THE WAR ON DRUGS.
I know that many other people have written on the subject of drug control and legalization, but I felt the urge to add my own two cents (ok, perhaps it'll be more like a cent and a half, but hey.). I am firmly of the opinion that the legalization of drugs would cure a lot of America's social ills. To some conservative people, this seems counter-intuitive, but in reality, it's really quite simple. This simple fact makes it all seem clear (to me, at least): prohibition doesn't work. .
We learned that prohibition didn't work with alchohol. We've never even bothered to try prohibiting the drugs nicotine or caffeine, probably because they've never been seen as "moral threats". We accept these drugs in society, with a minimum of bias. If these types of drug use can be taken for granted, why can we not accept that drug use itself is a fact of our lives? By doing so, we make it easier to help those who are using harmful substances, and promote helpful substances as needed without being hypocritical. .
One argument against drug legalization is that legalization would promote use. This is another point on which I strongly disagree. Legalization would necessarily include regulation and taxation. The black market industry which harms so many people today would be virtually eliminated because government controlled substances would be safer and legal. The illicit element which attracts many younger people would be, for the most part, gone. .
That brings me to another point. Legalization of drugs would mean that people who have drug problems could be helped by government programs. Yes, I'm talking about a decent amount of government action here, and money being spent, but I don't think it would even begin to compare to the cost of the current war on drugs. It's ludicrous to me that so many people are brought up before the court on possession charges - it just strikes me as an utter waste of time.
