Introduction Drug abuse: A phenomenological perspective

Running head: LEGALISATION OR DECRIMINALISATION OF DRUG USE
LEGALISATION OR DECRIMINALISATION OF DRUG USE
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LEGALISATION OR DECRIMINALISATION OF DRUG USE
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Introduction
Drug abuse has a significant negative impact on the current generation. There are
different policies undertook by the government to control the drug use. However, a distinct
increase in drug use can be observed. These policies restrict the legal supply of drug which leads
to the development of black markets. The black markets of drugs contributes to drug abuse and
violence. The implementation of these polices are not effective enough to deal with the drug
related issues. The main aim of the paper is to critically discuss about the need for the large scale
polices to restrict the use illegal drug. The critical reflection is done in two parts. The first part
contains the explanation of the preconceived idea about the drug policies and its effect from the
personal perspective. Secondly, the paper carries a review of the literature of current reports on
decriminalisation of the drugs with respect to the system of prohibition used in Australia.
Portugal and other nations. Critical analysis will help to enhance the understanding on personal
perspective of drug related issues.
Preconceived ideas
Before conducting this secondary research I had a completely negative perspective about
drug addiction and drug abuse. In my perspective it was a crime committed by individuals with
antisocial or criminal mental set-up. Considering, the harmful effects of drug abuse, I always
found it as a serious act of violation of social norms, national regulations and legal policies. I
was very much supportive to all the regulations and policies imposed by the narcotic department
of the government. It is true that drug abuse causes several serious public health problems that
affect our community, social structure, health standards and many other factors related to society.
Prioritising these facts, I think that the government should impose stringent policies to prevent

LEGALISATION OR DECRIMINALISATION OF DRUG USE
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the potential population from falling in the criminal activity. I used to consider abusing drugs and
merchandising them should be prohibited equally as it has severe impact on the health, society
and security. However, this critical analysis has changed my perspective on the drug related
issues and policies.
New perspectives about drug policies
After reviewing several articles and papers on this topic my perspective on these issues
has been changed drastically. After realising the practical situations, causes and consequences, I
think, the criminalization of the user of drugs and harsh administrational measures can cause
health emergency. Use of drugs is not a crime but should be described as health issue.
As per the literature review related to decriminalization policies, there are various types
of non-criminal sanctions in different jurisdictions which includes warnings, fines, education
session and treatment (Greer& Ritter, 2019). In case of Australia, a minor drug offence is treated
with monetary fines along with the civil penalty schemes. A study by Belackova et al. (2017) has
described the role of health care professionals in harm reduction programme and also mentioned
about the connection between the decriminalization of drug control and the investment plan in
the harm reduction programme.
In Portugal, polices related with the harm reduction effort are developed by considering
the relationship between the laws and public health. As a result, STDs and death rate due to drug
abuse has decreased drastically (Laqueur, 2015). According to different studies, many countries
do impose any criminal charges to the individuals who are the victims of drug abuse. As a result
of it, those individuals can access better health care facilities (Hughes & Stevens, 2015). The
current evidences supported that drug offences are charged with long imprisonment. There are