Drugs Should be Legalized Essay

For many years, drugs have been the center of crime and the criminal justice system in the United States. Due to this widespread epidemic, President Richard Nixon declared the “War on Drugs” in 1971 with a campaign that promoted the prohibition of illicit substances and implemented policies to discourage the overall production, distribution, and consumption. The War on Drugs and the U.S. drug policy has experienced the most significant and complex challenges between criminal law and the values of today’s society. With implemented drug polices becoming much harsher over the years in order to reduce the overall misuse and abuse of drugs and a expanded federal budget, it has sparked a nation wide debate whether or not they have created more harm than good. When looking at the negative consequences of these policies not only has billions of dollars gone to waste, but the United States has also seen public health issues, mass incarceration, and violent drug related crime within the black market in which feeds our global demands and economy. With this failed approach for drug prohibition, there continues to be an increase in the overall production of illicit substances, high rate of violence, and an unfavorable impact to our nation.

Throughout time, United States drug policy has shifted dramatically. From all drugs being legal to Prohibition and the War on Drugs, the US has had conflicting ideas about what is best for society and American citizens when it comes to drugs. The current War on Drugs has resulted in countless arrests and years served in prison, and has disproportionately hurt minority communities, only to result in largely unchanged use and death rates for illicit substances. Marijuana, Heroin, and Cocaine have all become cheaper and more pure

The United States defiantly needs to do more to prevent imported drugs into the country. More emphasis results in less drug use by consumers. Although it may not completely stop drug use. It will reduce the number of people gaining access nonetheless. An argument for this issue is that the more the force the United States places on drug

Countless individuals have had their freedom stolen from them because they suffer from the mental illness that is drug addiction. The number of inmates in all prisons, state and federal, “incarcerated for drug offenses has skyrocketed from 40,000 in 1980, to 500,000 today” (Buggle). This translates to the percentage of inmates in federal prisons for drug offences rising from 16% in 1970 all the way to roughly 50% today (Miles). Imprisoning this many people isn’t free either, it costs an average of $25,251 per prisoner every year to house and care for them (Buggle). All of this money has been spent on attempting to control illicit drug use and yet the only real result is more harm done to our society by disallowing these prisoners to contribute to society and alienating them because they partook in the victimless crime of using substances that their government deemed

A summary of the war the United States is waging on drugs is necessary before any comparison and contrast position can be made with the Prohibition Era.

Drug prohibition may be a factor that is actually encouraging the spread of harder drugs. As government officials and police officers become more skilled in capturing drug smugglers and dealers, the pushers find more efficient ways to transport and conceal drugs, creating a larger supply and often making hard drugs more accessible and affordable to the common user. Although the government has succeeded in raising marijuana prices from $20 and ounce in the 1960’s to $200 an ounce today, the price of cocaine has fallen from $50,000 a kilo in the 1970’s to $10,000 a kilo today. Also, the potency and composition of these drugs is often unpredictable. If the government legalized these more minor drugs, as Milton Friedman pointed out in his essay “There’s No Justice in the War on Drugs,” they’d have the ability to regulate them and make them less dangerous than they would have been if they’d been sold on the street.

The War on Drugs is a deep-rooted controversial campaign of prohibition and military aid that has been disputed for many years. There are constant debates as to whether there will ever be a viable solution to the problem. However, as we continue to pursue the “war on drugs,” it has become increasingly evident that “winning” the war seems to be an impossible task. Drug prohibition and the undertaking of the war on drugs have stirred much controversy over its moral and logical implications. While there are many drugs that exist that are unhealthy when abused, it has become apparent that the drug policies in the United States, as well as many parts of the world, are inconsistent and oppressive. Ironically, drug laws were initially created for the good of society, but it has become increasingly clear that drug laws and our undertaking of the drug war have only served to cause problems. The current war on drugs has led to devastating effects on society both economically and socially. Violence and corruption have subjugated throughout the United States, Mexico and many other parts of the world. Additionally, drug prohibition efforts have had very little impact on the supply of illegal drugs and have had little to no success in reducing the demand for illegal drugs. The war on drugs, which is fueled by corruption and propaganda, needs to come to an end for the betterment of society.

