Decriminalization

I. Introduction
The primary sociological question here is what impact the decriminalization of drugs has on society and how different society’s members will react to such a policy. There are two main sides taken when discussing the decriminalization of drugs. The first theorizes that should this liberal drug policy be implemented, there will be a large increase in drug usage and drug related problems. The opposing side, which has gained popularity in recent years, believes that decriminalizing drugs would have a positive impact on society and result in less drug usage and a decrease in drug related problems.
The answer to this question is very important because the implementation of a decriminalization policy in the United States could prove to be very beneficial. Drug usage has played a role in societies for thousands of years and has evolved in its part as societies and the drugs used by its members have changed. In July of 2001, Portugal became the first country to decriminalize drugs and has since proved to be a good example of the positive impact such a policy can have.
The decriminalization of drugs and drug control are heavily connected with both modern and classical conflict theories. The type of conflict varies in not only severity but type as well depending on the society under study. The decriminalization of drugs in Portugal has served both to support and to dismantle different aspects of conflict theory as discussed by theorists such as Karl Marx and C. Wright Mills. The United States could also soon be affected by such a policy. By investigating the essential problem that is the war on drugs in the United States, it is clear troubles such as wasteful spending, unfair sentencing, corrupt officers, government deals ...

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...e 2001, nobody was really sure what the best way to deal with drug usage as a society was and the large majority of countries simply made drugs illegal and punished drug users. This however did not prove to be a very successful policy in some places and finally Portugal decided to try something new. Today we are fortunate enough to be able to see how such a policy can positively impact a society and hopefully it won’t be long before the United States can implement a similar policy and begin experiencing the same positive effects.
After being presented with the study of two varying countries, one can conclude that the United States does indeed have something to learn from Portugal’s drug law reformation at the turn of the century. The illusion created by the War On Drugs has lost its appeal over the last several years after defeat has been admitted numerous times.