The Legalization Of Drugs Reduces The Rates Of Family Abuse, Homelessness And Violent Crime

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The Effects of Drug Legalization
The legalization of marijuana in the United States has received general support in more than half of the states. This is because the citizens belief that the drug legalization would reduce crime rate, the rate of family abuses and homelessness. Marijuana can be used for recreational and medical purposes. Therefore, many citizens support marijuana legalization, but understrict regulation like any other drug such as the alcohol and cigarette (Morris et al. 3). This assignment aims at discussing how the legalization of the drug reduces crime rates, family abuses and homelessness.
The Rate of Violent Crime
The impact of decriminalizing marijuana use for medical purposes is a contentious issue in many states. Previous studies have suggested that the marijuana use was linked to an increased rate of illegal drugs abuse, thus increasing violent behaviors. Investigations have also demonstrated that there is no association between cannabis use and vicious crime when studied at personal level. However, no study was conducted to investigate the impact of decriminizing medical marijuana use in the United States (Morris et al. 6).
Studies suggest that the enactment of medical marijuana law does not forecast felony rate but reduces the rate of murder and violence cases. The black people in the United States are more likely to be arrested for crime cases related to marijuana use. The incidences of theft and housebreaking are not affected by legalizing medical marijuana (Morris et al. 10).
Moreover, the decriminalization of the drug use will lead to the opening of dispensaries to serve the medical marijuana patients. This means many people will be licensed to use the drug, thus reducing the number of individuals arrested in possession of the drug. The increased marijuana trade will force the government to beef up security in the trading zones to counter crime rate. Other researches show that the replacement of alcohol use with marijuana use slightly reduces alcohol related crimes (Morris et al. 25).
The Rate of Family Abuses
Furthermore, the legalization of marijuana has reduced the cases of child abuse and neglect in countries such as Colorado. Women who are pregnant undergo toxicology test to investigate if their blood contain the active ingredient of marijuana. This protects the child that was exposed to prenatal drug abuse from child abuse and neglect by their parents after birth. This is because the drug is associated with attention deficit disorders and parents of such children may neglect or abuse them (Hall and Weier 4).
In addition, a positive marijuana test will enable the health experts to counsel the couples in order to avoid incidences of family abuse. The ...