It's Time To Legalize Drugs In The United States

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).”

Many drug addicts do not have jobs or any legal means of generating income; they resolve to criminal activities such as theft, robbery, or aggressive panhandling. Due to the addictive nature of drugs, the user will be compelled to want more and more in order to continue feeling “normal”. It is what fuels their addiction and as a result, a lack of motivation to do anything other than obtaining more drugs. The drug addict’s family suffers from the effects of the drug addiction as well through emotional stress and psychological decay. Drug addicts also encourage illegal drug trafficking by helping fund criminal organizations. In fact, drug addicts are the reason why the billion dollar drug industry is as lucrative as it is. Without drug addicts, drug traffickers would have no customers or buyers to help generate income. Huge amounts of tax revenue is going towards the war on drugs which includes money going into police departments, border agencies, harm reduction programs, and anti-drug campaigns. The tax money being used to fight drugs could be used to better our education or health systems; instead it is being used to fund harm reduction programs such as Insite.

My team and I evaluated a case where legalizing drugs would bring a greater happiness to society and that a small population of drug users would get addicted. We believe that legalizations on hard drugs would lead to bad behavior and a spike in addiction rates. Specifically, on drugs like Alcohol, Cocaine, or Heroin, etc. As what Jeremy Bentham would say, “It is the greatest good to the greatest number”. We want everyone to be happy by having a healthy society and peaceful world. My group follows Bentham’s utilitarianism theory which it benefits the society. Making drugs illegal would benefit society as hole. Legalizing drugs would terminate families, increase crime, and money, health would take a sudden decline.

In the United States’ experience, decriminalization arguments are typically employed as a rhetorical and political tool by advocates attempting to pry open the door to full legalization. Both decriminalization and legalization of illicit drugs would increase their use, along with their associated health and social costs. Unless advocates of decriminalization, or of outright legalization can establish that more drug use is a net good for society, both arguments are

I believe that the United States federal government should decriminalize all drugs and narcotics in order to stop wasting taxpayer dollars on excessive and expensive federally funded imprisonment, and to turn the issue of drug consumption back into a health issue, as opposed to a legal issue. The Unites States government is well known for having a massive and expensive prison system, widely populated by citizens incarcerated for nonviolent drug crimes. A legalization of drugs in American would drastically reduce crime rate and federal prison expenses. The drug issue, as we know it today in the U.S. is misclassified as a legal issue. With drug legalization, consumption of narcotics would become much safer, as addicts and users would be treated

For so many years, there has been this unhealthy and corrupt use of drugs that has swept the Latin American nation into chaos and dangerous. Not legalizing drugs, would minimize harm. Two reasons are that the government should not give people the right to legally purchase what will do more harm than good, and also because if one can just overall focus on educating ,and providing better health programs, the public in a more intently matter, than addiction to drugs would decrease.

“It’s finding out where we came from that helps guide us to where we are going.” - Mona Rodriguez. This quote means that we should know where we came from and the mistakes that we made where we were from so we don’t make the same mistakes later in life. Prohibition made alcohol illegal, but the government band was not a success. This is one past example that the quote mentions that past mistakes should guide the future action. Although drugs should be illegal, it should only be used for medical purposes.

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.

Drugs are certainly a cause of a lot of controversies here in the United States, but many problems with it are blown out of proportion, and it is clear from the evidence the legalization would be a net benefit for the country. By reducing immigration, improving public health, and even reducing addiction, drug legalization will clearly help the country. If you agree with the idea of drug legalization, or even decriminalization, call or write a letter/email to your representative at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/.

The Americans that do not oppose drug legalization stand firm on the belief that choosing to use drugs is a personal choice that one should not be punished for. If one does choose to do drugs it is a lifestyle choice that they have chosen and locking someone away in federal prison for simply living a certain lifestyle seems to be an unfair punishment. Those fighting for legalization think that drug use should be a civil liberty (Drug Legalization). Former Seattle Chief of Police, Norm Stamper, stated “in declaring a war on drugs... we’ve declared a war on our fellow citizens” (qtd. in Drug Legalization). Many of the American’s wanting drugs legalized, do believe that the choice to do drugs is a bad decision. Though they argue that there are many Americans that have experimented with drugs and no one should be sent to federal prison for simply making a bad decision (Johnson). As well as those who are for drug legalization, those against it also believe that doing drugs is a lifestyle choice, but not a civil liberty and those who do choose to do drugs should be punished. If drugs were legalized they would be much more present, which would most likely lead to more drug abuse. Drug abusers not only hurt themselves, but they hurt their families, friends, communities, and the American society as a whole (Drug Legalization). Drug abuse takes tolls on the health and wellbeing of the user

Legalization of drugs has become a huge discussion in the United States. The United States has been battling on the war on drugs. Whether to keep illicit drugs illegal or not. It has been going continuously about the benefits of legalization of drugs. However, illegal drugs should remain illegal. If illicit drugs are legalized, the United States would have more problems to deal with.

The purpose of this article is to teach and educate people on how legalizing drugs actually makes sense. Before I read the article I had already disagreed with the title, however after reading the article I had a different opinion. I agree with Vanessa Baird. She gave valid points on legalizing and how it could save lives and money all around the world. The purpose of this article is to inform people like me and teach people about the possibilities and open their eyes. She made valid points such as legalization and regulation can break the hold of criminals. I am all for it. I think it will help greatly with the community, less people will be in prison or even dead. There will not be as much drug wars, and people will be much safer knowing

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;

Some of the arguments for legalizing the sale and possession of drugs have been made on purely economic grounds. Staggeringly large sums of money are being generated through the illegal drug trade. All of this money escapes direct taxation. If an excise tax, like those placed on alcohol and cigarettes, billions of dollars would become available for public projects. The U.S. department of Health and Human Services’ agency SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health

“Miron and Waldock also estimate that in 2008, states across the country spent a total of $25.7-billion on drug prohibition. U.S. tax payers are paying for them to stay in jail. We would save a lot of money in prisons. California by itself spent an astounding $5.4-billion (one-fifth of the national total) that year.” (Gholsh 2). Legalizing narcotics would lower costs of keeping prisoners in prison. People get caught with drugs all the time and taxpayers have to pay for them to stay in prison. It seems like a waste of money to me. “In a study for the Cato Institute, Jeffrey A. Miron, senior lecturer on economics at Harvard University and a senior fellow at Cato, and Katherine Waldock, professor of economics at New York University, estimate that legalizing drugs would save the government approximately $41.3 billion annually on expenditures related to the enforcement of prohibition.” (Ghosh 1). If narcotics were legal the government could tax them and make more money. “Approximately $8.7 billion of this revenue would result from the legalization of marijuana, $32.6 billion from legalization of cocaine and heroin, and $5.5 billion from legalization of all other drugs.” (Ghosh 1). This would be very efficient because the government is in a lot of