For the better part of half of a century, the American Government has waged war against its citizens through legislation, restriction, and imprisonment. This “war” against American citizens aptly named the “War on Drugs,” has cost billions of American taxpayer dollars and has not discontinued or even diminished the manufacture and sale of currently illegal substances, since once one drug smuggling operation is stopped, hundreds if not thousands of other illicit operations vie to fill their spot in the drug market. One argument would put forth that this is why we need to continue to enforce the War on Drugs or even apply it more heavily and put forth our best effort to arrest every operation that exists. Which rationally would be impossible to complete since drug trafficking is widespread, and cannot ever be stopped entirely for the reason that as long as consumers continue to demand these drugs, the supply will flourish. Another more moderate argument expresses the opinion that we should legalize the least dangerous drugs, such as cannabis, psilocybin, and LSD, and continue to criminalize harder ones, such as heroin and methamphetamines. Which is on the right track, but this argument fails to see that the most logical step is the legalization of all drugs, along with harm prevention tactics. Legislators should repeal our draconian drug laws and start to focus on reform for the following reasons: the war on drugs increases instead of preventing or decreasing crime, it has

This is a topic that has become a bit of concern amongst people in the past few years. Marijuana has been illegal since the early 1900’s, but lately scientists have figured out that there are some uses of marijuana that could benefit people in need, people who are sick of deadly diseases such as aids, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. These are all diseases that are hard for anyone to go through, especially without aid that helps the pain and misery from ceasing. Prohibiting marijuana has just made things worse, by increasing the price of marijuana, the illegal usage, and the money spent on trying to cease its use.

For the better part of half of a century, the American Government has waged war against its citizens through legislation, restriction, and imprisonment. This “war” against American citizens aptly named the “War on Drugs,” has cost billions of American taxpayer dollars and has not discontinued or even diminished the manufacture and sale of currently illegal substances, since once one drug smuggling operation is stopped, hundreds if not thousands of other illicit operations vie to fill their spot in the drug market. One argument would put forth that this is why we need to continue to enforce the War on Drugs or even apply it more heavily and put forth our best effort to arrest every operation that exists. Which rationally would be impossible

There are many people that are conflicted in this country on how to properly deal with the issue of drugs and how they should be handled. There are some people that firmly believe that legalizing all drugs will solve a lot of our country’s problems. The advocates for legalizing drugs believe that this would benefit everyone by making our streets and homes much safer due to the fact that drug addicts will do anything for their next “fix”. Drug prices increase with the restriction of drugs by law enforcement and the addicts are desperate for money and will commit a string of muggings, burglary of homes and cars or even murder to finance their habits. The higher the price of their drug the more they will need to steal to buy their supply.

America’s illicit drug problem is very similar to the alcohol probation problems of the 1930’s and the only way to win this war and end all the violence was to take the radical approach of legalization, the same holds true for winning the War on Drugs today. Former Federal Judge and advocate for legalization Judge Sweet (2009) stated in his article “The elimination of much of the criminal prohibition on illicit drugs replaced by strict regulation of the drug sales similar to those of alcohol is an option for winning the War on Drugs.” The fact is the War on Drugs has lasted for over forty years cost trillions of dollars with no results. Suddath (2009) points out “The U.S War on Drugs was started under President Nixon in 1971 at a cost of $2.5 trillion dollars fighting this war with no end in sight.” The human, monetary and social cost of the War on Drugs with no real progress being made the uncomfortable answer remains will the Unites States government ever change course on our drug policies. It is about the law of supply and demand, and the only real solution is to consider the legalization of illicit drugs to stop the violence and monetary cost of fighting this war.

The current hot-topic debate about the legalization of marijuana for medical exposes the long lasting debate about the economic viability of prohibiting certain kind of drugs considered illicit. Many social costs to society are attributable to illicit drugs, along with tobacco, alcohol, and guns. In fact, each of these vices is allegedly responsible for $200 billion annual expenditure in social costs of the USA (Donohue, 2010). Interestingly, all these commodities mentioned above have common characteristics: a sizeable proportion of consumers responsibly use each of them hence virtually zero social externality; and a trivial subset of society individuals irresponsibly use each of these commodity to create high social externalities. The

This view is often associated with the previous punitive strategies combatting drug abuse. That addiction, use, and possession were often subject to harsher prison sentences than violent crimes, within the US criminal justice system, shows how past policies were misaimed. The new strategies must therefore not only deal with the issue of illicit drug use, but also with the fallout of previous policies.

If drugs would to be legalized, there will have to be new set of laws to be follow. The major problem with our society as in now, is the spending in drug wars. According to Gary E. Johnson in “The Case for Drug Legalization” states how “...We are spending $150 billion a year to combat drugs.” This also includes spending in such as courts, jails , and police. But we should also consider, if drugs were to be legalized, It’ll be easier for the government to control and they will be able to tax the usage of drugs. Especially, the legalization of drugs will help spend money on other things such as education, public schools, emergency services and will save a lot of finance instead of spending on tracking down drug lords. Nowadays drugs are being sold nationwide through black marketing and a lot of people could get hands on , which cause competition between others drug lords, cartels and violence is erupted. I believe if drugs were to be legalized , it would tremendously drop crime, murder, addiction to certain drugs, and the government would regulate and tax drugs.