The Decriminalization or Legalization of Marijuana - Assignment Example

 Many say that decriminalizing drugs would stop these people from spending what some regard as too much time in jail for a nonviolent crime. On the other hand, most of the American public has shown lasting support for the “war on drugs,” and even when presented with evidence of its continuing failure, continue to support anti-drug initiatives involving criminalization and prohibition.

This could be because the common presentation of crime often links non-violent and violent crimes together in terms of causality. Many law enforcement agencies have concentrated on reducing the harm that drugs can cause. Still, others propose the legalization of drugs for solely medical purposes, for example, so that people suffering from certain conditions could be prescribed marijuana.

Many believe that the population at large, scared by individual crimes that get media attention but ignorant of statistical undertones, is being led to believe that there is no difference between violent and non-violent crime: a marijuana user and a terrorist, in other words, are being portrayed to the mass public as being the same sort of criminal.