What Is Decriminalization?

Surely, when reading the word “drugs” you must get the idea that some unlawful substance is mentioned in this paper, and so it is. Leading medical, health and human rights organizations like the International Red Cross, The American Public Health Association, American Civil Liberties Union, have joined the approach of worldwide drug decriminalization. So, what is decriminalization? It can be defined as “the lessening of criminal penalties in relation to certain acts.” By implementing decriminalization laws on drugs around the world, consumption and abuse of substances along with overdose rates can be significantly reduced. As we can see around the world, alarming rates of people are drug users and/or drug addicts. “In 2008 an estimated 3.9% of the world’s population between the ages of 15 and 64 abuse marijuana, and an estimate of about 208 million people internationally consume illegal drugs.” “Of American adults aged 12 and older about 21.5 million battled a
Since people do not receive any type of sanction for carrying and consuming small amounts of drugs, more users will be created and old users will freely terminate consumption at their pace without being prosecuted for their prior history. This all creates a demand for illicit drugs which finally creates more drug dealers and a higher profit for cartels and gangs which provide the drugs to consumers, creating a wave of crime and increasing income to illegal organizations. This then creates a paradise of drug users and the perfect environment for drug traffickers and drug dealers among countries who follow and implement the decriminalization principle. People believe that the decriminalization of drugs allows freedom of consumption, this is incorrect since what is sought out by the implementation of the principle is to provide proper guidance to people who feel pressured by the penal system and find no way