Drugs have become a rising problem for nations across the globe. In Canada, drug use among individuals aged 15 years or older was 11%, demonstrating that an issue does indeed exist (Health Canada). "Many of society's worst problems with drugs result from the fact that they are illegal. Like alcohol and tobacco, drugs should be legal in this country." Although this has been a much debated dilemma, I would agree with this statement because of the practicality that it would entail. Drugs are the source of many societal and class issues that could be resolved by the implementing a structured legal system that will facilitate the regulation of drugs. Making drugs legal will resolve more problems than what it will cause.
There are many positive factors that could arise from legalizing all drugs. Financial incentives to legalizing drugs should be a motivating factor in this process. A second motive toward drug legalization is the attempt at resolving societal problems that have thus far arisen from illegal drug activity. A final perspective to consider when thinking about making drugs legal in this country is the greater regulation and control that can be had in terms of who will have access to these drugs. When taking all of these factors into consideration, it becomes logical to legalize drugs and reduce its impact.
Drugs not only cost a lot of money to get off the streets, but drugs hold the potential of being a source of alternative income for the country. By legalizing
Proponents on the legalization of drugs believe if drugs were to become legal; the black market worth billions of dollars would become extinct, drug gangsters would disappear, addicts would stop committing crimes to support their habit and the prison system would not be overwhelmed with a problem they cannot defeat. The decriminalization of drugs will only make illegal drugs cheaper, easier to get and more acceptable to use. “The U.S. has 20 million alcoholics and alcohol misusers, but only around 6 million illegal drug addicts. If illegal drugs were easier to obtain, this figure would rise”(Should Drugs be decriminalized? No.November 09, 2007 Califano Joseph A, Jr).”
Legalizing these drugs and having them on the streets, allows anyone, including young individuals, to easily be able to obtain these items. As stated by William Bennett, “Legalization on the other hand, removes the incentive to stay away from a life of drugs.” (548). Parents and guardians need to make a huge evaluation to whether or not they want to see some of these drugs on the streets permanently. During prohibition this nation made a huge decision to ban the sale and consumption of alcohol.
We should decriminalize drugs in the U.S. instead of legalizing them. Decriminalization refers to the lessening of criminal penalties of certain acts. According to De Marneffe, “… the legalization of drugs … [is] the removal of criminal penalties for the manufacture, sale, and possession of large quantities of recretational drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine” (346).
The United States should decriminalize drugs because it would keep people out of jail and stop overcrowding of jails, there are people with worst crimes that should be in jail. It will also stop wasting the taxpayers money, and it could increase the economy, also some states have already legalized drugs and the banning of drugs isn’t effective.
Illegal drugs influence people every day of their lives. Illegal drugs affect people, whether they are users themselves, drug dealers, or victims of drug related crime. Throughout, the years many people have been going against drug legalization. Even though drugs are unhealthy and unsafe, prohibition is not the answer to the country's drug problem. The United States should consider legalizing drugs and ending drug prohibition. There are several reasons to legalize drugs in the United States.
The current policy in use by the United States concerning illegal drugs is both outdated and unfair. This so-called war on drugs is a deeply rooted campaign of prohibition and unfair sentencing that is very controversial and has been debated for many years. The war on drugs is designed so that it will never end. This current drug was has very little impact on the overall supply of prohibited drugs and its impact on demand seems non-existent. United States’ taxpayers are spending billions of dollars on this failure of policy. They are spending billions to incarcerate drug users instead offering drug treatment which could help lower demand. Legalizing illicit would lower abuse and deaths from use and could have a positive economic impact on the United States. Certain industries are making massive sums of money by capitalizing on the drug war.
