Despite the trillions of dollars and countless hours of man power thrown into curtailing the use of drugs, the end result has primarily been overcrowded prisons and little else. In order to continue its war, the government is required to violate the personal liberties of citizens. Black markets generate corruption, too, since participants have a greater incentive to bribe police, prosecutors, judges, and prison guards. People use substances for many reasons. The same condition holds for hard drugs. Decriminalizing Drug Use. One of the biggest points the group wants to make is that the war on drugs has only perpetuated institutionalized racism in law enforcement. Given that Colorado passed $1 billion in marijuana state revenue this week, how did the survey's respondents feel about the economic benefits of the drug? As long as there are drug addicts who have to resort to the black market for their drugs, there will be drug-related crimes. Those who believe this should stand beside the medical examiner as he counts the 36 bullet wounds in the shattered corpse of a three-year-old who happened to get in the way of his mothers drug-crazed boyfriend. But data on cirrhosis from repeal of U.S. Alcohol Prohibition suggest only a modest increase in alcohol consumption. Douglas Husak provides the conceptual clarity needed to work one's way through the various debates surrounding drug use and the law. In a free society, the presumption must always be that individuals, not government, get to decide what is in their own best interest. No doubt states are justified in protecting the health and well being of citizens. Having laid this groundwork Husak demonstrates that purported justifications for drug criminalization fail and that good reasons for decriminalizing drug use prevail. And, so, illegal drug use extends endlessly on the horizon in front of us. It can harm your child's lungs. At the same time, California's multibillion dollar sales of marijuana can't be taxed while the State drowns in red ink. Forcing the drug trade underground allows growers, sellers and middle men to tamper with the drugs. If you had $1 trillion, you could spend $54 million every day of your life and have money left over. Yet proponents of legalizing the drug studiously deny or downplay the well-documented dark side of marijuana trafficking and use. But the major policy debate over drugs had already flown past the office of Drug Czar by the time Kerlikowske was selected. If there is more drug abuse that is bad. Cully Stimson is a widely recognized expert in national security, homeland security, crime control, drug policy, and immigration. Legalizing recreational marijuana comes with serious societal costs. But if the goal is to minimize harm to people here and abroad the right policy is to legalize all drugs, not just marijuana. Some prisons have excellent substance abuse programs for inmates who are motivated for recovery. Any legal scheme that punishes drug users to achieve another worthy goal, such as creating a disincentive to future drug users, violates principles of justice. Although MDMA was originally used by doctors to treat depression, Molly only contains a small amount of MDMA. Sign up to get The Weekly Wonk, New America's digital magazine, delivered to your inbox each Thursday here. When MSNBC's Rachel Maddow interviewed Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, only military and border policing options were discussed. But, what is most concerning is that far more people are likely to try drugs if they begin smoking tobacco or drinking alcohol. Yes, but marijuana is more likely to cause addiction. In the farthest reaches of the country, it is much easier to take the money and protection offered by the powerful cartels than it is to accept similar offers from the president. 1581 words Read More Web4. The supply problem could persist for few more weeks or longer. The result is that the person experiences severely unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. It also allows them to tell customers that they are getting a unique product with better or more pleasurable qualities that the pure drug alone would provide. Roughly two-thirds of Black adults (68%) and six-in-ten White adults . First, marijuana has negative effects on mental health. In sum, Husak accepts that drug use poses health risks but contends that the risks are not greater than others that are socially accepted. Legalizing marijuana is not the answer. Drugs There is a shortage of behavioral health and substance abuse treatment in the United States. WebLegal drugs would be safer. one deserving punishment. In addition, some drugs aid relaxation, others increase energy and some promote spiritual enlightenment or literary and artistic creativity. 4) Drug use ought to be punished because using drugs is immoral. It also costs a lot to enforce prohibition, and it means we can't collect taxes on drugs; my estimates suggest U.S. governments could improve their budgets by at least $85 billion annually by legalizing and taxing all drugs. 