At first glance the thought of decriminalizing drugs might send some people into a frenzy before they even speculate the positive outcomes it would produce. In the United States 51 million dollars is spent every year on the war on drugs, and 1.5 million people are arrested on non-violent drug charges. These figures are astronomically high considering that we have little to show for our current drug policy's "success" than more occupied prison cells. The fact of the matter is that our current model of drug prohibition has failed, and that the war on drugs is a waste of time, money, and resources that causes more harm than good. With the amount of money the government spends on keeping prisoners locked up for one year, we could eliminate tuition at every single one of our public colleges and universities. It is evident that our country is in great need of prison reform — and the decriminalization of drugs is a fantastic place to start. Before you stop reading this thinking I’m a crazy liberal hippie who advocates for strangers to be able to sell kids heroine with no penalties — know that drug trafficking would still continue to be prosecuted as a criminal offense. It is also important to note that drug decriminalization and legalization are two completely different things.

Drug decriminalization would mean that people possessing a drug (usually in relatively small amounts for personal use) would not end up with a criminal record, or a jail sentence. They would most likely have to pay a fine and still have a clean record enabling them to be able to land a job and be a functional member of society. Instead of being incarcerated, drug users would be able to attend treatment facilities and support groups where they would learn how to control their drug use, and eventually wean off of drugs altogether. Contrary to decriminalization, legalization would remove criminal penalty and implement control and distribution by the government. So far no countries have legalized drugs altogether, but some have implemented decriminalization.

In the case of marijuana, The Institute of Medicine concluded “there is little evidence that decriminalization of marijuana use necessarily leads to a substantial increase in marijuana use.” One of the main factors that opponents to decriminalization hate to acknowledge is that just because something is illegal does NOT stop people from doing it. Reality is, if someone wants to smoke weed, they are going to. I know I don’t want to waste my tax dollars on the booking and arrest of some high school juniors smoking blunts at a park. There is an infinite amount of more important issues I would want my money to be spent on, such as, going towards lowering the interest rate on student loans so that instead of those kids being labeled criminals, they would be able to go to college and have a successful future.

Decriminalization has already been implemented in certain areas, one of which being Portugal, and has shown immense signs of success. Since the policy was put in place in 2000, and legally effective from July 2001, the number of deaths from street drug overdoses in the country has plummeted. All the resources that Portugal used to put towards prosecuting and imprisoning drug addicts are now being used to fund treatment plans and help addicts get back into the main stream of society. After decriminalization, drug use decreased in all areas in the country across all demographics, but especially in children and teenagers. Lifetime heroine use among 16-18 year olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8%. HIV infection rates declined by 17%, while drug related deaths were cut in half. Portugal now has one of the lowest drug usages rates in the European Union, in contrast to countries that implement much more stringent drug policies. The result of Portugal’s decriminalization process: a drastic reduction in the number of addicts.

The decriminalization of drugs would be a great first step in a sane government policy towards drug regulation. Instead of simply throwing people away in jail cell to rot, decriminalization focuses on educating people about drug safety, while giving them the freedom to make their own decisions. Decriminalization would ultimately result in the betterment of society, for both drug users and nonusers alike. As a tax-paying citizen you should be pro-decriminalization and make sure your tax dollars are going towards making a positive impact on people and society, not building more prison cells.