A new poll released by Gallup, the venerable polling agency, has found that 56% of the American public believe that the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use should no longer be illegal. This is a significant shift for a country that spent over a century as an outlaw nation: in the early 1900s, the federal government classified marijuana as a “gateway drug”, and in the 1970s it was the first illegal drug listed in the Controlled Substances Act.
As recently as 2014, the United States was still looking for a drug policy that would keep drug abuse from becoming a national epidemic. The national debate over drug decriminalization is a great example of how change occurs when people take a deeper look at how drugs impact society.
A new survey by the Pew Research Center has shone a light on how Americans feel about drug decriminalization, and it’s time to let the facts speak for themselves.
More than half, 60%, of those surveyed in the United States believe the war on drugs should end and support the decriminalization of illegal substances. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Drug Policy Allegiance (DPA) released the results of a survey on the eve of DPA’s 50th anniversary. The anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s declaration that drugs are public enemy number one. American policing has affected the lives of thousands of people, resulting in numerous incarcerations that have disproportionately affected blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans. According to the poll, 65% of those polled agree that the U.S. should end the war on drugs, and 66% believe that drugs should be completely decriminalized. The survey results show how much attitudes have changed since the 1970s. Almost two thirds of the respondents believe that new health measures should be introduced instead of new repressive measures. The majority of respondents also indicated that they felt the drug problem should be solved by health professionals and not the police. Overall, 83% of those surveyed said the war on drugs had failed. The ACLU sees the study’s findings as a clear message to President Joe Biden. On this 50th. On the 50th anniversary of the drug war, President Biden should deliver on his campaign promises and take steps to dismantle the system of over-policing and mass incarceration, said Udi Ofer, director of the ACLU’s Justice Division. FILE : Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the William Hicks Anderson Community Center on Feb. 28. July 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. / PHOTO: MARK MAKELA/GETTY IMAGES Today, drug possession is still the number one crime in the United States, with more than 1.35 million arrests each year. Every 25 seconds someone is arrested for personal drug possession, and black people are disproportionately the victims of this excessive policing, Ofer said. In the coming weeks, the ACLU and DPA plan to launch a media campaign urging the President of the United States to take decisive action to reduce prison sentences for those currently serving time in federal prisons for drug use. Biden has said in the past that no one should go to jail for minor drug cases. His government said changing the status of cannabis would be a good first step toward releasing prisoners accused of using marijuana.Drug decriminalization refers to the idea of treating drug use instead of punishing it as a criminal offense. Most Americans agree that it’s a waste of money and resources to incarcerate thousands of people for non-violent drug use. In order to reduce prison populations, reduce the amount of money needed to run the current system, and to save tax dollars, many people support the idea of decriminalizing drug use.. Read more about drug decriminalization 2020 and let us know what you think.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of Americans support the war on drugs?
A new Pew Research Center poll, conducted on behalf of the Drug Policy Alliance, finds that 72% of Americans are in favor of decriminalizing the possession of small quantities of marijuana. The results, the authors note, are the first time since the Pew Research Center first asked about the issue in 1969 that a majority of Americans have expressed approval for legalizing the drug. The War on Drugs™ was a major policy change in the early 1980s, when President Ronald Reagan declared America’s “War on Drugs”, and our government began spending billions of dollars to enforce drug prohibition laws. While this approach has helped to curtail the flow of illegal drugs into the country, it has also caused widespread harm to innocent people, including poor and minority communities.
Would the legalization of drugs benefit American society?
As far as I can tell, there are only three options for legalizing drugs in America: 1. Violent and highly addictive drugs should be legal for the average American. 2. Marijuana should be decriminalized and taxed. 3. Drugs should be outlawed completely. If you spend any time on the Internet, chances are you will have encountered at least one persuasive argument in favor of legalizing the use of recreational drugs. In fact, you may have even experienced that persuasive argument yourself, though to be honest, it’s hard to remember exactly what you may have been told.
Who decriminalized drugs?
For a while now, a handful of states have either decriminalized or legalized marijuana for medicinal or recreational use. The number of states that have done so continues to increase, and this past Tuesday, California joined the list. In the U.S., marijuana is a Schedule I drug in the Controlled Substances Act, one of the most restrictive drug categories. That means it is defined as having no medical use, a high potential for abuse, no safe dose, and a lack of accepted safety standards. Despite the substantial evidence that cannabis is not addictive and effective in treating a number of conditions, including chronic pain, multiple sclerosis (MS), terminal illness, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and others, it remains classified as a Schedule I drug.
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