Decriminalization of psychoactive substance Research Proposal 2022

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Decriminalization of psychoactive substance
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Research Problem........................................................................................................................2
Research Aim...............................................................................................................................3
Research Objectives.....................................................................................................................3
Research Questions......................................................................................................................4
Research Rationale......................................................................................................................4
Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................................................6
Chapter 3: Research Methodology..................................................................................................9
Ethical Consideration.................................................................................................................11
Timeline.........................................................................................................................................11
References:....................................................................................................................................13

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Chapter 1: Introduction
The human civilization has been constantly changing through the times immemorial. The
dynamic nature of the human society has made it so that through every major landmark, the
human civilization faces a new development which gives the period of human history its own
distinguishing feature. There are many issues which plague the contemporary world of today
(Bowen & Murshid, 2016). One of the most defining features of the modern world is the freedom
and the power given to the youth to live their lives on their terms. This has a serious consequence
on the children of the world as the new found freedom has a way of either making their career
prospect or destroying their lives. This is due to the fact that the level of freedom which is given
to the people is often misused to the extent that it harms their bodily functions (Zastrow, 2016).
For instance, in the twenty first century, it is observed that the youth is heavily engaged in the
usage of drugs. This problem is aggravated further due to the fact that the usage of drugs is
illegal in the society. Due to their restriction, the youth is more attracted to the use of
psychoactive substances. This research tries to understand if social work can lead to the
decriminalization of the use of psychoactive substances in Australia (Souleymanov et al., 2016).
This is essential because the use of psychoactive drugs should be regulated for the maintenance
of human safety and human health. In this respect, social work has the most pervasive role to
play in the lives of the people as the social workers can keep a vigilant eye on the activities of the
people of the society (Galvani, 2015).
Research Problem
The use of psychoactive drugs has posed a serious challenge to not only the health of the
individual units of the society but also of the societal structuring of the community as well. This
is due to the fact that under the influence of the psychoactive drugs the people of the society are

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likely to engage in certain undesirable activities. Such activities can lead to the diminishing of
the societal customs and values of the community that binds the individuals to one another. This
research tries to understand the regulated use of psychoactive drug on the health of the people. In
this respect, the importance of social work and the significance of the social workers is also
looked in to as the main objective of the social workers is to ensure the maintenance of the
societal frame work and its values in the community. The main purpose of this research is
therefore to understand the significance of the social work and how it can help in the
decriminalization of the psychoactive substances.
Research Aim
The aim of this research is to understand the importance of social work and to analyze
how social work can lead to decriminalization of the personal use of psychoactive drugs in the
country of Australia.
Research Objectives
The objectives of the research are as follows:
1. To understand the impact of the usage of psychoactive drugs on the society without the
intervention of the social workers.
2. To analyze the importance of the social workers in the regulated use of psychoactive drugs.
3. To examine the need for decriminalization of the personal use of psychoactive drugs within
the country of Australia.
4. To provide certain recommendations which would help to implement the safe use of
psychoactive drugs in the society so that the structuring of the community is maintained in an
efficient manner.

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Research Questions
The research questions are as follows:
1. What is the impact of the usage of psychoactive drugs on the society without the intervention
of the social workers?
2. What is the importance of the social workers in the regulated use of psychoactive drugs?
3. What is the need for decriminalization of the personal use of psychoactive drugs within the
country of Australia?
4. What are the various recommendations which would help to implement the safe use of
psychoactive drugs in the society so that the structuring of the community is maintained in an
efficient manner?
Research Rationale
Drugs are considered to one the substances that heavily interfere with the rational and
logical side of the human beings. The use of these drugs often compromise the thinking
capability of the individuals (Beckett & Horner, 2015). As a consequence of this, many countries
across the world has banned the use of drugs and has made their usage legally punishable in
nature. This has been done in the view that it will provide safety and security to the other
members of the community. However, in the recent human society, there has been talks about the
decriminalization about the issue of the personal use of psychoactive drugs (Marshall, et al.,
2015). This flows from the fact that all the individuals of the world are guaranteed a basic
amount of freedom to follow their life choices. As a result, the nation states of the world are
discouraged from placing any restriction on the actions of the individuals. This includes the use
of psychoactive substances as well. Under such a scenario, the aspect of social work becomes

