Drug Legalization

//law abiding citizens may decide to try drugs and get hooked on them. Drugs can cause a person to OD and die// Since drugs are as bad as you are suggesting, why are laws even necessary to prevent drug use, considering everyone already knows drugs can ruin your life and cause addiction, brain damage, and even death? If the sideaffects of the drug, which include death, aren't enough to prevent a person from using them, the consequences of a prison sentance certainly won't either. //Also you say drug criminalization creates criminals. I don't think thats true// Unfortuneatly, It is true. When drugs are made illegal, drug users and dealers are unable to notify authorities, therefore in order to protect their property rights, they need to take matters into their own hands. Drug laws create anarchy within the drug community, similar to that of Alcohol Prohibition, which we all know was an utter failure. //I know drug addicts personally that have stolen things because they are so desperate to get their hands on money to feed their addiction// When a market made illegal, the cost of the the products in that market increase dramatically. A good example of this is Alcohol prohibition. Drugs, currently, are so expensive because they are illegal. If drugs were legal, users would not need to steal in order to support their addiction because the cost of drugs would be much more affordable. //Then you have people that are high on drugs and then drive. This can lead to acidents and kill not only the person on drugs , but also innocent people.// This argument is a non-siquitor and does not prove drugs should be illegal; it instead proves that users under the influence of drugs should not be driving. Using a cell phone while driving decreases concentration which can cause accidents. Does this mean that cell phones should be illegal? //What about all the young kids that committed suicide back in the 90s from heroine use.// I must point out that the drug laws imposed did not prevent these kids from using heroine, thus proving my point that drug laws do not achieve their intended purpose. //The real answer is stricter punishment on people dealing drugs, more programs to help people come off drugs// Stricter punishments for people dealing drugs will not prevent drug dealers from selling drugs. You must keep in mind that drug dealers are extremely poor and poverty stricken people who, no matter the cost, will do whatever it takes to earn enough money to provide for themselves, families, and their habits. Your acknowledgement that the drug problem stems from drug dealers is accurate, and the best way to rid of them is a free-makret. In a free market, drug dealers would not exist, rather drugs would be sold in specified stores similar to cigarettes or alcohol. I must admit, you are clearly right in your assessment that more programs to help people come off drugs would signifigantly help the drug problem. This clearly indicates that drug use is a medical problem, not a criminal problem. //I have family members who I have watched their lives slowly unravel due to drug use. It has affected my life because my father is a drug addict.// I completely understand how you could develope an emotional hatred of drug use because of a family situation, but that doesn't prove drugs should be illegal. You seem to be missing the fact that your father was doing drugs while they were illegal, proving that drug laws don't work. //Drug use is dangerous and as a society to make it legal would just cause so many more drug problems.// There is no evidence to support this statement. //Why are we going to help people that produce these drugs to profit off of ruining peoples lives, and they will suffer no legal consequences.// Nobody will be helping drug producers produce drugs, and nobody will be forcing people to use drugs either. The drug producers will not be ruining people's lives, the people using the drugs will be ruining their own lives, considering they had the choice to use drugs in the first place. //Young people will be able to walk into a store and request drugs like they are candy// I have not discussed what would be the legal age requirement to purchase these drugs, but there would certainly be one, which would actually make it harder for children to gain access to these formally illegal drugs. Studies prove that it is actually easier for high-schoolers to purchase illicit marijuana than alchol. http://www.narcononcenter.com... //Also you can bet the unemployment rate will then go up , hurting our economy// Again, you are using the assumption that drug use would sky-rocket in the absence of drug laws, which is not true. You have also provided no evidence to support this statement.