Drug Legalization

Not all drugs are illegal (like tobacco). Drugs that ARE illegal retain this condition of illegality for a reason. Illegal drugs are harmful to society as a whole. If drugs were to be legalized, multimillion corporations, which would no doubt be established, would be free to launch mass advertising campaigns promoting these drugs to the entire nation. A staggering number people allow themselves to be put under the influence of legal drugs. Not all of these people are addicts, but the drugs that my opponent believes should be legalized are highly addictive. Imagine the sheer number of people who are very productive citizens becoming encumbered and debilitated by drugs that we currently consider illegal. My opponent argues economic benefits, but I will argue otherwise. With millions under the influence of such drugs that generally cause physical and mental impairment, the nation loses an immense number of potential workforce. Potential doctors, lawyers or entrepreneurs would be crippled by use and abuse. Addiction is not a condition that people chose to have. Legalizing illegal drugs would provide an even larger base of drug for the teen consumers. Many of these children, in youthful stupidity or curiosity, have tried legal drugs. A good number of the experimenting teens become ensnared in it these harmful products. Illegal drugs, which are even more harmful and addictive, would give rise to this same problem at a much larger scale. Are the few tens of billions of potential profits worth the hundreds of billions lost from potential output of productive people? Drugs destroy productivity and therefore limit the economic output of potentially productive citizens. Here are some other drug related economic and statistical data: "Every year, tobacco companies spend billions of dollars on advertising and promotion, and tobacco use costs the United States billions of dollars in medical expenses and lost productivity. . . During 2000"2004, cigarette smoking was estimated to be responsible for $193 billion in annual health-related economic losses in the United States (nearly $96 billion in direct medical costs and an additional $97 billion in lost productivity)." [1] There actually is a cite-able case example of the influence of these drugs that harm not only its user, but the entire nation as an economic Unit. One of the most powerful and prominent nation in the world, 14th-18th century China was a nation of renown. Traders from all over Eurasia traveled te Silk Roads to glimpse China's unmatched products. As China flourished, it amassed considerable wealth and status among the Eurasian nations and maintained this status for a few centuries. Then, near the beginning of the 18th century, Opium (a drug) was introduced to China via Portuguese vessels[2]. Within one and a half century, this drug will have permeated and deteriorated nearly all levels of Chinese society, destroying its productive workforce and corrupting its government. One and a half century after Opium's introduction, China's economy will have been utterly pulverized. The cost to China was enormous. The drug weakened a large percentage of the population (some estimate that 10 percent of the population regularly used opium by the late nineteenth century), and silver began to flow out of the country to pay for the opium. Many of the economic problems China faced later were either directly or indirectly traced to the opium trade. [3] How profound an effect did Opium have? When Japan first launched its attack on China, the international world, expecting China to easily crush this assault attempt, were shocked: Japan won. China had fallen behind economically, politically and technologically. innumerable times the people revolted, its millennium old political system was uprooted and China fell into deep poverty. China went through several revolutions, (Boxer Rebellion, The Great Proletarian). Its infrastructure was thoroughly ravaged. China is currently climbing a dangerous peak by enacting horrible economic policies (such as never cutting back production). A catastrophic fall is mounting. (Must I also mention its bad social conditions?) An effective recovery never happened. What does this portend? In legalizing all currently illegal drugs, we inadvertently taking a horrible risk. [1] http://www.cdc.gov... [2] http://www.druglibrary.org... [3] http://afe.easia.columbia.edu...