Soc 324 first podcast

Hope You Help Us is a group advocating for treatment instead of incarceration for minor drug charges. They discuss the decriminalization of marijuana, citing studies showing a decrease in drug-related arrests and positive effects on job opportunities for youth. They also mention the potential for marijuana to combat the opioid crisis and the economic benefits of legalization. Overall, they believe decriminalization is a win for both the government and citizens. Good morning, everyone. My name is Joyce Bronson. I am with Hope You Help Us. We are a group of advocates that help those that are looking at getting incarcerated for minor drug possession or paraphernalia charges. We advocate for them to receive treatment in lieu of incarceration. As we know, it's cheaper to get individuals treatment than it is to actually pay for someone to be incarcerated. So today we're going to look at decriminalization of marijuana. As we know, this is a hot topic going on now. A lot of states are decriminalizing marijuana and even more are decriminalizing the use of marijuana for medical reasons. Marijuana is one of the most used substances in America. There was a study done for five states that passed the decriminalization of marijuana in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maryland. Based on their results, they actually had a 75% reduction in the rate of drug-related arrests for use during that time. So, I mean, that is a significant savings and also it helps prevent us affecting these youth long-term job opportunities. In the past, individuals would get felony misdemeanors just depending on the amount of marijuana they have on them. And so with us decriminalization, with the decriminalization, this actually will help prevent individuals from having their life affected from minor offenses. I think this is a huge win for us. One of the big stereotypes that we're getting as a result of if they decriminalize marijuana in all states is that there will be an increase in adolescent youth because of the fact that they no longer use marijuana, that they will be incarcerated. There was actually a study that was done that found that there was a positive relationship between this decriminalization and the use of cannabis among young people. And this was actually posted in Patient Care, Decriminalization and Marijuana in the United States. It's a great article. Definitely recommend everyone to read it. In that same article, it actually even explains how the marijuana can actually help combat the opioid crisis that we have going on. And that is actually a big situation. If we can combat the opioid crisis with just some youth, with legalized marijuana use, this will actually be a huge win. Socially, the legalization of marijuana is going to be great for the states because it actually helps increase jobs and increase income. So, I mean, this is actually a win all over, not only for the government but for the actual citizens of each state.