Essay/Term paper: Debate on drugs

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Alcohol and Drugs

The debate over drugs continues to disturb the American public. Many Americans take at face value the assumptions that drugs cause addiction, which leads to crime, and that addiction is an illness. Yet abundant evidence exits to support the view that legalizing illegal drugs can help solve the drug problem in America. Hi, my name is Evan Dana. Today I am going to discuss why legalizing illegal drugs can help this appalling problem that we face today in U.S. society. Let's begin by accepting a fact: drugs are everywhere in America. The fabled "War on Drugs" hasn't made a dent in the problem, even though we arrest people and stuff them into prisons as fast as we can build them. Why are drugs so predominant? It's a great way to make money fast. Pushers encourage drug use so they have a ready supply of drug addicts. Once you twist a person into an addict, they are your personal slave for life. They will lie and steal for you, anything to get the money to buy the drugs. It's a great life for the pushers, as long as they don't get caught. One way to stop the problem is to go after the pushers: arrest them and toss them in jail. This approach is based on punishment. People will do anything and use all their intellect into avoiding arrest. Lots of Americans have sufficient talent to get away with illegal crimes. The other way to combat the problem is to take the profit away: Legalize drugs, sell them freely and cheaply. One might ask; wouldn't that lead to more addicts? There is a chance, especially at first. But it is important to understand that we have so many addicts today because pushers are doing their jobs quite well: pushing drugs on people who otherwise would not likely use them. They glamorize the drugs, give them away free, show people a good time, and hook a significant percentage of their customers. Without the financial incentives, pushers will be a thing of the past. Without pushers, society has a better chance of helping people through drug addiction. It can also minimize the financial hazards of drug addiction. Addicts won't have to rob, mug or even kill to get drugs. Crime would go down rapidly. Besides the fact that legalizing drugs would get rid of the pushers, it would also help the government. Studies showed that less then 10% of the drugs that are smuggled into the U.S. is noticed and not allowed in. So legalizing drugs wouldn"t change much, in respect to the amount of drugs allowed in the U.S. And the government can make a lot of money by imposing heavy taxes on the drugs, and use the money to help the problem. In conclusion, as long as there have been drugs, there have been drug addicts. We are never going to change that. What we can change is the profit purpose that benefits pushers at the tremendous human expense to their addict prey and to society at large. Make them legal with almost no restrictions on who gets access, and make them cheap so the drug problem in the U.S. can get better soon.