Issue of Legalising Drugs - Essay Example

There has been a silent war on drugs between the law enforcing bodies and drug dealers for centuries. Drug addiction has always been one of the majorconsiderations in the design and enforcement of law throughout the world. But the problem seems to aggravate further every time an action is taken to combat it. History provides evidence for this argument. “Violence was common in the alcohol industry when it was banned during Prohibition, but not before or after”. (Miron, 2009). Drug industry has always met with severe oppression and that is the cause of rise of various forms of violence that fundamentally arises as a result of disputes between the sellers and customers who have no choice but to rely on their own powers since neither of the two parties is backed by legal support. An analysis of the various forms of violence prevalent in the modern world suggests that in a vast majority of cases, drug oppression is the root cause of violence. Everyday, we read news about stuffed babies, dolls, vegetables, drug agents’ skin and capsules. Millions of dollars are spent on exploring and dealing with such cases resulting into an ever growing and flourishing drug industry. Every year, thousands of children are kidnapped by the drug dealers who murder them and stuff heroine in their bodies and take them to other countries. When such cases are caught, image of the drug exporting country is tarnished. Drug oppression not only indirectly encourages kidnapping and murder, but also tarnishes the international relations among countries. This paper argues that legalization of drugs is fundamental to the elimination of violence from the society and provides evidence and reasoning for the same. The most beneficial thing for a state one can think of is a reduction in its crime rate. Legalization of drugs can reduce the crime in four potential ways: 1. First of all, every year, there occur a large number of murders and thefts on the basis of the sky high prices of drugs. It is the illegal and hidden process of drug smuggling that makes them so high priced. The drug addicts want to access them at any cost, even if they have to commit murder in their way to approaching the drugs. “The Presidents Commission on Organized Crime estimates a total of seventy drug market murders yearly in Miami alone. Based on that figure and FBI data, a reasonable nationwide estimate would be at least 750 murders a year. Recent estimates from New York and Washington are even higher.” (Ostrowski, 1993, p. 209 cited in Cussen and Block, 2000, p. 3). An abundance of drugs would substantially reduce their prices and people would start to respect the laws with a legal approach to drugs and accordingly, there would be a decrease in the number of murders and thefts. 2. Legalization of the trade of all drugs will eliminate the illegal ways of dealing with disputes on the part of the smugglers and the drug purchasers. With no laws designed for the process and the parties involved, the concerned parties are forced to resort to their own power and resources to safeguard their personal interests. With the legalization of drugs, calamities associated with process of drug transport and purchase will be eliminated. 3. In a vast majority of cases, revenues generated by the business of drug smuggling become a property of cartels which are underground organizations meant to support violence and crime. They take advantage of the banning of drugs as this serves to limit their competitors in the field and they become the ultimate beneficiaries and owners of the drug industry. Legalization of drugs would not only limit their revenues but also improve the economic condition of the nation by allowing the local community to access the profits associated with this business. This is one of the most valuable advantages of drug legalization as our country, in the present age of economic recession, is in need of economic health above everything else. 4. Finally, but most importantly, legalization of drugs would result into a noticeable reduction in the crime. We would no longer get to hear such terrific news as “drug smugglers caught with a narcotics stuffed baby” or “heroine found in the cauliflowers imported from India”. Such news is not fake and indeed, represents a majority of crime cases observed in the modern age. It must be understood that an argument made in favor of drug legalization is not ridiculous and the history provides evidence for it. In the 1920s, when alcohol was legally banned, there was a measurable increase in the alcohol based crimes because of the inertia of the alcohol makers to make profits. (Cussen and Block, 2000, p. 2). The alcohol makers not only continued to make alcohol but also got indulged in illegal and unethical practices of maximizing their revenues because there were no legalities involved as the process was hidden. Alcohol related crimes were brought to an end by nothing else but legalization of alcohol. This step lowered the value and prices of the alcohol which not only served to kill the interest of law breaking entrepreneurs in the alcohol business but also shattered the foundations of underground sources of crime and violence. In addition to that, end of alcohol prohibition of the 1920s proved to be indeed an end to various other calamities prevalent in the society in that reign. As alcohol was banned, alcohol makers went for the production of more severe and stronger types of alcohol like Vodka which they would have otherwise refrained from producing. Irrespective of whether drinking alcohol was legal or otherwise, drinkers have always had access to it. Under