Should America Legalize
The Federal Government, while trying to protect us from our human nature, developed harsh anti-drug policies with the hope of eradicating drugs. These policies seemed simple enough: imposition of penalties on those who use substances illegally, iterception of drugs coming from other countries while ending all drug cultivation in the States, and prevention of foreign governments from growing these substances. The idea of the Drug Prohibition surely made sense: lower demand of drugs by law enforcement, and reduce supply through domestic and international means. Unfortunately, the Drug Prohibition led to heavy costs, both financially and otherwise, while being ineffective, if not, at times, counterproductive. Today, people can see the unforeseen costs of the "Drug Prohibition," and we should consider these costs before expanding the "War on Drugs." First, among the costs of the "War on Drugs," the most obvious is monetary cost. The direct cost of purchasing drugs for private use is $100 billion a year. The federal government spends at least $10 billion a year on drug enforcement programs and spends many billions more on drug-related crimes and punishment. The estimated cost to the Un
"Crime, Violence, and Drug Use Go Hand-in-Hand." On-line. World Wide Web. Thomas J. Gorman, Deputy Chief of the California Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, in his report "The Myths of Drug Legalization" uses outlandish statistics from "experts" to scare the reader into believing that legalization "could lead to the downfall of the United States as we know it." He uses Dr. H. Kelbrs assertion that legalization could lead to a fivefold increase in drug use ('Myths'). Comparing this type of increase in drug use and the idea that 35 million people now use drugs, the conclusion would be that 165 million people would be drug users in the United States. Considering the United States has only 200 million people over age 12, believing that such a high number of people would use drugs is were legal 50 million people (1/4 the over 12 population) would use marijuana regularly and that 60 million (nearly 1/3 the over twelve population) would use cocaine regularly ('Myths'). These statistics are scary, but they are just not possible. They are not possible because they would imply that one out of every three people over age 12 walking down the street would become "regular cocaine states, without explanation, that 70-75% of illicit drug users become addicted ('Myths'). Only three percent of the users of cocaine that currently has 12.2 million users annually, use cocaine once a week, and only 3.7% of users said that they tried to quit, but couldn't. If the assumption is that all 200 million Americans over 12 in the United States would use cocaine if it were legal, then approximately 7.4 million people could not quit if they wanted to (Berent and Evans, eds. 24).
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Drug Prohibition, Evans Berent, Trebach Inciardi, Peterson Shielding, War Drugs, Considering United, Lawrence Kolb, Berent Evans, drug prohibition, Alcohol Prohibition, United Government, trebach inciardi, evans berent eds, berent eds, evans berent, drug users, proponents drug, positive liberty, law enforcement, legalization lead, civil liberties, proponents drug prohibition, berent eds 58, people die annually, berent eds 22,
Approximate Word count = 5244
Approximate Pages = 21 (250 words per page double spaced)
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