current system of making drugs illegal is an issue. We have been fighting a war on drugs that never seems to end. If our country were to legalize drugs, there would be a decrease in crime rate, which would be terrific. American’s in today’s world believe that the majority of people who want illegal drugs would steal in order to obtain their drugs. Edmund Harrett, Deputy Chief and Executive Officer, of the Narcotics Division, New York City Police Department, New York, writes, “Many legalization supporters believe that property crime, particularly burglary, larceny from persons (purse snatchers, chain snatchers, and pickpockets), auto theft, theft from autos, and shoplifting would decrease by 40-50 percent if drugs were made legal. Similarly, many believe that the terms “drug-related murder” and “drive-by shooting” would become outdated once drugs were legalized. In their view, turf wars would be eliminated because there would no longer be a need to fight for one’s turf” (policechiefmagazine.com). This quote reveals that there is a serious drug problem in this country, and with legalization we would reduce crime, which is always a positive. By legalizing low-level drugs, we would have a lower crime rate for petty crimes, simply because those who used to steal to fund their habit, would have no reason to anymore. It would be terrific for our government if we had fewer petty criminals plugging up our court systems. Allowing them to focus more time on handling higher risk
There always seems to be debate on whether the decriminalization of drugs would be of great public interest. It is a very important and controversial issue that has many people wondering if legalizing drugs would be a right move or not. In the article, “Decriminalization Would Increase The Use and The Economic and Social Costs of Drugs” by David Mineta, Mineta argues about why drugs should not be decriminalized and how keeping illicit drugs illegal outweigh the possible negative consequences of legalizing these substances. Mineta himself writes that, “Our position is simple and evidence-based: both decriminalization and legalization of illicit drugs would increase their use, along with their associated health and social costs” (Americas Quarterly). According to Mineta the decriminalization of drugs will only allow more people to become addicted causing more health and social costs because seen as they will be more widely used. (Americas Quarterly)
Drugs are a very big problem in the world and many deaths are caused by the wrong use of drugs, overdose and suicide. Everywhere you look people are affected by them and a lot of discussion over the drug issue occurs daily. Most of the people tend to drugs because they want to change something about their lives. They think drugs are a solution, so they use it as a way to escape from their problems or to relax or to just fit in the society. But eventually, the drugs become the problem. And the consequences of drug use are always worse than the problems one is trying to cope with them. Many people today calling for the legalization of the drugs especially the most widely used prohibited substance in the United States – Marijuana. People don’t
Legalizing drugs in the United States would lead to great trouble for the country affecting all citizens. Legalizing drugs will cause chaos among Americans. Edmund Harnett a deputy chief and executive officer wrote an article, “Drug legalization: why it wouldn’t work in the United States.” Harnett is also involved in the narcotics division of the New York police department. William J. Bennett the director of the national drug control policy wrote a heavy article, “Drug Policy and the Intellectuals.” James Q. Wilson has a political science degree and is the author of many crime articles including, “Against the Legalization of Drugs.” Disorder is the last thing this country needs from legalizing drugs. The legalization of drugs is undesirable because it would ruin relationships, would harm the safety of everyone, and would promote violence.
The legalization of all drugs considered illegal in the United States today would do more than any other act to eradicate current social and political problems. Though many would naturally think otherwise, legalizing drugs like marijuana, ecstasy, meth, cocaine, heroin, mushrooms, LSD, and DMT would cripple organized crime, majorly reduce death and injury from drug use, unclog the court system, and make these drugs much safer to use.
Drug legalization is an enduring question that presently faces our scholars. This issue embraces two positions: drugs should not be legalized and drugs should be legalized. These two positions contain an array of angles that supports each issue. This brief of the issues enables one to consider the strengths and weakness of each argument, become aware of the grounds of disagreement and agreement and ultimately form an opinion based upon the positions stated within the articles. In the article “Against the Legalization of Drugs”, by James Q. Wilson, the current status of drugs is supported. Wilson believes if a drug such as heroin were legalized there would be no financial or medical reason to avoid heroin usage;
The legalization of recreational drugs in the United States is a polarizing issue that affects every American, whether they are a drug user or not. Both sides present arguments that call for changes to federal drug policy. The pro-drug side says that the recreational use of drugs should be allowed and the law should change to legalize it. The anti-drug side says that the use of drugs should continue to be illegal and more should be done to control drug use. All side of this issue have a point they want to make and it is important to understand the verifiable facts surrounding the use of recreational drugs.
The first reason the state should legalize drugs is because if recreational drugs were sold in the free market, the state would be able to make large economic gains. Introducing drugs to the free market would allow the government to put a high tax on drugs just as they do with cigarettes or alcohol and make a huge
Drugs influence physical and psychical health, it destroys human from inside. Drugs disorganize brain , heart, liver, intestine work. And almost all of these disorders are irreversible. If drugs would be legalised, some people would buy it instead of usual anaesthetics even though it would make more harm than benefit. Death statistic of drug abuse is horrifying. About 30% of drug addicts die. And this percentage would increase if drugs would be legalised. Also, usage of drugs is a cause of many diseases, like AIDS, hepatitis, cancer, mental trouble.