Legalizing Drugs, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The American society has always been victimizing drug addicts, to the point that anyone who is addicted to the use of drugs is usually subjected to unthinkable trauma, ranging from reasons that claim he/she is irresponsible, to others that claim that it is a result of poor parenting (David Crewman, 200). However, has anyone ever thought that it could as well be the fault of the American Government, i.e. the Government failing to be proactive? By being proactive, I mean looking into the positive sides of legalizing the use of drugs. I know that sounds absurd, but let us critically think through the benefits that would come with legalizing its use.

Legalizing Drugs

If the Government was to remove the legal penalties from the sale, use and production of drugs, and seek to make it a controlled substance, it would alleviate a lot of America’s biggest political and social problems. If the public would embrace the legalization of drugs, there would be a dozen of benefits. One of the most important benefits would come in the form of guaranteeing safety in the streets and homes.

Enhancing Safety

I do not wish to contend with the notion that there exists a proportion of violence and property crime associated with the use of drugs. However, I am of the view that the reasons for that tendency are not hard to understand, i.e. with the law enforcement restricting the supply of the drugs, the prices escalates, forcing the users, some of whom are poor to look for alternatives to allow them purchase the “commodities”. Most of the users then turn to crime to finance the purchase for the drugs. The more the Government puts strict measures to stop the use sale and production of drugs, the more the commodity becomes scarce, and therefore the more the price for the same goes up. Since the users do not have the extra money to purchase the drugs, they end up stealing to buy the same amount.

Also, those who purchase or deal with drugs find themselves carrying very expensive “goods” thus becoming attractive targets for assault. When that happens, the police officers as well as the people suspected of being informants for the law enforcement consequently become reprisal targets, turning the streets into battle fields for territory, between competing drug dealers as they seek for control over certain territories, which often result to unsafe grounds even for the innocent civilians.

Therefore, when, and if the drugs are legalized, their price will significantly go down, and so will the various drug-related motivations by the users to commit crime. Drug consumers will not need to steal to support their habits anymore, as a packet of the most expensive drugs will probably bear the price similar to that of a packet of cigarettes. When that happens, the drug dealers will be effectively pushed out of the retail markets by the retailers.

Ending Prison Overcrowding

We all know how prison overcrowding has become a serious and persistent problem, making the prison environment faceless and violent as well as dehumanizing. The Government keeps on building more and more prisons, whereas the number of prisoners keeps outpacing the capability of holding them. Among these prisoners, a significant number gets there on drug related crimes. If drugs were to be legalized, the pressure on the prison system would immediately be relieved, because there would no longer be drug offenders for incarceration. Also, since many drug users would not need to commit crimes to pay for their habits anymore, there would be fewer criminals roaming about the prisons depleting public resources.

Instead, they will be free, making efforts to better their lives, and thus making the economy better than depleting it. Instead of putting up more prisons, the Government will be pocketing the money and still be safer. Also, if the inmates who have been imprisoned on drug related cases were to be released from the overcrowded prisons, then the number left would be manageable, and they will stay in better places, which are more humane, less cruel and less degrading. By repealing the drug laws, the Government will reduce the prison population to levels below the prison’s rated capacities.

Reducing Organized Crimes

By legalizing the use, trade and production of drugs, the major gangs who control drug cartels would lose billions of dollars in drug profits. Basing it on Per Capita, organized crime members, especially those at the top would stand to lose the most from legalizing the trade. Taking a journey down our memory lanes, we can remember how the underworld business had become big business in America when alcohol was prohibited. When it was re-legalized reputable and very respectable manufacturers took over. The same would happen to drugs, in which the organizers of organized crimes who are usually very rich from drug sale would be removed from the market, a fact that would translate to reduced organized crimes.

Work Cited

David Crewman, Taking Advantage of Organized Crime, Journal of Criminology (11) pp200, 2006