Hey guys, i have a college essay due..it has to be a Cause-Effect paper (which i dont get how to even write one) and the topics i gotta chose are Legalizing Drugs, A fear of _______, or A major life decision..im thinking about doing legalizing drugs but im not totally sure what points to make..any help works :) thank you!
Well, what would be the effects of legalizing drugs? There are several possibilities that spring to mind:
1. consumers would know exactly what they were getting. Purity and strength would be regulated, so the percentage of user who OD should decrease.
2. organized crime would wither and die. Vice crimes allow organized crime outfits to prosper, because their customers are just that, customers, and not victims, and so don't want to help the police put them out of business.
3. the government could then funnel the resources currently being spent on the war on drugs on fighting other, more serious forms of crime.
4. many countries whose prime crops are the plants from which illegal narcotics are derived would become a lot more politically and economically stable.
5. the government would make a lot more money, assuming that drugs were taxed and sold in the same manner as tobacco and liquor.
6. more people might use drugs, because they would cheaper, safer, and easier to obtain.
7. more drug users would result in higher rates of health problems, leading to an increase in health care costs.
Note that you would have to research these issues to see how solid a case you could build for each effect. For instance, if you look at countries where narcotics that are illegal in America have been legalized, has there actually been an increase in drug use rates? Or do they remain the same? If they do increase, is the increase large or statistically insignificant? The answers to these questions would help you determine how important 6 and 7 would be as considerations in legalizing drugs. Also, note that some of the items might balance each other out. So, the increase in gov't tax revenue might actually be equal to or greater than any increase in health care costs.
A great post by Sean, covering all the main points. You could also consider what is meant by the term 'Legalise.'
Would this mean that currently restricted substances would be 'freely' available from licensed vendors, in the same way that alcohol and cigarettes are sold?
Alternatively, legalize could mean to permit controlled use of certain drugs in accordance with a treatment programme as supervised by a physician.
In the Uk there is currently a small scale trial where heroin is being supplied by the state to addicts as part of a drug treatment plan. This is technically small scale legalisation, however people like myself, who don't have an addiction to heroin, can not purchase the drugs.
The preliminary findings of this study have shown a significant reduction in drug related crime (typically burglary, auto theft, shoplifting etc) and have also helped heroin addicts to rehabilitate by gradual dose reduction. If you search on news.bbc.co.uk you may be able to find some more information on this.
Current law enforcement policy on drugs in both the US and the UK focuses on restricting the supply of narcotics, both coming in to the country and at a street level. This has the effect of pushing up street prices of drugs and reducing drug purity (as dealers will add other substances to the drugs to make the weight up.)
The knock on effect of this is that addicts have to then commit more crime, to raise more money, to fund their habits. Partial legalisation (as in the UK example) for the most harmful drugs, heroin, crack, crystal meth etc, could well reduce crime and improve rehab rates, without the negative effect on public health that would be encountered if drugs were wholly de-regulated and legalised.
In short, the answer to the question on the effects of legalization, will naturally depend on the definition of legalization that you choose to work with.