such circumstances, they got a chance to drink Vodka which was even more dangerous for their hygiene. This is largely recognized as the potency effect. Alcohol legalization served to uproot the potency effect, thus people later had access to less harmful forms of alcohol as beer and wine. Not only this, the potency effect has been noticed to reverse with due course of time. Nearly 50 years after the governments decision to legalize the alcohol, people had generally started to avoid alcohol altogether, what to talk of Vodka. (Cussen and Block, 2000, p. 3). As people came to know the effects of alcohol on health through scientific research, they went for healthful alternatives to alcohol like non-alcoholic bear. The history of legalities associated with alcohol stands as a proof of the validity of argument made in favor of the legalization of drugs. The reason of massive production of Vodka in 1920s is the same as that of the smuggling of such disastrous forms of drugs as cocaine and heroine in the present age. Since trade of all kinds of drugs is illegal, drug traders incur equal risk in trading lesser dangerous drugs as marijuana as they do in case of heroine and cocaine. However, profits are increased manifolds in the case of smuggling the latter than the former. Then why would a wise smuggler risk his life for smuggling marijuana and not cocaine? Such an attitude on the part of the smuggler becomes the root cause of such massive smuggling of cocaine because it is very well paying and the ultimate sufferer is the addict society. Legalization of drugs is likely to discourage this trend to extinction. The view of legalizing drugs has been offended the most every time it has been raised on some platform. Critiques enlist a series of arguments which are sourced by their hatred for drugs. Most of the critiques are just not ready to accept the legalization of drugs at any cost because of the apparent absurdity of the concept but they do not realize the calamities that are originating in the society as a result of prohibition of drugs. After all, how would the critiques respond to the rise of violence in the 1920s when alcohol was officially banned? Or else, they doubt the validity of the records provided by FBI that clearly indicate the occurrence of more than 750 drug based murders annually as pointed out before. And what solutions do they have for cartel organizations that keep feeding, growing and dwelling on the revenues generated by the drug industry that outshines nearly all other industries in this regard. In a vast majority of cases, arguments made by those who criticize the legalization of drugs are based on empirical assumptions that are highly questionable. The risks of exaggeration of violence in case of drug prohibition are enough to nullify the benefits drawn by forcefully stopping the teenagers from drug addiction. The most severe risk that arises as a result of banning the drugs is that this would offend the criminals and raise an urge to take revenge in those involved in the business of making and selling the drugs. (Husak and Marneffe, 2005, p. 118). Besides, drugs have no long term harms. This has been argued by Benson Roe, who is the “former Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of California at San Francisco”. (www.druglibrary.org, n.d.). He emphasized that it is wrong to call the illegal drugs a poison. Roe also argued that historically, medical proof of long term disastrous effects of uncontaminated forms of cocaine, heroine and marijuana on human health have been almost nil provided that the consumption was moderate. Besides, Roe asserted that the there is a fairly long history of consumption of these drugs in large amounts, yet none of them has ever been reported to have cause chronic pain or disabling disease in any patient in any clinical practice at all. The idea of legalizing drugs is also supported by George Shultz who has been the former President Reagan’s Secretary of State. He expressed his views in favor of drug legalization saying that it would not only minimize the profits of those involved in this business but also destroy their habit of giving young people the incentive to take drugs. (Maginnis, n.d.). Drugs are destructive and are condemned by all alike whether or not they are in favor of drug legalization. There is no doubt in the fact that drug addiction needs to be discouraged. However, the potential consequences of drug prohibition should be weighed against the foreseeable benefits thus drawn. Hence, the matter needs a much wiser and less emotional analysis when the most rational course of action has to be worked out. A neutral yet strategic approach can be by incorporating substantial leniency in the laws related to drug trade and its use. References: Cussen, M. and Block, W. (2000). “Legalize Drugs Now!”. American Journal of Economics and Sociology. Retrieved July 23, 2010 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0254/is_3_59/ai_65348069/?tag=content;col1 Husak, D. N. and Marneffe, P. D., (2005). The legalization of drugs. USA: Cambridge University Press. Maginnis, R. L. (n.d.). “Legalization Of Drugs: The Myths And The Facts”. Family Research Council. Retrieved July 23 2010 from http://www.sarnia.com/groups/antidrug/argument/myths.html. Miron, J. A., (2009). “Commentary: Legalize drugs to stop violence”. CNN Politics.com. Retrieved July 23 2010 from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/24/miron.legalization.drugs/index.html Roes, B. B., (n.d.). “Why we should legalize drugs”. Retrieved July 23 2010 from http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Misc/roe1.htm. Read More