10 reasons why drugs should not be legalized Always free and confidential. Americans overwhelmingly say marijuana should be legal for Here are 10 reasons that will make all your confusion disappear. Others argue that marijuana should remain on the list of prohibited substances because under federal law and the laws of about half of the states, marijuana is still illegal to possess, distribute, and consume. Legalization advocates note that alcohol and tobacco are addictive, yet legal. If decriminalization leads to an increased supply of drugs on the streets of the US, prices will fall and millions of new people may be tempted to experiment. Prison overcrowding is one of the biggest issues in the current judicial system but it does not get as much regular airtime as the offenders themselves. Legalizing recreational marijuana creates a Big Marijuana industry, while boosting illegal marijuana sales and use. If drugs were legalized, they could be standardized and regulated. In fact, they will continue to use them whether it is legal or not. Why weed should not be legal. Do you think marijuana should be Husak concludes "if we propose to ban those drugs that are implicated in criminal behavior, no drug would be a better candidate for criminalization than alcohol." Decriminalization might also increase the supply of drugs on the illegal drug market. If you`re connecting with other people who drink a lot or use drugs, this could be a good time to check who you`re spending time with and find other people to connect with who can engage in more positive interests and activities. Instead of protecting vulnerable people and regular citizens, the war on drugs only puts them in harms way in many different ways. Legalize and regulate non-medical Drugs Should Not be Legalized Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence supporting that position, drug addiction continues to be criminalized. Should drugs be legalized? Legalization pros and cons - netivist View on Drugs Is Changing. Which Put simply, incarceration is such a harsh penalty that drug use, generally harmless to others and less harmful to the user than commonly supposed, fails to justify it. Drug addiction should be treated as a medical issue, not an issue of criminal justice. By the time I began as a drug policy reporter in 2010, I was all in on legalizing every drug, from marijuana to heroin and cocaine. If America spent $1 trillion creating programs to improve education, alleviate poverty and encourage economic growth among the middle class, America would be a very different country. There is a risk of corruption anytime there is a large amount of money to be made in the sale of illegal goods. Even after four decades of war on drugs and narcotics, the use of marijuana continues to grow in the United States. Douglas Husak and Peter de Marneffe, The Legalization of Drugs: For & Against, Cambridge University Press, 2005, 204pp., $18.99 (pbk), ISBN 0521546869. Two incurable American prejudices rule out the idea that changing the legal status of drugs can impact an increasingly out-of-control world drug trade. This number includes children aged 12 and up. It is even harder to reconcile that the American government would throw 40 years worth of resources into locking up its population rather than into educating and protecting it. To the extent prohibition does reduce use drug use, the effect is likely smaller for hard drugs than for marijuana. The overcrowded conditions result in deteriorating prison services and as with many other offenders, drug offenders are more likely to leave prisoners willing and able to commit far more serious crimes than when they went in. If there is more drug abuse that is bad. The violence sits on Americas door step in cities like Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. Instead of being known as the country with the highest education budget and the most qualified workers, America is known as the country with the worlds largest prison population. It has been shown to impair memory and cognitive function, and heavy use can lead to mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and psychosis. The argument itself is simple. There are several reasons why marijuana, also known as weed, should not be legalized. Having as many ways and action taken to avoid If drugs were legalized, they could be standardized and regulated. There is a risk of corruption anytime Top 10 Reasons to Legalize Drugs - List Land 1. Forensic reports in Britain, a known hive of ecstasy activity, have noted that these drugs are now less pure than at any point in the last ten years. Volume 59, Issue 3 July 2000 Pages 525-536 Download PDF should be legal The people of Mexico, and indeed in all of these countries, are tired of dealing with the unreasonable level of corruption throughout every level of their government. Against the Legalization of Drugs | Office of Justice Programs should be legal Legalize Drugs Now!: An Analysis Legalization would increase the number of casual users which, in turn, would increase the If drugs are legalized, there will be more drug abuse. Attitudes toward drugs have changed considerably over the years. