Illegal drugs use and drug trafficking in the United States is a large problem for everyone involved. Drugs lead to many problems such as gang involvement, stealing, and even violent deaths. Drug use today causes many deadly diseases to be passed around large groups of people and many of the people who get these diseases do not have proper medical care, therefore they never get treated and in the end it could lead to their death.
Making illegal drugs legal will help the drug users and the American economy. It will help the American economy because right now the United States spends $600 per second on the war on drugs, and if the war on drugs stops that money could be spent on more important things for our country. The United States will also arrest over a million people of the US population for drug related crimes, which causes the rest of the US population to pay more taxes (Babula). Making the illegal drugs legal will allow these drugs to be taxed and therefore increase tax revenues, so the whole population will benefit (Steingold).
Another reason that illegal drugs should be made legal is it will cause the black market of drug sales to disappear. The main thing about the black market is that, when the drug supply goes down, the prices in this market will rise which causes the illegal suppliers to get a bigger profit. The only way to prevent the illegal suppliers is to make the drugs legal so the users have to buy them from legal suppliers which allows the drugs to be taxed (Cussen).
The elasticity of demand for drugs is low, while most people think it is very high. It is low for three main reasons; the first reason is that drug users see drugs as necessary things not luxuries. If the drugs become legal the knowledge regarding the dangers will become publicly known and people will just avoid them all together. And if the drugs are legal they will no longer be forced to younger children and only sold legally to adults. And if the drug is made legal it will not cause people to just start using just because they are made legal. And if they are made legal the supply will be constant and since they are low elasticity for users, the consumption will be small (Cussen).
In conclusion making drugs legal will help the users and the general population of the United States. The United States will no longer need to spend money on the war on drugs. Legalization will also make the prices of the drugs go down, which will stop the crimes that drugs cause and maybe the addicts can use the extra money to get help and stop being drug addicts. Overall making drugs legal is the right thing.
Works Citied
Babula, Dr. Michael. "Issues." Dr. Michael Babubla for Congress 2008 21 Jan 2008
Cussen, Meaghan. "Legalize Drugs Now!." CNET Networks Business: BNET July 2000 1-5. 21 Jan 2008
Steingold, Sam. "Illegal Drugs Should Be Made Legal." 22 Nov 1999 21 Jan 2008
10 comments:
I think that making drugs legal would be great for the economy, but it is alot easier said than done. It would take many years for it to be without any serious problems.
Drugs should not be made legal unless they are being used to treat medical conditions. Other precautions need to be taken to stop violence and crime in today's society.
I really think that this solution would only enhance the alcohol and drug-related problems that occur so often in our society. We do not need another problem brought into our everyday lives. Anyway, this issue is not important considering the law won't be changing any time in the next 100 years.
Good Ideas but not the right message. Drugs cause harm and death. Making them legally will not decrease the death rate nor will it decrease the crime rate. Look at alcohol abuse! Yes it may in crease tax revenue but legalization of drugs is not the way! And what drugs are we talking about? Pot, Coke, Meth, Highs, lowers, steroids????????????????
Legalizing heroin, crack cocaine! there are no set of circumstances for legalizing such drugs except in a clinical setting. Marijuana for medical purposes is already legal in some jurisdictions. To legalize all drugs is the easy way out. To say that it would save money and only adults would use drugs is a fallacy. Look at hte cost of treating alcoholism in terms of health costs and emotional costs as well as loss of life and injury. Alcohol is legal and young people can't stay away from it, knowing full well that it is illegal. Reduce demand through education, increased penalties for dealingand address societal ills which lead to drug use would be a better way to go rather than caving in and legalizing drugs.
While it's hard to imagine that we will see change like this any time soon, there is still a lot of economic theory that backs this as a good idea. I have always thought that there was a lack of strong reasoning to keep marijuana illegal, but it is tough to make the same case for the harder stuff. Overall I think it's an interesting topic to persue....
I agree to what she said. I smoke everyday all day.
I love how alcohol is legal. Therefore, I would also love it if marijuana, coke, shrooms, crystal meth, and crack were legal as well. Lets get high!
i agree with Crystal.
I think that drugs shouldn't be made legal. I think that it would increase the amount of drug use because people would just do it because its legal and not think of the health effects that it can cause.
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