Legalization of Illegal Drugs - Research Paper Example

Legalization of Illegal Drugs al Affiliation Legalization of Illegal Drugs Drug abuse and drug trafficking have been part of the society for as long as anybody can recall. Law enforcers have doubled their efforts over the years to fighting drug crimes, but the problem seems to persist. In fact, the level the level of drug abuse cases and drug-related crimes is escalating at an alarming rate. Moreover, drug trafficking business has become so lucrative that drug lords are among some of the richest people especially in Mexico. The lucrative of drug trafficking business is because of illegalized nature, which drives its demand. Additionally, since the drugs are not regulated, they are sold expensively making the people in this trade earn huge profits. Consequently, drugs have several negative impacts on individuals, the society, and the government. The government spends up to $70 billion of taxpayers’ money on combating drug-related crimes. Furthermore, people who are addicted to drugs spend huge amounts of money to acquire the drugs, and sometimes, go to the extent of stilling to get money for drugs. In addition, drug abuse has been known as one of the substantial contributors to the spread of AIDS. Though the law enforcement designates a big part of its resources to keep drugs out of the streets, it would be more effective if the drugs are legalized, as this would reduce the negative impacts associated with drugs. The government is spending so much money on preventing people from doing drugs, and other drug-related issues. Drug war cost the government about $20 billion a year including money spent on measures to intercept drug supplies and trying and incarceration of traffickers, users, and those who commit crime to pay for drugs (McNamara, 2011). Moreover, the prisons are congested leading to the need to spend more money on building additional prisons to cater for the high number of prisoners. Similarly, the law enforcement allocates 1/3 to ½ of their resources to fighting drug-related crimes and activities. However, all these efforts towards drugs war have proved ineffective, it is like throwing money away on something that is better be legalized (James P. Gray, 2001). Right now, the best thing is to stop spending a lot of money on stuff that are somewhat impossible to stop. Legalizing illegal drugs will ensure that the law enforcement directs its efforts to crimes that would still be committed regardless of the law on drugs. For instance, it can channel its resources to catching other criminals who pose more harm than drug offenders to the innocent public such as rapists and murderers. Additionally, taxpayers’ money can be put into something worthwhile instead of building more prisons for drug offenders. Drug trafficking, peddling, and use has resulted in high criminal activities in the neighborhoods and across the country. This high crime rate is because those who are addicted strive to sustain their addictions at all costs. Thus, when they are out of money to purchase drugs, they resort to criminal means to get the money including stealing, burglary, and robbing with violence, as well as rape and murder. Additionally, drug trafficking has created a fertile ground for the growth of organized criminal groups, which results in a lot of crime and violence in the society. Due to its illegal nature, hard drugs attract high profits, which is the major source of finance that illegal gangs depend on for their operations (Will, 2012). These groups are able to acquire arms that end up killing innocent people and law enforcers. In addition, they promote corruption in the country since the money gives them power to easily bribe police officers and border officials to allow them carry out their activities (Moraff, 2009). As such, legalizing drugs will paralyze operations or organized criminal groups such as the Mafia, Mexican cartels, Jamaican gangs, and Medellin Cartel, which operates even internationally. Regarding crimes committed to sustain addictions, when the drugs are legalized, they will no longer be expensive as they are now. Thus, addicts will not have to strain their resources and steal or rob people in order to maintain their supply of the substances. Overall, legalization of drugs will cause a reduction in the level of crime in the society. Legalizing the drugs would ensure the safety of users and slow the spread of AIDS. When drugs are illegal, there is no way to ensure are manufactured and distributed under safe conditions, or does not contain elements that are unsafe for human consumption. Therefore, legalization of these drugs will enable application of consumer safety features on them such as warning labels, manufacturer accountability, instruction sheet, and quality control of the products. Yes, illegal drugs are dangerous to the users, but so are other legalized drugs such as aspirin without the consumer safety elements. Since the drugs are valuable, their purity is questionable as the manufacturers can easily dilute them with a foreign substance to increase the quantity. Impliedly, cocaine in the streets is only 10% to 15% pure, while heroin is 3% to 6% pure (Cussen & Block, 2000). More so, legalizing drugs will enhance the availability of hypodermic needles to the users, and thus, eliminates cases of sharing needles that cause the spread of AIDS. The issue of keeping the drugs illegal is more about politics than genuine concerns for the health and safety of the public. Several agencies are studying the causes and effects of drugs support illegalization of drugs because they benefit financial from this course. If some drugs such as alcohol and tobacco are illegalized, these agencies will start losing money. On the hand, even some doctors support the illegalization of drugs because some of them can be used for medical purposes, for instance, as painkillers and medicinal marijuana. Moreover, these drugs do not cause as much health damage to individuals as alcohol and tobacco, which are currently legal (Johnson, 2000). Unmistakably, tobacco is the leading cause of lung cancer, yet it is legal. Hence, it is clear that making the drugs legal is the better option as it would contribute positively to the medical field. Opponents of legalizing drugs claim that it would not be feasible to abandon the success achieved so far, and all the efforts and resources that the government has put into fighting drugs (Wofford, 2014). However, it is better to abandon the fight now than continue spending money unnecessarily since the more the years go by, the higher the rate of spending. Furthermore, some people argue that legalizing drugs would not effect lower crime rates in the country. This is because there are many young jobless, uneducated men who are dependent on drug business for income. Thus, when drugs become legal, they will lose their sources of finance, and thus, resort to other criminal activities including robbing, burglary, and theft to cater for the loss (Rios, 2012). Nevertheless, it is true that it would not be easy for those dependent on the drug business to integrate into the labor market, but is not enough reason to stop legalization of drugs. Moreover, the government can use part of the money allocated to fighting drug crimes to set up community programs where these young men can learn different skills, and thereby, acquire skills to work in the labor market. Evidently, it is necessary to legalize drugs since the war to keep illegal substances out of the streets has proved ineffective. Instead, the business is becoming more lucrative leading to thriving criminal gangs and rising levels of crimes in the streets. Legalizing drugs would paralyze activities of these gangs as they entirely depend on drug money for all their operations. Additionally, the price of drugs would reduce since it would remove the illegal mark that makes the drugs unregulated and expensive. As a result, there will be a reduction in crimes done to get money for drugs. Safety of consumers and slower rates of spread of AIDS are other benefits that will come from legalization of illegal drugs. Finally, it will relieve taxpayers’ money and police resources on a course that is impossible to achieve. Given the reasons, legalizing drugs is will serve good to individuals, and the society as a whole. References Cussen, M., & Block, W. (2000). Legalize Drugs Now! The American Journal of Economics and Sociology. James P. Gray. (2001). Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It: A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs. Temple University Press. Johnson, G. E. (2000, February 2). The Case for Drug Legalization: We Need to Make Drugs a Controlled Substance Just like Alcohol. The World and I. McNamara, J. D. (2011). The Hidden Costs of Americas War on Drugs. Journal of Private Enterprise. Moraff, C. (2009). Latin Americas Legalization Push: As Drug Violence Rages, Mexico Takes the Lead on Policy Reform. The American Prospect. Rios, V. (2012, May 30). Drug Legalization Could Create More Crime. The New York Times. Will, G. F. (2012, April 4). Would drug legalization do more harm than good? The Washington Post. Wofford, C. (2014, February 21). Progressives Should Just Say No to Legalizing Drugs. US News. Read More