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important. Social workers have the important responsibility of maintaining the perpetuation of
the societal values and customs on the society (Duff, 2015). Moreover, they also have the
obligation to ensure that all the people of the society are able to enjoy a decent standard of living.
In this sense, this research tries to understand the importance ad significance of the social
workers in the responsibility of maintaining the societal values in the face of the personal use of
psychoactive drugs (Stone, 2015). The decriminalization of the personal use of the psychoactive
drugs in the country of Australia becomes important to understand in the face of the activities of
the social workers. In this sense, the significance of the study lies in the fact that it enables the
researcher to understand the importance of the role played by the social workers who are
advocating for the decriminalization of the personal use of the psychoactive substances (McCann
& Temenos, 2015).

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
The decriminalization of the personal use of the psychoactive substances is a significant
datable issue as drugs always have had a mixed impact on the human beings of the society.
Drugs are essential because of the various benefits that are provided by them (Strathdee et al.,
2015). On the other hand, the unregulated use of such drugs can negatively impact the working
of the individual, which might, in turn, influence the concerned person to act in a socially
undesirable manner. The need for decriminalization of the personal use of the psychoactive drugs
can be understood in a comprehensive manner by looking at several sources of literature review
which examines this issue in a detailed manner.
There is a necessity to understand as to why the consumption of psychoactive substances
has been made illegal in the society. This flows from the fact that under the influence of such
substances, the individuals often end up losing their cognitive ability. It is the rational and the
cognitive a=thinking ability of the people which distinguishes a human being from the other
living species of the world. In this respect, it is essential that human beings should always be in
control of their actions. They must be responsible for their activities and fir this, they should use
such psychoactive substances in a regulated manner.
According to Wong and Manning (2017), in the contemporary society, many of the
young people are engaged in the usage of drugs. Since many nation states across the world have
banned the usage of such drugs, the usage of such drugs is often illegal in nature. In the words of
Wong and Manning (2017), the usage of such illegal substances can be attributed to a host of
factors such as those of environmental factors, social factors as well as individual factors. The
authors used a seven stage continuum of the usage of drugs which included the elements of
nonuse, priming, initial use, experimental use, occasional use, regular use, and dysfunctional use

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in order to determine how frequently the people use drugs. The research study found out that in
order to minimize the impact of drug use, society prefers interventionist policies rather than
minimal interventionist policies. Through this, the authors tried to show that the usage of drugs
can be quite harmful for the society and there is a need of vigilant interventionist policies in
order to counteract the negative impacts of such drug usage.
However, Clark, Dolan and Farabee (2017) argued that the use of drug is quite harmful
for the prisoners. In the prisons, the health system of the individual prisoners are impacted to a
great extent. The use of drugs under this vulnerable state further aggravates the immunity system
of the prisoners which has a negative impact on the health of such prisoners. The authors are also
of the view that when the prisoners come out of the prisons, they run in to the problem of being
overdosed. In order to understand the behavioral pattern of such people who are imprisoned. The
authors’ conducted an empirical analysis whereby they took a note of the prisoners and their
drug taking habit.
The empirical analysis of the population of people who are engaged in the illicit usage of
drugs can aid the researcher to get a comprehensive understanding about the importance of drugs
in the lives of such people (Berg-Weger, 2016). Often times it is observed that people consume
drugs for the sole purpose because they get addicted to such consumption and cannot stop.
During such times, there is a need on the part of the society to interfere and create a situation
whereby the people who are addicted to consumption of illicit drugs can stop such consumption.
However, often times it can be seen that the interventionist policies that are followed are
ineffective in nature. This is due to the reason that drugs are illegal in nature (Maschi, 2016).
This gives them a forbidden aura which is the main reason of attraction of such drugs to the
people. Under such a scenario, there is often a view that the use of drugs should be made legal in

