The Issue of Drugs Legalization, Prohibition, and Policy Reforms
The issue of drugs legalization, prohibition and policy reforms has always sparked heated arguments from different groups supporting either of the side. Proponents of legalizing drugs base their arguments on the fact that the United States (US) continues to spend billions of dollars to fund the war on drugs, but the country is yet to yield any fruits. In fact, prisons continue to become overpopulated with drug criminals, as people become homeless and some in rehabilitation centers on the same issue. Their primary hypothesis is that the legalization of drugs would mean control and ultimate reduction in the number of drug abusers. However, these are not enough reasons to warrant the legalization of drugs, primarily because this issue involves many other factors than the ones used as arguments. Supporters of legalization fail to put in consideration factors such as the criterion to use in choosing what drugs to legalize, medical costs for health-related problems caused by drugs, licensing sellers, and limitations of buying amounts, among others. Therefore, America should not legalize drugs because it would result in more problems than those currently caused by prohibition. Instead, the country should have comprehensive policy reforms to reinforce the existing laws.
One of the Issues with Drug Legalization
One of the issues that supporters of legalization fail to explain explicitly while presenting their arguments is in case of this, should all drugs be allowed legalized sale across the country, and if so, what criteria should be used in determining the same (Rangel). Different drugs vary in how they affect the overall physical and mental health of human beings, even in small intakes. Additionally, some drugs, especially the contemporary ones are lethal on human bodies, causing addiction or health complications in a short span of time. Therefore, legalizing such drugs equates to allowing people delve into dangerous substances. Thus, there has to be a criterion for choosing which drugs to legalize and which to leave as illegal, which does not fully define legalization. Furthermore, reasons that might be provided for choosing some drugs over others for legalization would be conflicting because at the end of the day, all drugs have some negative effects. In this view then, drugs should remain illegal.
The Increase in Healthcare Costs
Legalization of drugs would increase the amount of money taxpayers contribute towards healthcare, as well as other aspects of life. In other words, legalizing drugs would derail the US economy in all sectors of life. Firstly, drugs that have already been decriminalized, such as alcohol and marijuana, in some states and countries continue to cost the US citizen a lot of money because of the health costs associated with them. The Center for Disease and Control reports that alcohol-impaired driving kills approximately twenty-nine people per day in the US. Additionally, the subsequent cost incurred by these accidents equals to more than forty-four billion dollars per year. A 2016 report by the Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA) states that despite the popular belief that marijuana has minimal effects, there is a variety of health effects resulting from the use of this recreational drug. Such health concerns include high morbidity and mortality rates from car accidents and some cases of lung cancer, mental health impacts, impaired development of young adults who make up the largest population of marijuana users, among others. Therefore, this implies that legalization will not exempt the common US citizen from paying the usual, or more, amounts of money for the cause of drugs.
Statistics on Drug Use in the US
Just to show how bad it is, we can use some statistics. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), around 27 million Americans, which makes about 10.2 percent of the population above 12 years of age, were reported to be using illegal drugs in 2014. The NSDUH additionally approximated that 28.7 million Americans (10.9% of the population) above 12 years of age drove while intoxicated. An additional 6.5 million individuals above 12 years of age we found to be on non-medical use of prescription drugs, for example, tranquilizers, sedatives, painkillers, and stimulants. Studies indicated that in 2014 alone, about 140 million Americans above 12 years of age, at the time, consuming alcohol. Out of this, about 16.3 million Americans had reported excessive use of alcohol in, and an estimated 60.9 million reporting binge drinking during early 2015. This mirrored a rise from the levels seen earlier. In addition, the NSDUH reports that the use of cocaine, however, declined among Americans above 12 years from an estimated 2.3 million during 2003 to roughly 1.5 million during 2014. Perhaps more recently, there has been a reported 200,000 deaths resulting from drug-injection.
Adverse Effects on the Economy
Besides health costs, legalization will have adverse effects on other aspects of the economic life. The fact that drugs will be readily available to anyone implies that the number of people indulging in the same will likely increase in an unexpected way, not forgetting that the period near and around legalization will report a high number. Currently, the US already feels the effects of illegal drugs comprising of homelessness, unemployment, high rates of school dropouts, teenage pregnancies, domestic violence, among others, all which have either a direct or indirect effect on the nation's economy. Legalizing drugs, therefore, implies that this number will rise significantly, resulting in negative effects on the economy. Thus, the counterargument that legalizing drugs will result in the release of a considerable amount of funds which can be allocated in solving other crimes is not logical, seeing the sudden increase of costs and economy derailment (Johnson).
Health Benefits and Moral Decay
Proponents of drugs' legalization also argue that there are some current illegal drugs that have health benefits, such as treating some diseases or even overcoming addiction to other stronger drugs. Some also go ahead to provide scientific research of drugs with medicinal purposes to heal cancer and other chronic diseases, such as Marijuana. However, legalizing these same drugs would not solve the problem of drug addiction or have much positive effect on treating these diseases. This is because legalization implies that there is no control and anyone can acquire them from sellers. Alternatively, this challenge can be solved by having only licensed sellers and limiting the total amount of drugs one can purchase. Additionally, the government can formulate policies to only sell these legalized drugs to people with states health complications. However, this solution too has some loopholes because it will not work effectively to control the use of legalized drugs. This is because after limiting buyers to only those with health complications, there are no additional laws to ensure that the same patients do not sell to other people who are not ill. Furthermore, limiting the amount of drugs one can purchase is almost equal to illegalization.
The Importance of Strengthening the War on Drugs
Finally, the legalization of drugs in the US will cause an increase in vices associated with their effects as well as moral decay. As previously mentioned, legalization almost implies the lack of control on who uses the drugs and their effects. Some groups, even religious ones, have come forward with claims and arguments that they do not find any ethical or moral foundation to illegalize certain drugs such as Marijuana. However, the primary issue in this topic comes from the long-term use of the same, side effects, and how they affect a person's moral judgement. There are both philosophical and logical reasons why legalizing drugs would severely affect society morally (Lovering). The statistics on the use of marijuana in the United States are even more surprising. Studies demonstrated that roughly 35 million Americans used marijuana in 2017. At least 78 million participants in the studies revealed having tried marijuana during their lives. In essence, 55 million Americans reported that they at one point used marijuana during 2016. According to the CDC, this statistical data totals to more than the total number of those actively smoking tobacco, which is at 36.5 million currently. Human beings have different tolerance effects along with how their bodies react to drugs. Indeed, drugs require a certain sense of self-control, which not every person can attain. Therefore, it is better to prohibit these drugs than to legalize and deal with the moral repercussions.
The Need for Comprehensive Policy Reforms
The US should not legalize drugs but should instead strengthen its war on drugs. First, there would be an extreme and sudden increase in taxes, followed by economic derailment. Secondly, the government would have to choose to still illegalize some drugs, which beats the reason for legalization. Finally, there are moral and ethical concerns associated with immediate side effects and drug addiction. Instead, there should be comprehensive revision and changes to the stipulated policies and reforms on the war against drugs. The argument that the war on drugs in the US should not be an excuse to waive the white flag and result in legalization because of its negative results.
Works Cited
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Impaired Driving: Get the Facts.
(2017) From < https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html> Accessed on June 16th, 2018.
Johnson, Gary. The Case for Drug Legalization. (n.d)
Lovering, Rob. “On Moral Arguments Against Recreational Drug Use.” Philosophy Now Magazine. (2016).
Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA). The Public Health Implications of the Legalization of Recreational Cannabis. (2016).
Rangel, Charles. Why Drug Legalization Should Be Opposed. (n.d.)