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. should be legal By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. WebEven if the hardest drugs remained illegal, softer drugs would only act as a gateway to more dangerous substances. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Numerous moderate and responsible drug users would be worse off, while only a few abusive users would be better off. Even the legalizers` argument that allowing the purchase and use of drugs as freely as Milton Friedman proposes will necessarily lead to less government and other official interference in our lives does not hold. Criminalizing drugs proves counter-productive along several different lines: 1) criminalization is aimed and selectively enforced against minorities, 2) public health risks increase because drugs are dealt on the street, 3) foreign policy is negatively affected by corrupt governments being supported solely because they support anti-drug policies, 4) a frank and open discussion about drug policy is impossible in the United States, 5) civil liberties are eroded by drug enforcement, 6) some government corruption stems from drug payoffs and 7) criminalization costs tens of billions of dollars per year. It also prevents any serious form of quality control from happening that would make drug use safer for the wider population. Yet even if a state could do so, legalizing marijuana would serve little purpose other than to worsen the drug problem. Saying About Decriminalizing Drugs, Conversation These are facts. Husak entertains, but cautiously rejects the notion of a system where production and sale of drugs is illegal while use is not a crime. WebYou are wondering about the question 10 reasons why drugs should not be legalized but currently there is no answer, so let kienthuctudonghoa.com summarize and list the top articles with the question. Husak, conceding a connection between drug use and crime, turns the argument upside-down, showing how punishment increases rather than decreases crime. drugs Not everything goes. Illegal drugs are often cut with toxic substances or other drugs, and the purity and strength of each batch produced can vary enormously. It also increases recovery services, housing, employment, drug education, outreach, and access to naloxone (overdose prevention tool). A glass of wine with dinner, for example, has been shown to actually improve health. Roughly two-thirds of Black adults (68%) and six-in-ten White adults The government continues to support the idea that marijuana is a gateway drug to harder drugs. This violence often sees cartels at war, usually causing civilian casualties. After forty years of increased spending on anti-drug, the government still has not realized the failure of the latest prohibition. The simple fun and euphoria attendant to drug use should count for permitting it. A RAND Corporation study subsequently found these projections were riddled with unfounded assumptions. WebFurther, if drugs were legalized, dangers to public health from using heroin, cocaine, and marijuana would be greatly reduced since legalizing drugs would probably reduce the use of harmful drugs. Why Should (Or Shouldnt) The United States Legalize All Drugs? You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Be prepared to consider the pros and cons of drug decriminalization.Article sourced from https://gabbertsite.wordpress.com/. 10 Reasons Why Drugs Should Not Be Legalized Indeed, drugs are bought and sold on the black market, far from the rules and enforcement mechanisms of legal products. Black markets increase violence because buyers and sellers can't resolve disputes with courts, lawyers, or arbitration, so they turn to guns instead. The influx of revenue combined with the estimated $8 billion in savings in law enforcement could make a huge difference in state budgets that are struggling to make it on their own. Freeing up law enforcement to focus on other types of crime is cited as a very important reason by 70% of respondents while 60% say it's a matter of freedom and personal choice. At the same time, other pleasure-producing drugs, such as tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine, though legally regulated for the purposes of consumer safety and under-age consumption, can be purchased over the counter. Yet the Obama Administration won't contemplate the possibility of legalizing marijuana. CON. Drugs of Abuse: The Legalization Debate WebMarijuana, in my opinion, should not be legalized for recreational use. He develops a convincing argument that imprisonment is never morally justified for drug use. Even if the harder drugs remained illegal, the softer drugs would only serve as a gateway to more dangerous substances. Whether its to make a better product or to make a more addictive product, this tampering can end in tragedy if it goes wrong. A more radical approach suggests legalization (in other words, removing drug-related offenses from criminal codes) as the only viable solution. Portugal decriminalized substance possession in 2001. Physician Obligation. Many assume that legalizing drugs would When the roughly one-third of Americans opposing legalization were asked about the most important reasons for keeping legal marijuana out of