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nature or decriminalized. This would help the authorities to regulate the usage of drugs among
the population by ensuring that only that much amount of psychoactive substances are given to
the people as can be borne by them (Garrard et al., 2016).
In this sense, it is important to understand the significant activity that is played by the
social workers. Social workers refer to the people who have the main responsibility of ensuring
the maintenance of the community values and customs (Kirsh et al., 2015). In the contemporary
time period this responsibility becomes all the more important because in the present time frame,
there has been a lot of loss of cultural values and traditions. Nowadays, people lay a lot of stress
on the aspect of human individuality and freedom. In this manner, the important values and
customs of the society are largely over looked. The social workers try to ensure that people live
in a harmonious society in a manner which is conducive for the peaceful living of all (Gurwitz, J.
H., Bonner & Berwick, 2017). In this respect, there is a view that the social workers should
advocate for the decriminalization of the personal use of the psychoactive substances within the
region of Australia. The main reason behind such a propounding of an idea is that since social
workers are able to guarantee the peaceful and harmonious living of the people, the regulated use
of the drugs would contribute further to such a peaceful environment. The regulated such of
psychoactive drugs is beneficial to the public as it helps them to handle a lot of stress by
themselves (Kpozehouen et al., 2015). However, in the event that such usage of drugs are not
regulated, then it has the potential to create problems for the society. The people who consume
the psychoactive substances at an unusually high rate, would take part in certain socially
desirable activities which would, in turn, lead to the degeneration of the values and traditions of
the society.

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This research proposal seeks to understand the role played by the social workers in the
context of Australia. In other words, the importance of the social workers in the
decriminalization of the personal use of the psychoactive substances is looked in to in this
research study. This is important because all other research studies in this field has talked about
the importance of decriminalization and has debated on the issue, but has not taken the view
point of the social workers in the context. The important role played by the social workers would
n=go a long way in ensuring the maintenance of the societal customs and values while there is
considerable use of the psychoactive substances in the society.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
The research would follow the positivism research philosophy, deductive research design,
descriptive research approach and qualitative technique of data analysis in order to
systematically find data for the research. The aim of this research is to understand the
importance of social work and to analyze how social work can lead to decriminalization of the
personal use of psychoactive drugs in the country of Australia. In this respect, the various
research methods will try to find out the relevant data and analyze them in a manner which is
conducive to the research study under investigation.
Positivism research philosophy includes the understanding of the research aim in a
subjective manner. The main purpose of the research is to understand the impact of social work
which advocates for the decriminalization of the personal use of the psychoactive drug within the
frame work of Australia (Taylor, Bogdan & DeVault, 2015). In this manner, positivism research
philosophy would be useful in getting a comprehensive idea about this research study under
investigation.

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The use of descriptive research design is useful as this research design would try to
explore the various reasons for the decriminalization of the personal use of psychoactive
substances (Smith, 2015). Furthermore, it would also aid in the explanation of the reasons and
the causes of the use of psychoactive drugs.
The employment of deductive research approach would enable the researcher to
understand the hypothesis so formulated. For the clear understanding, the research study would
include the use of existing theories and concepts about the use of psychoactive substances
(Forrester & Sullivan, 2018). The aim of this research is to understand the importance of social
work and to analyze how social work can lead to decriminalization of the personal use of
psychoactive drugs in the country of Australia. In this manner, the researcher would try to
understand how social work can advocate for the decriminalization of the personal use of
psychoactive substances.
The case study research study would be used in the course of the research work. The case
study research strategy aims to find out how social work can be conducive in advocating for the
decriminalization of the personal use of the psychoactive substances (Sutton & Austin, 2015).
The case study would enable the researcher to understand the various cases that have been in
existence with regard to the research study under investigation.
The secondary data collection process would be employed in the making of this research
study under investigation. The various sources of information would be gathered from the
secondary sources such as that of articles, journals, books and similar other sources (Glaser &
Strauss, 2017). The aim of this research is to understand the importance of social work and to
analyze how social work can lead to decriminalization of the personal use of psychoactive drugs

