Legalization of Drugs

This paper will present a number of arguments in favor of the legalization of drugs in America. In addition, the paper will propose a program for implementing the legalization of drugs, and will consider various problems which might be anticipated in the course of carrying out such a program. The primary argument in favor of the legalization of drugs lies in the fact that the government's war on drugs, which has been going on now for decades, has simply failed to curb the illegal drug trade. In fact, many critics have compared the current war on drugs to the 1920s Prohibition action in that it "has created more problems than it solves" (Becker, 1987, p. 22). As in the ban on alcoholic beverages which took place as a result of Prohibition, the current illegality of drugs has done little to stop the problems of use and abuse while at the same time making it possible for criminals to reap incredible profits. It has been estimated that Americans spend approximately $140 billion per year on the illicit drug trade (Branch, 1988, p. 26). If drugs were decriminalized, these enormous profits would no longer go to organized crime and would thereby be brought back into the legal economy.

If drugs were made legal, much of the violence which currently surrounds the drug trade would also be brought to a halt. Because criminals dominate the distribution of drugs in America today, many people get killed as a result. These victims range from police officers killed or wounded in the

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erican citizens are also threatened by attempts to curb personal drug use through urinalysis testing on the job. Also, the idea of using the military to seal off Americas borders or to patrol city streets is closely akin to martial law. Furthermore, the policy of stopping and searching anyone who looks suspicious at airline terminals is a clear violation of the American right to privacy and the freedom to dress and act as one chooses without government interference. Even people who are strongly opposed to the legalization of drugs are concerned with the extremity of some of these approaches. This can be seen, for example, in the words of A. M. Rosenthal, who, while favoring tougher laws in the war on drugs, admits: "The danger, of course, is that a policy repressive of civil liberties has a way of spreading to that one particular group we would like to protect: ourselves" (Rosenthal, 1989, p. 31). If drugs are to be legalized, it is first necessary to develop a program which would deal with the various aspects involved. Many experts believe that such a program would be far more effective if addicts were not required to obtain drugs through their doctors or other medical professionals. This is because many, if not most, a

Category: Government - L