Essay/Term paper: Drugs and legalization

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Alcohol and Drugs

Drugs and Legalization


Since early on man has been interested in the consumption of substances
that altered the mind or ones feeling. The consumption of substances can be
broken down into legal and illegal substances. The question is, who are we to
label certain substances illegal and prohibit others from using them by creating
penalties for their use?

If the importation, sale and use of drugs were legal, the open
competition would eliminate the profitability of drug dealing. Without the
economic incentive to commit violent crimes, the violence of drug dealing would
be dramatically reduced. In addition to the elimination of the economic
incentive, the health risk factor would help to reduce the role of the drug
dealer. A potential customer would probably choose to buy a market-tested
product from a pharmacy as opposed to buying a product of unknown dosage and
quality from a corner dealer.

Without the advantage of large profits, the drug dealing profession
would lose its luster. A major problem is that teenagers see selling drugs as
the only way to make money. Minimum wage salaries can not compare to the huge
profits associated with dealing. In a drug community, the drug dealers are seen
as the center of the community. They become role models for the children,
replacing their parents. Eliminating the drug dealer will force these young
children into the reality that education is the way to make money, not selling
drugs.

N.O.R.M.L (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) is a
fully recognized organization that lobbies for the removal of criminal penalties
for the individual who uses marijuana in private. Since it is the Americans
right to privacy, personal choice, and individual freedom.

Marijuana, in addition to not being a dangerous drug, has been
documented to have practical medical purposes and environmental purposes. The
legalization of marijuana, a drug that the criminalization of is so impossible
to enforce, would not only not harm society, but could actually benefit it. The
question then becomes, how should legalization be approached? In addition to
legalization, the government must also educate people of the affects.

Legalizing drugs would allow them to be available to those who would
benefit from their medical use and those who would like to use them as
recreational drugs much like alcohol and tobacco are. Research would also be
encouraged as scientists could search for new and practical uses of drugs. There
are many wonderful uses of drugs that have not yet been identified or perfected
because of the strict laws against them. With expanded research, we could
discover these new possibilities.

Of course, some restrictions would have to be set. Likely, an age
restriction would have to be adopted. Restricting the use of drugs to adults
only, and educating the youth of the potential dangers should help curb
adolescent abuse, much like that of alcohol and tobacco. Prohibiting acts such
as driving a vehicle under the influence of a mind-altering substance would
likewise be necessary. Another necessity would be the destruction of all those
with prior criminal records due to the arrest or conviction on drug-related
charges. Of course, the right of the non-smoker would have to be respected in a
public facility, just like non-smoking areas now days. The legalization could
also help the economy in the revenue collected from taxes.