The idea that was brought up in the government class was whether a bill should be passed that legalizes all drugs. The law would try to keep things safe by controlling the amount of the drugs and the distribution of it.
Drugs themselves cause a lot of crimes. The users because of addictions or abuse cause many crimes that with out the drugs may have never been committed. Drugs can be dangerous to the user also. Many times if a person is already depressed drugs can make it all seem worse. Therefor many suicides that are committed may have not been if the drug wasn't in the persons system. The depressed person may have been able over come the problems that had been upsetting them in the next couple of days. People that have addictions to drugs can not stop using the drug, hence if they are out of money they will kill, steal, and stop at nothing to get on another high. This addiction can hurt many innocent people. Most of the problems related to drugs mentioned above would not be reduced by the legalization of drugs.
Most of the arguments used above could be used to ban the use of alcohol. This is true in some cases. Alcohol can be used in moderation and to cause a buzz without making someone unsafe for themselves or others. Alcohol can be used to give a drunk or high but it isn't always used in this fashion. Where as, drugs all cause a desired high and don't have a scale as to how it can affect an individual. I am not someone that believes that drinking should be prohibited. On the same note, I don't believe all drugs should be illegal.
The legalization of drugs would help to reduce crimes associated with the smuggling and distribution of the drugs. With out the money that smuggling brings in many of the gangs and Mafia's (whether there is such a thing anymore, there is but not like the old ones seen in movies.) they would loose a lot of power. There might not be enough money in other things to keep organized criminals like that around. Also legalizing drugs would help protect people that try a drug and die because of a overdose or of impurity. If the government was controlling the distribution of drugs, it could insure the quality and strength of the drugs people were taking.
The legalization of drugs would make some people more likely to try them and increase the users. Which isn't the goal of legalization. More people that were interested in trying something but had feared the consequences could now try drugs with out fear of problems. Some drugs can affect people for a number of months after it has been used. This could cause problems for people at work making them unsafe to themselves and other workers. Also the amount of driving under the influence would increase. To solve the increased driving under the influence, I propose that very strict laws be put in place and enforced. For example, the first violation would result in the lost of license and drug privileges for 2 years. Any further violations would result in the permanent loss of privileges. How would things like, "a flashback while driving caused car collision killing three," be dealt with?
Pot, shrooms, estacsy, and peyote could all be quite safe in controlled environments. To allow people to do drugs is fine because it should be viewed as their own right in a free country, but endangering the lives of other people is not a right that anyone can have. Heroin, Cocaine, and other drugs can cause people to endanger others lives. If you just lock the users up while they use the drug their addictions could cause them to harm other people. Also, Drugs likes these sometimes cause a death on the first use and the reason why can't be explained. If a substance can cause accidental death to the user that is uncontrollable it can not be allowed in our society.
Although I see a valid argument for legalization of drugs in the US I think it would have to be looked at a lot more closely. Each drug would have to be evaluated separately. I don't think we can classify all the drugs as the same, with the same affects. The legalization of drugs would cause a lot of other changes that would have to be considered. Economy and agriculture would have many changes. Would many farmers stop growing food for the people of the world because they make more profit from growing drugs? Sadly many people are more willing to spend a lot of money on drugs than food to feed their family.
-Danman
10/13/99
E-mail Danman at danman@inw.net