Drugs Legal Drug Prohibition Causes More Problems

¶ … Drugs Legal

Drug Prohibition Causes More Problems Than it Solves

This is a paper on drug prohibition and its disadvantages. It has 1 source.

During Prohibition, Americans discovered that making popular substances unlawful cause more problems than it solves. Like alcohol and tobacco, drugs should be legal in this country as most of the problems related to drug use arise from the fact that they are illegal and hence more tempting.

Imagine this: Your fifteen-year-old son is going out to a fast food store, suddenly two gangs start shooting at each other, your son gets shot and dies in a cross fire.

The government of the United States spends more than $18 billion of tax payer's money on the drug war. The increased expenditure finances the Drug Enforcement Agency, Office of National Drug Control Policy and is used to build a new prison every week. Add to this the financial cost of lawyers, judges, police officers and prison guards. Moreover property seizers, road blocks and wire taps are commonly used in the drug enforcement process. You pay heavy taxes, your phones are tapped and your son is dead, all because drugs are illegal.

Illegal drug trafficking has created a complex and sophisticated drug distribution system. This system has created gangs which fight and kill each other to gain market share. The income from drug sales finances even more criminal activity. The drug business seems very lucrative to many individuals and even though every 20 seconds someone is arrested for drug violation. But there are still 12.75 million Americans who can be classified as current users and millions of others who are occasional users.

Although record numbers of contraband confiscations and seizes are made and the supply reduced, it is estimated that the volume of drugs trafficked successfully in United States has not changed. More alarming is the fact that after all these efforts the demand for drugs has also not changed. The Government's only response is that it is morally correct to fight a losing and impossible battle against drugs.

Advocates of drug enforcement stress the adverse effects of drugs on the human body. But, are these moralistic and medical concerns enough to justify an increase in corruption, phenomenally escalating criminal activity and cost of the war on drugs? Every new President proposes more funds to support the war on drugs and they would not admit failure of the policy and consequent long-term failures in the future.