The perception towards decriminalization and legalization
Some people are wrong thinking about drug laws in suggestions of decriminalization and legalization. Among the two there are significant variations.
When Colorado allowed retail dispensaries to launch in 2014, it sparked a countrywide debate about decriminalizing or legalizing the use of medicinal or recreational marijuana. Some countries decriminalized it, some legalized it.
In previous decades, there is intense pressure on state governments throughout the United States to legalize or decriminalize the usage and possession of certain quantities of cannabis and/or to pass legislation legalizing the use of the illicit cannabis plants for prescribed medicinal purposes (so-called “medical marijuana”), including hemp, weed, marihuana, cocaine, reefers, ganja, joint, and grass).
Advocates believe that smoking cannabis is healthy and beneficial for different processes from depression and anxiety to dementia and Parkinson’s disease while cannabis has not been licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Cannabis is an inexpensive and healthy method of addressing various psychiatric and medical conditions.
So, we are here to talk about what is the difference between decriminalizing and legalizing. This is where the ignorance ends by eradicating the false facts.
Decriminalization definition
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, decriminalized; decriminalizing; decriminalizes
Definition of decriminalization
: to remove or reduce the criminal classification or status of especially: to repeal a strict ban on while keeping under some form of regulation decriminalize the possession of marijuana
For instance, decriminalization is a slackening of criminal laws for recreational use of cannabis, although it remains illegal to cultivate and distribute the drug.
Law officers were told to search around in possession of small quantities of weed intended for personal use under decriminalization.
The cultivation and selling of marijuana remain unrestricted by the State under decriminalization. Many that have been found with the drug face civil sanctions rather than criminal charges.
Legalization Definition
In line with the Cambridge dictionary, it says that:
legalization
noun [ U ]
(the UK usually legalization)US /ˌliː.ɡəl.əˈzeɪ.ʃən/ UK /ˌliː.ɡəl.aɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/
the act of allowing something by law:
the legalization of drugs
She supports legalization for undocumented immigrants
Legalization, however, may result in less rigid or abolishing regulations banning cannabis possession and recreational use. Above all, legalization allows the government to control and tax the use and selling of marijuana.
Advocates also contend that by extracting millions of convicts involved in small quantities of cannabis from the courts, taxpayers will save millions of dollars.
Statement of argumentation towards decriminalization
Depenalizing drug supporters claim that, in seeking to control drugs, it is not prudent to grant the government the powers of allowing the possession, on the first hand, of weed even like it sends mixed signals about alcohol and cigarette possession.
According to the longtime spokeswoman for the pro-marijuana reform campaign NORML, Nicholas Thimmesch II: “Where’s this reform going? What a misleading message is legalization to our youngsters, who have been told in numerous advertisements not to use (I don’t believe that marijuana is “alcohol,” but cocaine, opium, PCP or meths are) and are subject to the school policy of “zero tolerance?”
States Where Marijuana Is Decriminalized
According to NORML, these states have fully decriminalized personal marijuana use:
These states have partially decriminalized certain marijuana offenses:
Statement of argumentation towards legalization
Advocates of the full legalization of cannabis, such as acts in Washington and Colorado’s early nations, argue that allowing the drug to be cultivated and sold puts the market out of the hands of offenders.
Critics also claim that the legalization of the selling of marijuana makes it accessible to customers and provides cash-strapped countries a steady source of new revenue.
The Economist magazine in 2014 wrote that decriminalization only makes sense as a step towards full legalization because only prisoners under the former can benefit from a drug that remains banned.
Eleven states and the District of Columbia have allowed recreational use and in some cases, the selling of cannabis in regulated dispensaries with limited quantities with weed.
Last thoughts on decriminalization and legalization
Having an ambiguous juridical status of marijuana, businesses with sales of marijuana flourish and even investment in the stock market is possible (i.e. illicit substances prohibited by the federal government but approved by local governments to do so for medicinal and/or recreational purposes).
For instance, CannabisInvestments.com offers information about how one can invest in products and companies related to hemp and medical marijuana.
Similar organizations of business interest are pushing state governments to decriminalize or medicalize cannabis by helping millions of addicted patients and lawmakers seeking re-election votes and unable to take care of the risks involved in such a legislative act.
