Deaths caused by drunk driving can be attributed, in part, to people who support staunch drug policy

Prohibition does not work. Period. People who support staunch drug and alcohol policies are not being effective, because it is clear that many people are going to continue using despite the laws. Here is my link between people who support staunch drug policy (mainly Republican in ideology) and effects contributing to human deaths through drunk driving: 1) People who support these policies are not effective at all. There is no evidence that can be presented, from our country, that can be used to show that drug use is being slowed by drug policy. I'm sure someone can find some obscure example from some foreign nation that would appear to the contrary, but I doubt the evidence will be all that compelling. 2) DUI's are clearly a phenomenon most common to younger people, under the age of 25(most fatal crashes involving alcohol are committed by people between 21-24 years old). Why is this? Because they are just young and stupid? Well yes, in part, but there is obviously more to it than that. Young people are taught that the law is not that important at an early age. First off, crimes commited by youth are usually tried in a youth court with reduced sentences. The youth learns that they can get away with acts simply because they are young, which motivates them to continue abusing the law. Secondly, when a child skips school, they are labeled truant. Truancy is an illegal activity, and the child is labeled a law-breaker (often subject to fines and the like, as well). What better way to "ease" them into a life of crime than this? Furthermore, could you even imagine a better way to ease them into a life of crime, other than to wait until they become frustrated with school and want to hang out with their friends and then initiate them into the legal system and have them trying to evade police who would be out looking for them in the streets? 3) Drug/alcohol laws are easy to break for kids, especially drug laws in which the drugs are easily procurable from kids at school and there is no need to get a 21 year-old to procure them. Kids are fascinated by drugs. Why shouldn't they be? When they succomb to peer-pressure to try them (a powerful and undeniable force indeed for children), they are automatically considered criminals. When the children drink alcohol, like they see their parents and friends doing, they are automatically considered criminals. They are not technically criminals until they are caught, but they are definitely conducting criminal activity. 4) Once the children get used to being thought of as criminals, and once they get used to breaking laws on a daily basis, they are more likely to try and skirt the law in the future. Respecting the drinking and driving laws is A COMPLETE JOKE to kids. Imagine being at a drinking party at age 17, and trying to tell your drunk friends not to drive. Since the children are already breaking the law, it is not that big of a step to get in the car and drive, and break the law further. If drugs and alcohol were legal, kids could experiment with them and, as long as they don't drive, could get away with it without breaking the law AT ALL. This is a powerful point I am making here, so I hope you all are listening up, especially those of you who know someone who has died, before their time, as a result of drunk driving (most likely every person who reads this). The law is only effective if you can keep people on the right side of it. If you make laws that are difficult to observe, then you will have normal people that are breaking the law and have no chance to remain completely in the right. These people are not dealing with a situation in which they can A) break the law or B) not break the law, they are dealing with a situation in which they can A) break the law or B) break the law even more. As you can see, it is much easier for a person in the second situation to go wrong, and since we are dealing with children, the situation is far worse. So you see, all of you staunch drug policy supporters are actually voting for policies that hurt our community. You are supporting politicians who support the war on drugs, which costs our nation one thousand million dollars every week, and has little to nothing to show for their efforts. In fact, I am arguing that they are causing more harm than good. I blame you for contributing, in part, to the deaths of countless young people who died in car accidents before their times because of inebriated drivers. I blame you for your callous and senseless disregard for those children who experiment with drugs and alcohol(a huge percentage of children) and I blame you for not offering them a chance to experiment with drugs responsibly, so that they can learn what they need to learn and join the rest of us who have realized that using drugs is a negative thing and should be looked down upon, not criminalized and demoralized. I blame you drug war supporters for wasting a billion dollars a week of our tax monies on policies that are immoral, ineffective, and abuse our civil rights(our right to privacy is recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States).