addiction.  Boffey states that casual marijuana gives little to no user risk, while alcohol causes dependency and poor judgement.  Marijuana is shown to be less addictive than tobacco by 25%, according to Institute of Medicine.  The author posted this article to defend the declaration of the New York Times for the decriminalization of weed.  This helps him to sway those who were uninformed of the science behind marijuana.  Philip obviously values scientific research, because he cites it throughout the entire article.  He assures credibility by providing visual aids and links to the source.  Philip is slightly biased in favor of decriminalization, but that does not affect the authenticity of his facts.  The New York Times is biased towards decriminalization, because the editorial board wrote an article opposing the government belief.      

Contrary to popular belief, marijuana is not the gateway drug it is suspected to be.  An article in Newsweek refutes the theory that Marijuana is a gateway drug to heroin, amphetamines, and Cocaine.  According to Boeri, “Research shows that the clear majority of marijuana users do not go on to use hard drugs. Most stop using after entering the adult social world of family and work.”  This article states that factors such as poverty and social environment serve as a gateway to hard drug use.  Through this article we can see that the solution to the gateway drug problem lies in those in less fortunate living situations.  A solution is to increase government funding to poverty programs.  The facts become misguided because many poverty-stricken populations also smoke Marijuana but, research has shown that poverty is more of a gateway to drug abuse.  

After reading the provided research, it is important to consider the type of people affected by marijuana laws.  In the Contemporary Justice Review by Beverly Thompson, she states how average citizens get arrested and stripped of career opportunities for possessing small amounts of marijuana.  She provides the fact that, “88% of marijuana arrests are for simple possession and account for 52% of all drug arrests in the United States in 2010.”  She is a Canadian journalist who wishes to spread the relaxed drug policies of the Canada to the United States.  It is important to reflect on the idea that marijuana users are average American citizens who should not be ostracized. 

Finally, the research question is arguable because marijuana is decriminalized in some states but not in others.  Some believe it should be illegal for health concerns and increased crime rate, but these claims were proven false by scientists.  All my sources have mentioned facts that show supporting evidence for decriminalization of marijuana.  Not all my sources come from the same political viewpoint, yet they all present facts that support the same thing.  It is ridiculous to think that drugs such as heroin and scheduled alongside marijuana.  The United States drug policy has multiple layers and is rooted in politics and old research.  Until the government edits these policies the people of the United States will continue to be enslaved by their drug of choice, and will never experience true protection.   
