Should Drugs Be Legalized?

For several decades drugs have been one of the major problems

of society. There have been escalating costs spent on the war against

drugs and countless dollars spent on rehabilitation, but the problem

still exists. Not only has the drug problem increased but drug related

problems are on the rise. Drug abuse is a killer in our country. Some

are born addicts(crack babies), while others become users.

The result of drug abuse is thousands of addicts in denial.

The good news is the United States had 25,618 total arrests and

81,762 drug seizures due to drugs in 1989 alone, but the bad news is

the numbers of prisoners have increased by 70 percent which will cost

about $30 million dollars. Despite common wisdom, the U.S isn't

experiencing a drug related crime wave. Government surveys show

between 1980 - 1987 burglary rates fell 27 percent, robbery 21 percent

and murders 13 percent, but with new drugs on the market these numbers

are up. One contraversial solution is the proposal of legalizing

drugs. Although people feel that legalizing drugs would lessen crime,

drugs should remain illegal in the U.S because there would be an

increase of drug abuse and a rapid increase of diseases such as AIDS.

Many believe that legalizing drugs would lessen crime. They

point out that the legalization of drugs would deter future criminal

acts. They also emphasize and contrast Prohibition. When the public

realized that Prohibition could not be enforced the law was repealed.

From this, one may infer the same of legalizing drugs. Legalizing

alcohol didn't increase alcoholism, so why would drugs increase drug

abuse?

However, drugs should not be legalized because there would be

an increase in drug abuse due to its availability. Once legalized,

drugs would become cheaper and more accessible to people who

previously had not tried drugs, because of the high price or the legal

risk. Drug abuse would skyrocket! Addicts who tend to stop, not by

choice, but because the drugs aren't accessible would now feed the

addiction if drugs were made legal. These drug addicts would not be

forced to kick the habit due to the availability of the drug they

would partake eagerly. The temptation to use drugs would increase when

advertisements for cocaine, heroin and marijuana are displayed on

television. Instead of money used by employed addicts, you will see

welfare funds used to purchase drugs. If welfare funds were being

misused,