Michael HarrellCAS 138HApril 15, 2015Changing the Culture of Drugs in AmericaThe United States of America has been in a war on drugs for as long as we have been alive and many years before. At one time Coca-Cola had cocaine in it. That is part of the reason it is named that way(Mikkelson). Now even the smallest amount of this drug would get you prison time. If you have as much coke as the Coca-Cola company had at one time, you would be on the FBIs top ten most wanted list. Marijuana went from being grown abundantly, to a schedule one drug, to being the single most lucrative crop in the US(Quick). Most of the other drugs have the same history as these two.The perception of drugs has changed drastically over the years. Marijuana may be legal for medical or recreational use in almost half the states in the country, however we still spend billions of dollars arresting people for possessing it. We must realize that this war is never ending and will only cost us more money. It is time to reverse the culture of drugs in the US and end the war on drugs and doing so requires decriminalizing every drug there is. Decriminalizing drugs will allow us to take proper care of addicts, get non-violent criminals out of prison, and ultimately save taxpayers money. In 2001 Portugal decriminalized the possession of all drugs in their country. Possessing drugs in Portugal will get you a fine much like a parking ticket. After you pay your fine there is no form of punishment other than possible community service. Dr. Joao Goulao, the framer for Portugals drug laws, stated, The biggest effect has been to allow the stigma of drug addiction to fall, to let people speak clearly and to pursue professional help without fear(Murkin). The important part of Portugals decriminalization plan was to change the drug culture as a whole. It was not only enough to decriminalize but to educate as well. Portugal wanted to make it commonplace to go seek treatment for addiction instead of blaming and putting down those who get help. If both education and decriminalization do not occur simultaneously, decriminalization will not work. The current prevailing American mindset focuses on blaming the user and not the drug. The culture of our society towards drugs must first change in order for us to end the war on drugs. Those who do get addicted to drugs will always be addicted to that drug unless they receive proper care. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has studied relapsing addicts and has concluded that about 40 to 60 percent of drug addicts relapse(Preventing Drug and Alcohol Relapse). This relapse can be attributed to the lack of care and funding we put into changing the lives of addicts. Before Portugal decriminalized drugs 15 years ago, the country had a terrible addiction rate and was plagued with drugs. Eventually, the country decided that instead of spending money on prisons, they would put the money into rehab. This altered the culture of drugs in Portugal forever. Since decriminalizing, Portugal has cut their addiction rate in half by giving them proper support and help instead of putting these people in and out of prison(Hari). If we decriminalize drugs, we will be able to focus our spending on rehab and education. Many of the people who contract HIV got the lethal STD by using infected needles to inject drugs. To prevent this, clean needle programs should be set up all across the US. Some addicts refuse to get treatment even when treatment is readily available. These addicts continue to spread harmful diseases that kill millions a year. We must implement clean needle dispensers and programs to help educate these drugs users. In a few countries across Europe, needle and syringe programs have been set up for this purpose. These programs provide clean needles, education on overdosing, how to properly inject, and referrals to STD testing(Lurie). This leads back to the pragmatic society that Portugal has set up. Without a strong society for support, none of these programs can be successful. If we implement similar programs to that of Portugal, not only will we lower our addiction rate, but we will also lower the amount of people serving time for non-violent crimes in our already overcrowded prisons. Kathleen Miles of the Huffington Post found that approximately half of federal inmates are in prison for drug crimes(Miles). Many prisons across our country are flowing over capacity. The reason for this is that the prisons are being filled with low level drug offenders that have committed non-violent crimes. As of right now, it costs approximately $40,000 to keep one prisoner in prison for a year(Henrichson). That is money that is coming directly out of our pockets as taxpayers. Imagine the amount of money that can be saved if we can lower the amount of people in prison by 20%. That is only a little under half of the people in prison for drug related crimes. The people that we want to keep in prison are those who are connected to drug cartels or other large scale drug operations. The threat of these people are greater than the effects of drugs. The American prison system is highly sustained by repeat offenders. Once addicts and those involved with drugs are released, they do not receive proper care once they are back in normal society. This causes a good deal of people to end up back in prison right where they started and eventually becomes a never ending cycle. Stephanie Slifer of CBS News reported, About 68 percent of 405,000 prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 were arrested for a new crime within three years of their release from prison, and 77 percent were arrested within five years, according to a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)(Slifer). This consistent cycle of people becoming offenders can be changed if we no longer give them a crime that they will commit again. Since almost half of those in prison are there for drug related charges, once they are released they would not be at risk of being imprisoned again if all drugs are decriminalized. Decriminalization would put a huge dent into the cycle and keep prisons from becoming overpopulated. All of the money saved by the government could be allocated to other programs that will better serve the people. Additionally, as citizens we will have more money in our pockets because we would be saving an incredible amount in tax dollars. The money that we would save from decriminalizing drugs could change our economy forever. Not only would we save billions by simply not prosecuting those who possess drugs, we could also tax non-harmful drugs such as weed. Systems that are already in place in Colorado would be implemented across the nation. Currently, weed is legalized for growth, consumption, and distribution on a recreational level in Colorado. You must be 21 years old in order to partake in these activities much like alcohol. When buying weed in Colorado, there is a tax attached to it. If we implemented this system nationwide, a small 1% tax would be sufficient. This would keep the prices of weed down and profit up. If our overall taxes on products are not lowered we will be spending the same amount of money on taxed goods, however, the money that the government receives will increase allowing us to spend this money elsewhere. After we allow scientists to do studies on the drugs that are present today, we will be able to list what drugs are safe for distribution and which are not. My policy will ask that only marijuana is made to be available for distribution before further research is conducted. This drug in past studies has been shown as a harmless drug that has medical benefits and causes no harm to our bodies or others around us. This will allow for more money to be raised for taxes while keeping a safe community around us. After doing studies on other common drugs we will be able to find their benefits as well. We will be able to better utilize these scientific creations for their proper use to help benefit society. An example of this is LSD. Recent studies of LSD have shown that it can lower anxiety especially for people who are anxious about death(Derbyshire). These studies have shown that LSD is the safest way to relieve anxiety even more than the pills that doctors prescribe now. During a documentary I watched on LSD by National Geographic Explorer, a man that suffers from cluster headaches required oxygen tanks to relieve severe headaches that he would get multiple times a day. Studies have shown that LSD could help his condition. Instead of receiving treatment by LSD, he declined telling his family that he would never do illegal drugs. He knew LSD was an drug and therefore it did not represent a legitimate treatment option(Inside LSD). If we are able to properly educate people on drugs, people like him will accept the treatment they need because they will thoroughly understand its benefits. If we are able to change the view on drugs and better understand their medical advantages, we can make large advancements in the medical field. With time and effort we will be able to mimic the Portuguese and other European structures. When it comes to drugs, the size of the country does not matter. As long as these policies are implemented federally we will be able to organize our programs in a sufficient manner. Decriminalizing drugs as soon as possible will allow us to implement safety systems for addicts and those who want to seek treatment for their drug use. Instead of spending more money on these programs we will be saving billions of dollars per year by ending the war on drugs. Portions of the money we save will be used for the programs we need to set in place. This money saved can take away portions of our deficit and hopefully lead us into a better economic standing. The people that this affects most are those who are in prison for minor drug related charges and taxpayers receiving more money. Down the road we can also dive into the medical research of these drugs to save lives as well. We must first focus on changing the culture of drugs before we can better understand them.

