Many feel today we are loosing the war on drugs. When a battle goes to the point where there is no winner there needs to be a re-evaluation of how to solve the problem. In the case of the war against drugs, years of fighting have caused increased crime, overcrowding of prisons and the wasted use of money and resources with no results. It is now time to look at alternative methods to solving the nation's drug problem. I will be looking at one of these methods that deal with the legalization of marijuana. There is a problem in the United States which deals with the use of drugs, our solutions to the problem and our responses to the attacks against the legalization of marijuana need to be re evaluated.
Many supporters of the illegalization of marijuana believe that by legalizing it, marijuana would become more accessible and use will therefore increase. They base this argument on past experiment dealing with alcohol prohibition. After the end of prohibition with the 21st amendment, alcohol consumption doubled while prohibition decreased use by 50 percent.(Light) They also cite that use of marijuana peaked in 1979 when there was a decriminalization of drug use by eleven states. When researching to find if a particular solution will prove to be of use, it is important to look at historical examples and learn from them. In Liverpool, England, after a recent legalization of marijuana in a regulatory program that focuses on the medical benefits, most drug pushers have left town because there is no longer a market for them.(Priver 28) This shows that legalization actually decreases use because of the increased emphasis on rehabilitation and the decrease of drug pushers. Such a dramatic decrease in drug dealers has not only resulted in crime reduction in England but there was also a decrease of drug use.
It is true that legalization will not eliminate the major cause of violent crime.