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in the country of Australia. In this regard, information about the usage of psychoactive drugs
would be collected from the secondary sources and would be used in the course of the work.
The information gathered would be analyzed with the aid of qualitative data analysis
technique. Qualitative data analysis technique would be used as this gives a subjective
understanding of the research study under investigation (Mayan, 2016). The decriminalization of
the usage of drugs is a sensitive topic as this has the potential to harm the society in a
considerable manner. In this regard, it is important to understand the view point of the people at
large since they are the ones who would be impacted by the policy so formulated.
Ethical Consideration
The making of any research study requires the adherence to several ethical consideration.
This is due to the fact that the effective execution of any research proposal is dependent on the
fact that it requires adherence to certain ethical considerations (Glaser & Strauss, 2017). The aim
of this research is to understand the importance of social work and to analyze how social work
can lead to decriminalization of the personal use of psychoactive drugs in the country of
Australia. For this purpose, the various secondary sources of literature has been analyzed. The
main intention of the research proposal is to understand the objectives of the research (Glaser &
Strauss, 2017). However, while trying to understand the research objectives, it is necessary to
follow certain research ethics which would prove to be beneficial for the research work under
investigation. These are in the nature of maintaining the validity of the research and the
reliability of the research. Furthermore, the researcher needs to ensure that the data collected
from the various sources are not manipulated in the course of the research work.
One of the main ethical consideration which needs to be ensured in the making of this
research study under investigation is to ensure the prevalence of validity and reliability (Glaser &

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Strauss, 2017). Validity of the data is guaranteed when the research diligently follows the
observations to be made (Mayan, 2016). In this regard, proper data is collected which is relevant
to the research study. Furthermore, there is also a need to maintain reliability of the data in a
qualitative study. In this scenario, the aim of this research is to understand the importance of
social work and to analyze how social work can lead to decriminalization of the personal use of
psychoactive drugs in the country of Australia. In this sense, the validity of the data collected
from the various sources need to be guaranteed that they are authentic in nature.
Reliability of data is guaranteed when the same conclusion can be reached whenever the
data is analyzed (Glaser & Strauss, 2017). In this scenario, the aim of this research is to
understand the importance of social work and to analyze how social work can lead to
decriminalization of the personal use of psychoactive drugs in the country of Australia.
Reliability of the data and validity of data should be ensured for maintaining the ethical
consideration attached with the course of the research study (Glaser & Strauss, 2017).
Another ethical consideration that needs to be adhered to is that the researcher should
ensure that there is no manipulation of data (Glaser & Strauss, 2017). Manipulation of data refers
to the condition whereby the data gathered in the course of the research work is manipulated to
the extent that it would lead to the aim of the research. This would mean that the research work is
not authentic in nature (Glaser & Strauss, 2017). In this scenario, the aim of this research is to
understand the importance of social work and to analyze how social work can lead to
decriminalization of the personal use of psychoactive drugs in the country of Australia. In this
regard, the researcher should ensure that the data collected from the various secondary sources
are not manipulated in any respect. The main purpose of the research is to show that drug use can
be accepted in the society provided they are regulated in nature.

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Another important ethical consideration in the course of research work is that of ensuring
that authentic sources of data are mentioned in the course of the research work (Glaser &
Strauss, 2017). The main purpose of this research work is to understand the social work as
provided by the social workers in the context of regulated drug use and to analyze how social
work can lead to decriminalization of the personal use of psychoactive drugs in the country of
Australia. In this scenario, the various sources of information that are consulted should be
authentic in nature (Glaser & Strauss, 2017). This should be done in order to maintain the
validity of the research work. The researcher needs to consult only those sources of information
which are relevant to this field of study. This would help the researcher to ensure that the
research is authentic in nature (Glaser & Strauss, 2017).
A fourth ethical consideration that needs to be taken in to consideration to ensure the
proper execution of the research work under investigation is that of maintaining the
confidentiality of the data collected (Glaser & Strauss, 2017). Confidentiality refers to the
situation whereby the data collected from the various sources are not revealed to the general
public without the prior consent of the people from where they have been collected from (Glaser
& Strauss, 2017). This is mainly applicable in the case of the primary research. However, this is
also applied in the case of the secondary research work whereby if certain people are mentioned
in the different literature sources, the names of such people are not revealed without taking their
permission (Glaser & Strauss, 2017). The main purpose of this research work is to understand
the social work as provided by the social workers in the context of regulated drug use and to
analyze how social work can lead to decriminalization of the personal use of psychoactive drugs
in the country of Australia. In this sense, the various secondary sources should be properly
consulted with.

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Timeline
Activity in the Research 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Choosing of a research topic
Meeting with the research supervisor
and getting feed backs
Collecting the background
information about the research
Formulation of literature review
Identifying the literature gap
Collection of data
Writing of the research report and
analysis of the data
Proof reading the report
Subission of the final report

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