circulation, driver safety was the chief reason. Not everything goes. Legalization. Drug corruption is not a problem that exists only south of the border. Dealers will use these agents to increase their profits. It is not as addictive as cigarettes or alcohol, and it does not cause as much damage to the body. Drugs Legalisingdrugswont stopviolence and social problems. Law enforcement will continue to prevent the sale of drugs. (p. 3). The These minimum sentences are not small. Charles Cully Stimson is a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Marijuana has so many reasons why it should be legal. I think that is okay to legalize it for medical use only because it has been found to cure diseases in some people. If And prohibition does, in fact, have huge costs, regardless of how harmful drugs might be. Why Not Legalize All Drugs? - Pharmacy Times Instead, clinical studies reveal that long-term, moderate consumption of the drug impairs short-term memory, slows reaction time, increases the risk of heart attack, and can result in birth defects, strokes, and damage to the respiratory system and brain. of drugs are not criminal offenses. History, not harm, dictates why some drugs are legal and others aren't It is hard to imagine a world in which the United States government would spend $1 trillion solely on eliminating poverty and improving education to prevent people from turning to drugs; but if the Federal government would only imagine the possibilities, they may begin to change their minds and attitudes on the legalization of drugs. Fox News' sudden firing of Tucker Carlson may have come down to Find therapists best matched to your needs. Curtailing drug production and trafficking is an important motivation for Obama's expansion of the War in Afghanistan. And the Obama Administration has indicated no slackening of American attacks on supplier nations' drug production and drug interdiction when it comes to this emergency. But think of the benefits to society, pot proponents then argue. Why? Legalizing harder drugs like heroin would only lead to more addiction and more deaths. Why We Should Not Legalized Marijuana WebWhy Marijuana Should Not Be Legalized 1. Though often touted as a well-functioning city with a relaxed attitude toward drugs, Amsterdam is also one of the most violent cities in Europe. WebAnd there are other reasons why it should not be permitted. 86% of supporters say that the medicinal benefits of marijuana are a very important reason for legalization. Of course, some people will still go underground, but those who want to take ecstasy without the risks can do so when they can purchase it from a reliable and regulated source. WebMost people assume drugs are illegal because they are dangerous. De Marneffe introduces a "burdens principle" which is likely much too strong a commitment to individual interests than could ever be realized in a civil society. What's behind America's child care crisis? Under prohibition, they also risk arrest, fines, loss of professional licenses, and more. In November 2012, Colorado and Washington went further, legalizing marijuana under state law for recreational purposes. But the reasons arent related to their relative risk or harm. Thus there will be no change from Bush to Obama in this regard. But what could the government have done with $1 trillion if it did not spend it on fighting drugs? Yes, a violent industry has grown up around the drug trade, but that is a direct consequence of the prohibition of drugs. Illegal drugs are often cut with toxic substances or other drugs, and the purity and strength of each batch produced can vary enormously. Husak finds punishing adolescent users a peculiar way to protect them. Reasons to Criminalize Drug Use. Is Cannabis Harmful for Children & Teens? AAP Policy Explained For decades, we did not want to believe that alcohol or drugs could have the power to take over our lives, despite the evidence we witnessed when our loved ones grappled with drug addiction. WebLegalising drugs would make drug use safer, but the bigger impact of moving to a regulated drug market is that it would end the chaos, violence and corruption caused by the criminal networks that run the illicit drug trade. Top 10 Pro & Con Arguments The drug violence that currently plagues Mexico is only a symptom of the larger problem. Because most drugs are illegal in America, there is a lot of misinformation regarding their use and safety. An average of one or two Oregonians die of a drug overdose every day. Thirdly, to those who contend that illicit drugs may increase violence and aggression Husak responds that: a) empirical evidence does not support marijuana or heroin as causes of violence and b) empirical evidence does support alcohol, which is decriminalized, as leading to violence. 2) Punishing drug users protects children. Similarly, the number of methamphetamine users continues to rise every year at alarming rates. Other recreationally used drugs such as alcohol, tobacco or caffeine are not immoral. In the United States the production, distribution and use of marijuana, heroin, and cocaine are crimes subjecting the offender to imprisonment.