The Benefits of Regulating Now-Illegal Drugs

Drugs, drugs they are everywhere. Gore Vidal, famous writer wrote the article “Drugs”. This is an article stating why Vidal believes all drugs should become legalized. The famous writer Theodore Dalrymple wrote an article called “Don’t Legalize Drugs”? This article is about why Dalrymple believes drugs should not be legalized. Katrina Heuvel, (a famous writer) wrote the article “Why it’s Always Been Time to Legalize Marijuana”. This article is about why Heuvel believes that Marijuana should have been legalized a long time ago. Drugs have been used for many years now, for medical, mental, physical, and personal issues.

     Illicit drug use and the debate surrounding the various legal options available to the government in an effort to curtail it is nothing new to America. Since the enactment of the Harrison Narcotic Act in 1914 (Erowid) the public has struggled with how to effectively deal with this phenomena, from catching individual users to deciding what to do with those who are convicted (DEA). Complicating the issue further is the ever-expanding list of substances available for abuse. Some are concocted in basements or bathtubs by drug addicts themselves, some in the labs of multinational pharmaceutical companies, and still others are just old compounds waiting for society to discover them.

Dangerous illegal drugs have plagued American citizens and their youth for as long as the country has been in existence. These harmful drugs are not only responsible for countless amounts of deaths, but the corruption of the American society in general. All too many times have these drugs been blamed for insanity, racism, rebellion, and straight up violence. Today the government is spending approximately $19.179 billion in one year to combat these evils (Gifford). Unfortunately, even with all of this effort going in to stop illegal drug use, the “War on Drugs” is yet to produce almost any positive results. Because of this, politicians are urging the government to spend even more money to combat the seemingly

Within the last 50 years, drug legalization has been a very hotly debated topic in the United States society. It almost seems that every "street drug" was once legal, but banned soon after its introduction in society. Illegal substances that one sees today were once synthesized and created by chemist such as LSD, ecstasy, methamphetamine, cocaine, and etc., and at some point used for medical reasons, however during many circumstances were deemed illegal by the government due to detrimental effects after prolonged usage. William Bennett's "Drugs: Should Their Sale and Use Be Legalized" targets the general American public into understanding the societal importance of upholding the nations

The fact that the United States treats drug use as a terrible crime instead of treating it as a physical problem or illness, and the drug problem is still not going away, shows that the United States is going about drug abuse all wrong. The United States has over 25% of the world's incarcerated population and over half of those are in prison for drug abuse/distribution. Other countries have decriminalized drugs and have seen an extremely positive difference in the drug abuse problem. Therapeutic drug treatments can be offered as an option to drug abusers so they feel safe and not afraid or angry of what is happening. The United States needs to find a new policy on drug abuse because the current policy has failed.

According to Kristof (2009), the legalization of drugs is another solution to drug trafficking. With drugs more readily available, at lower prices and higher levels of potency many law enforcement personal and politicians favor legalization of drugs. While other experts favor keeping drug production and sell illegal, but decriminalizing possession. Either way if it is legalize it must be regulated. According to Kristof (2009), the United States have inquired three consequences due to the failure of “The War on Drugs”, increased population in jails, empowered criminals and terrorists, and squandered resources that cannot be replaced. With that said, why continue down a road were the drug problem is not getting resolved. Before drugs were prohibited, usage levels were lower among cocaine and heroin users, and states with legalized marijuana have not seen an increase in consumption, according to Kristof

For many people, the thought of making drugs easily accessible for consumption by the masses may be frightening. After all, we have drug laws in place because they have the potential to be harmful. It also may not be difficult to imagine that it could very well be subject to failure due to a numerous amount negative externalities that may occur. Our nation has been engaged in a war on drugs for several decades now. The effectiveness of this war, however, is a topic that has continuously been debated. Some argue that universal legalization of drugs, an alternative that has never been tried, may have a greater benefits when compared to the present state of the war on drugs. On the other hand, the opposition believes that legalization would only pave the way for a vast amount of crime and many wasted resources.

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.

In order to find an alternative to the United States current drug policy, it is helpful to look at the current options. Governments typically take three broad approaches toward drugs. The first is legalization, in which possession and sale are lawful but still subject to regulation and taxation. The second is criminalization, which consists of the banning of possession and sale with criminal punishment (i.e incarceration). Lastly, there is the combination of the two—where sale and possession are prohibited, yet possession is punishable only by sanctions, such as fines or abuse treatment but not jail time.

America has wasted too much time and effort fighting in the War on Drugs. It has been four decades since President Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs on 1971 (“Brief History of the Drug War,” 2015). This war is also considered to be one of the longest in America and it is still ongoing like some foreign wars in the Middle East. The War on Drugs is not only located in America but it is also located around the globe from South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. It might give you a thought that illegal drugs are corrupting the world, but more countries are gradually finding a solution and ending their War on Drugs. Portugal in example has ended their War on Drugs. How? It is because they decriminalized the use of illegal drugs rather than legalizing it (Kain. E, 2011). Keep in mind that legalizing and decriminalizing does not have the same meaning. Legalizing would mean that illegal drugs now considered legal could be obtainable in any type of markets and the public can consume it without consequence. In terms of decriminalizing, a person who posses a small amount of an illegal drug can be charged of treatment, fine or nothing at all. However, crimes are charged for people who are producing, distributing and selling. Drug abuse was cut in half in about a decade after this policy was passed in

If drugs were legal and being monitored for purity the people would not have to buy bootleg drugs. Look at alcohol, nobody buys bootleg alcohol now that it is legal. Before abolishing alcohol prohibition the same kind of violence polluted the United States and other countries because of the black market. According to one study, 40% of the homicides in a study of 414 homicides in New York City could be linked to the black market in drugs and these homicides were only committed because of the violence associated with the black market of drugs. Not because of the use of drugs but because of the black market that has resulted from the prohibition of drugs. Other so-lutions have been tried and proposed to include: tighter gun laws and better border control with Mexi-co. However none of these attempts will end the black market on drugs and violence will still occur be-cause of the black market. Billions of dollars has been and will be spent on the “war on drugs”. Why not spend this money on helping the addicts and research? Less money will be spent and the need for the amount of drugs will

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

Alot of people do not notice the mammoth problem drug abuse is in the United States, and how fast it is increasing in our society. Billions of dollars are spent each year to combat drug treatment but more are spent on buying and selling narcotics. Many people think they

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.