Thursday 7 December 2006

Why ALL Drugs Should Be Legal

  1. The war on drugs does not stop drug usage. That much is obvious from society today.
    Government cannot even keep drugs out of the jails, let alone in society at large. The demand for humans to experience drugs will not and cannot be extinguished.
  2. The war on drugs drives the price of drugs up around 6000-7000%, leading to increased home invasions from addicts wanting a fix. Contrary to common belief, most drug users can hold down a job. With free market prices, many low income wages would be sufficent to support a drug habit.
  3. Who gives you the right to tell someone what to put in their body? Are they directly harming anyone by smoking a joint?
  4. Over half of the prison population is there due to drugs. Prisoners that we the citizens have to pay for, around $50,000 a year.
    This also means rapists and killers, people who actually directly harm others, don't spend as long in jail because they are full of harmless stoner's.
  5. The demand for drugs is never going to go away. By making them illegal, you create gangs. Gangs only come about due to something being illegal. Gambling, prostitution, drugs, these services or products, if they are make illegal, will spawn real crime, like killing and stealing.
    The people who will offer drugs on the black market will be the ones willing to kill, to steal.
    Also, the black market means prices skyrocket, because a) the black market is smaller, therefore less competition and b) dealers take a risk providing this product, and want more compensation.
    By allowing only these 'bad' people access to the distribution of drugs, you are funneling money to these people.
  6. The only way to stop drugs is education. And even then, the best education is experience. I'm not condoning widespread drug use however.
    Another problem with the War on Drugs is the propaganda that replaces real drug information. How can an agency that prohibits marijuana use give a balanced education about it?
  7. Illegal drugs makes them less safe. I would trust a pharmaceutical company, with their reputation on the line, and with good safety controls. to make my heroin over some junkie who is probably high himself.
I am not condoning drugs. If I could, I would flip a switch and make them go away. But I can't.

Government banning or restricting anything, except one citizen using force on another, always has unintended consequences.

I do know for a fact, that the drug dealers, the smart ones, love drugs being illegal. They are probably the biggest supporters of it. Well, maybe the crooked cops that get payed off at the border love it more.

4 comments:

Zane said...

I agree with you fully. I have a few points as well.

As you said education is much more important than legislation in this issue. If drugs were legal rather than spending billions in a losing battle that only builds a criminal underground, we would tax them and make money to fund education and recovery programs. This would also do away with the illegal black market created.

Secondly their production would be regulated, making them cleaner and safer. Illegallity doesn't stop people from using them, it only requires them to risk much more and put themselves in worse situations to attain and use them.

Adam said...

It's one of my pet issues as a libertarian the war on drugs, I'm going to try to use this post and get links and stats that back up my arguments.

Most people just don't think like me and guys like zane, they only think 'drugs bad so make illegal'.

Anonymous said...

Hmm... Adam Green makes some excellen t points. Very insightful. Zane needs to make more of an effort on his profile.

123 said...

www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Misc/roe1.htm