1 Address the real issues For too long policy makers have used prohibition as a smoke screen to avoid addressing the social and economic factors that lead people to use drugs. Most illegal and legal drug use is recreational. Poverty and despair are at the root of most problematic drug use and it is only by addressing these underlying causes that we can hope to significantly decrease the number of problematic users. 2 Eliminate the criminal market place The market for drugs is demand-led and millions of people demand illegal drugs. Making the production, supply and use of some drugs illegal creates a vacuum into which organised crime moves. The profits are worth billions of pounds. Legalisation forces organised crime from the drugs trade, starves them of income and enables us to regulate and control the market (i.e. prescription, licensing, laws on sales to minors, advertising regulations etc.) 3 Massively reduce crime The price of illegal drugs is determined by a demand-led, unregulated market. Using illegal drugs is very expensive. This means that some dependent users resort to stealing to raise funds (accounting for 50% of UK property crime - estimated at £2 billion a year). Most of the violence associated with illegal drug dealing is caused by its illegality Legalisation would enable us to regulate the market, determine a much lower price and remove users need to raise funds through crime. Our legal system would be freed up and our prison population dramatically reduced, saving billions. Because of the low price, cigarette smokers do not have to steal to support their habits. There is also no violence associated with the legal tobacco market. 4 Drug users are a majority Recent research shows that nearly half of all 15-16 year olds have used an illegal drug. Up to one and a half million people use ecstasy every weekend. Amongst young people, illegal drug use is seen as normal. Intensifying the 'war on drugs' is not reducing demand. In Holland, where cannabis laws are far less harsh, drug usage is amongst the lowest in Europe. Legalisation accepts that drug use is normal and that it is a social issue, not a criminal justice one. How we deal with it is up to all of us to decide. In 1970 there were 9000 convictions or cautions for drug offences and 15% of young people had used an illegal drug. In 1995 the figures were 94 000 and 45%. Prohibition doesn't work. 5 Provide access to truthful information and education A wealth of disinformation about drugs and drug use is given to us by ignorant and prejudiced policy-makers and media who peddle myths upon lies for their own ends. This creates many of the risks and dangers associated with drug use. Legalisation would help us to disseminate open, honest and truthful information to users and non-users to help them to make decisions about whether and how to use. We could begin research again on presently illicit drugs to discover all their uses and effects - both positive and negative. 6 Make all drug use safer Prohibition has led to the stigmatisation and marginalisation of drug users. Countries that operate ultra-prohibitionist policies have very high rates of HIV infection amongst injecting users. Hepatitis C rates amongst users in the UK are increasing substantially. In the UK in the '80's clean needles for injecting users and safer sex education for young people were made available in response to fears of HIV. Harm reduction policies are in direct opposition to prohibitionist laws. 7 Restore our rights and responsibilities Prohibition unnecessarily criminalises millions of otherwise law-abiding people. It removes the responsibility for distribution of drugs from policy makers and hands it over to unregulated, sometimes violent dealers. Legalisation restores our right to use drugs responsibly to change the way we think and feel. It enables controls and regulations to be put in place to protect the vulnerable. 8 Race and Drugs Black people are over ten times more likely to be imprisoned for drug offences than whites. Arrests for drug offences are notoriously discretionary allowing enforcement to easily target a particular ethnic group. Prohibition has fostered this stereotyping of black people. Legalisation removes a whole set of laws that are used to disproportionately bring black people into contact with the criminal justice system. It would help to redress the over representation of black drug offenders in prison. 9 Global Implications The illegal drugs market makes up 8% of all world trade (around £300 billion a year). Whole countries are run under the corrupting influence of drug cartels. Prohibition also enables developed countries to wield vast political power over producer nations under the auspices of drug control programmes. Legalisation returns lost revenue to the legitimate taxed economy and removes some of the high-level corruption. It also removes a tool of political interference by foreign countries against producer nations. 10 Prohibition doesn't work There is no evidence to show that prohibition is succeeding. The question we must ask ourselves is, "What are the benefits of criminalising any drug?" If, after examining all the available evidence, we find that the costs outweigh the benefits, then we must seek an alternative policy. Legalisation is not a cure-all but it does allow us to address many of the problems associated with drug use, and those created by prohibition. The time has come for an effective and pragmatic drug policy. Some srs copypasta right here, but I don't have time for a typical debate thread write-up & I really want to know y'alls opinions on this topic, as it was my selected topic for my Argument Paper for English Composition I. I've been doing a bit of research on it, and I've been enjoying playing the devil's advocate on this. Though, after doing a bit of research (and from my own personal experience on the debate), I could see how this actually could do good things for America (or any country in general.) Thoughts?