Decriminalizing drugs allows us to take proper care of addicts, get non-violent criminals out of prison for drug related crimes, and ultimately save taxpayers money. This new system is not as far fetched as we may think. It is not a matter of how we are going to decriminalize drugs but more of a question of when we will decriminalize. Too many policies in our country are outdated and need to be tailored more so for our generation. It is time to change our policies as the world around us changes. We can no longer afford to fight a war that is never ending. It is time for us to save money and help the lives of millions. It is time to decriminalize drugs today, for a better tomorrow, and a prosperous future.

Work CitedDerbyshire, David. "Healing Trip: How Psychedelic Drugs Could Help TreatDepression." 5 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. Hari, Johann. "Portugal Cut Addiction Rates in Half by Connecting Drug Users WithCommunities Instead of Jailing Them." YES! Magazine. 12 Feb. 2015. Web. 16Apr. 2015. Henrichson, Christian. "Vera Institute of Justice: Making Justice Systems Fairer andMore Effective through Research and Innovation." The Price of Prisons: WhatIncarceration Costs Taxpayers. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. Lurie, Peter. "Does HIV Needle Exchange Work?" Needle Exchange Programs (NEP).Web. 16 Apr. 2015. Mickelson, Barbara. "Cocaine in Coca-Cola." Snopes.com: Cocaine in Coca-Cola. 11May 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.Miles, Kathleen. "Just How Much The War On Drugs Impacts Our OvercrowdedPrisons, In One Chart." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 16 Apr.2015. Murkin, George. "Drug Decriminalisation in Portugal: Setting the Record Straight.Drug Decriminalisation in Portugal: Setting the Record Straight. 11 June 2014.Web. 16 Apr. 2015. "Preventing Drug and Alcohol Relapse Through Healthy Living for You and Your LovedOnes." Preventing Drug and Alcohol Relapse Embracing a Clean and SoberLifestyle. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.

Quick, Marium. "What Is the World's Biggest Cash Crop? - Information Is Beautiful.Information Is Beautiful What Is the Worlds Biggest Cash Crop Comments. Web.16 Apr. 2015. Slifer, Stephanie. "Once a Criminal, Always a Criminal? Recidivism RateAnalyzed in New Bureau of Justice Report." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 13 Apr.2014. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. "[Inside LSD] - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER Full Documentary." YouTube.YouTube. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.