Legalization of Drugs

Thank you for taking me up on the offer of argument and I appreciate the clarification. Also, to make it easier, I would appreciate it if you formatted your arguments to have more spacing between them since it looks like one long paragraph (and no, this is not an argument I'm making). 'The war on drugs have been going on for decades now it has cost as billions and thousands of innocent people were put into jail for a victim less crime but humanity has been using drugs for thousands of years of human history it is a part of human culture that we are not gone rid of by criminalizing it' It is definitely not arguable that the drug war has been expensive, and that there has been drugs around for quite some time. However, I must stress the term 'drug war'. With the violence that goes on between gangs and officers who are in this war, it is all for the cause of safety of others, including the users themselves. Of course people do it for the thrill because they know it is illegal and that they are breaking the law, which is never okay because we have 'the law' for a reason. 'It is because people who want to use drugs have to go to a black market to buy them this market is unregulated and uncontrolled different factions involved in drug trade are fighting against each other by legalizing drugs we would give people the chance to buy drugs from a more reliable source the government or a regulated private sectors this market is regulated most people would rather buy from it than from a drug dealer in a dark alley that has no knowledge about business managment' As much as regulation would call for a safer place to purchase them, the problem about government interference is because, the tobacco industry for example, it would be *likely* that the government, in retail sales, would put unnecessary chemicals like they do in cigarettes, making addiction more probable. Being a social smoker, I can understand that me smoking cigars isn't all that much better, but I don't even know if the government is putting these chemicals in the cigars I smoke. It would be nice to put these drug runners out of business, but unfortunately they are most likely going to try to create and grow some new form of drug that will cause more serious issues and side effects. 'In a truely free society people shouldn't restrict the freedom of others this is very relevant to the issue of banning drugs as drug usage is a victimless crime i consider banning it to be immoral. Yes, I will agree that people shouldn't restrict the freedom of others. Unfortunately, compared to basic human rights of voting and job opportunities that aren't limited to gender or color, drugs have actually messed people and their families up because of the repercussions of usage. Heck, those who use drugs such as meth and cocaine actually deal with side effects that are mentally, physically, and emotionally harmful. 'Why do so many people overdose on drugs? for example heroin apart from its addictivness is almost harmless for your body the reason why people overdose on such drugs is because like i explained before they are forced to buy them from an unregulated market where drug dealers can put stuff into the drug to increase the value therefore customers are not sure how pure it is and might inject too much causing an overdose' Umm....heroin is absolutely harmful for your body. (http://www.drugabuse.gov...). It is definitely true that drug dealers are able to lace their product, but that is really the risk that the users take from it, and that is not the government's responsibility. Injecting too much, again, is the risk the users take, because they need to inform themselves on how much is too much. Heck, even just one hit is too much. 'Drug addicts often how to commit crime to get money for their drug but if drugs were legalized the prices would go down and it wouldn't be such a hard job to get your next fix as it was before your life can be at least a tiny bit better' Well, depending on the dealer, prices can vary. Also, what statistics or studies show that prices would go down? 'This point is really relevant if you are living in USA , 5% of the worlds population lives in USA yet 25% of all prisoners in the world are in USA around 80% of all drug aressts were for simply having drugs on you this is putting innocent people in prison and over crowding prisons that have to be paid for. Having illegal drugs on you is a crime, If you commit a crime and are caught, you will go to jail. It is not the responsibility of the government to defend you if you broke the law, because laws are there for a reason. We do not have constitutional rights to possess illegal drugs. 'Taxing those who produce drugs will give the government a lot of money not much to add to this argument' It's likely to occur, but even users of drugs will be taxed, which is similar to users of tobacco. (http://www.rjrt.com...) 'Statistics n 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. Sources http://www.drugwarfacts.org......... http://www.poppies.ws......... 'Alexander the Great introduced poppies to the Near East, starting the flowers long history in Asia. Opium was largely used as a social drug in India and China. Ancient Asian texts described the medical properties of opium.' http://www.spiegel.de......... ' If it legalized drugs, the United States could save $85 billion to $90 billion per year. Roughly half that is spent on the current drugs policy and half that is lost in taxes that the state could have levied on legal drugs. ' With lack of drug prohibition, there will likely be more deaths from drug use, so arrest keeps people from dying from drug abuse and overdose. Would you like to see more deaths or arrests? With historical use and medicinal properties, there are those who say that marijuana is the same way. I will agree that such a drug has its own medicinal purposes, but recreational seems to be where people find the most trouble. I also do not understand your link to that German website, as I cannot find anything about drugs on the page you gave me. Maybe a clearer and direct link, please? Also, what statistics show the money saving and spending argument you made? Thank you, and I await your rebuttal.