You should make this into a petition. I would sign it. I think the system should be that kids are educated on the effects of each drug, but not in a biasing way. The teachers or parents or whatever should give the kids the facts- both good and bad- and let them decide for themselves. I think crime would drop so much, and people would feel so much better overall. Also nice work on making this beast of a post. Oh and also, I read about a bill thats being proposed to congress. What it does is it takes away people over 80's drivers lincenses in exchange for any drugs they want. They said it has a very strong chance of passing. I can't wait til I'm 80. Things are changing, its just taking time.
I'm not going to argue with your points above, because quite frankly most of them are completely true. However, there is one big obstacle to legalizing drugs, specifically Marijuana, which has the most public support for legalizing. It doesn't have a good sobriety test. With no sobriety test, there is no way to enforce DUI laws on an otherwise legal substance, so legalizing possession and smoking of it blows the door wide open for driving high and you can't be busted for it, so innocent drivers are put at risk.
I think there is room for balance. By licensing and taxing drugs, you make them too expensive to misuse, yet too available to establish a black-market. But it is a fine line. In the UK cigarette smuggling is more profitable and less risky than heroin smuggling.
Marijuana doesn't have a huge effect on your ability to drive. Unless you're completely blazed, you can still be a safe driver. I've driven a couple times while i was high, and the only effect it has on my driving is that I'm always forgetting where I am. But every time I've done this I've been with somebody so they've just told me where to go. It's not anything like alcohol. I haven't done any of the more hardcore drugs like acid or heroin but I'm sure they have more of an effect.
I think a major problem with legalizing all drugs is that most drugs carry a large dependency (not marijuana). Drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine (crystal meth) can get the user easily addicted. I believe the society we live in tries to hide these drugs from us in order to protect us from these addictions. There are no studies to support this but here's my opinion: if we legalize all drugs then that will open the door for a larger population of people to experiment with these drugs. If these people start experimenting with these drugs for the first time, they have a very high risk of dependency. Those people who are experimenting with these newly legalized drugs will not know the limit and will not know when to stop using these drugs. Maybe the government could issue general knowledge about the effects of each drug, but society never looks into detail about new products (lead paint, cigarettes, etc).
Alcohol doesn't have a disastrous effect on your ability to drive either, unless you're pretty drunk. Yet we've got thousands of deaths each year telling us that alcohol and driving don't mix. If you think somehow people can be more responsible with weed than beer, then I'd like some of what you're smoking, its apparently a lot better than weed.
...You can't be serious... How many stoned drivers killed people last year? Precisely the man you quoted's point. Actually, that's exactly what anyone who's tried the both of them says... ...Have you ever? Or are you talking out your ass?
Weed doesn't make you disoriented and not as aggressive as alcohol does... it just takes away from your head and well being faster. But, I do agree with Tex
He was saying that you have to be completely blazed to really suck at driving high, I respond with you've got to be pretty drunk to be a disaster on the road. I don't see the problem. I won't say that driving with any level of alcohol is perfectly safe, but I will say that more people make it home than get caught or crash because most aren't completely hammered. Both weed and alcohol do make you a disaster if you've had a lot of them. How many stoned drivers were there vs drunk ones? A whole lot less, and so a ton less deaths. Doesn't really matter anyway, because the DUI enforcement point I made in the first place still stands. I've smoked many times, so no I'm not talking out of my ass. And I know that pretty much everyone insists they drive just fine high, but they're not driving completely blazed, and I wouldn't trust anyone to stay off the road while they were.
More so in alcohol then in Marijuana. The way you came off, was as though Marijuana and Alcohol are almost the same when talking about their effects on a driver. Also, Alcohol is already legal...I'd like to leave it out of this discussion as much as possible - even if it can be used metaphorically when talking about other drugs. There are a lot more people out there smoking then you think. While I don't trust someone who's out-of-their mind ****ed, I don't feel that is a fair comparison.
I was using it as the example because it is a legal substance, and laws restricting it can be enforced because of the easy sobriety testing available(breathalyzer, and blood tests). I'm not sure about harder drugs, but I know that there's no sobriety test for THC because it stays in your blood for days longer than you're actually high on it. If there was such a test, I'd have no objections at all. Anyway, I think my point has been made, and I only have the one because I agree with most of the pro-legalization arguments, so that's all I really need to say in this thread.
There has never been a recorded death due to marijuana at any time in US history. Drug Facts And Statistics Tobacco kills 400,000 people A YEAR. Alcohol kills about 80,000. Weed has never killed anyone, directly or indirectly. That's counting car accidents and everything. And I've driven while I was blazed off my ass. In a way, it makes things more dangerous, but you also get completely paranoid so it makes you safer. Alcohol affects your ability to see and your reaction time. Marijuana doesn't do anything to your vision. I'm not sure what effects it has on your reaction time but it can't be much because I've never noticed any difference. I do think that some of the more hardcore drugs like meth and heroin should be either illegal or so highly priced that you can't afford to get addicted to them (I think somebody already said this but oh well). My argument for legalization is basically only about marijuana.