Should Drugs Be Legalized

Pro, since he is proposing a dramatic shift from the status quo, carries the sole BOP. His arguments must show that all drugs, ranging from marijuana to meth, should be legalized. Let's define some terms for the debate:Drug: an illegal and often harmful substance (such as heroin, cocaine, LSD, or marijuana) that people take for pleasure [1]. Legalization: removing a legal prohibition against something which is currently not legal [2]. With the understanding of what Pro is attempting to prove, let's look at his arguments. Pro's Case:"Personally, I am totally against taking drugs, but if drugs were legalized, the US wouldn't have as many problems with drug lords, gangs, and border crossing (in order to deliver drugs) because there would be no need for them. "The thing Pro neglects in this comment is that cartels and drug gangs have other sources of income besides simply drugs, and their violence and terrorism would still continue if all drugs were legalized [4]. There are other ways to combat drug cartels and simply legalizing drugs and bring a copious amount of costs to society is not the most effective way (more on this in a bit). "This would lower the amount of crimes in the US. Indirectly, this would cause the amount of taxes going to prisons to lower, which would mean that more money would go to more important things such as education, military, or humanitarian services. "In actuality, this would have the opposite fact, as drug legalization will increase consumption. The increase in usage is quite logical. If legal barriers are removed, the cost is allowed to decrease dramatically. This is due to a market being created around the drugs, which will lead to lower costs, more consumption, and more addiction. RAND notes that the legalization of marijuana in California would cause the cost to decrease by 80%. It even says that the cost could decrease more because of advertising and de-stigmatization [17]. Lower price=greater use. Simple market forces. Because there will be greater usage of drugs, there will be more crime, as approximately 60% of individuals arrested for most types of crimes test positive for illegal drugs at arrest [37]. This will cause more money to go to prison and add to the $181 billion per year that drugs cost society [16]. This point from my opponent fails. "Besides, tobacco and alcohol aren't much better than other substances, so if the US wants to make drugs illegal, then they might as well ban tobacco and alcohol as well. "The problem with this argument is that it will cause us to exacerbate the situation with drugs. As demonstrated in source 16, illegal drugs cost society $181 billion per year in lost productivity, crime and health, while the legal drugs of tobacco and alcohol cost society $378 billion per year annually. Legalizing any more drugs will exacerbate the situation, and it would be better to maintain the status quo and stigmatize the usage of these legal drugs. My Case:While I don't need a case, as I don't have the BOP, I will present one anyway. If drugs were legal, more people would have the inclination to use them, thus increasing the chance that they will become addicts themselves [17]. Having more addicts and legal drugs does increase the chance of a crime being committed, or harms occurring costing society in the end. Also, if addicts are able to use drugs more often due to legalization, while they may get their fix, they are still going to spend money fueling their addiction, abusing more drugs and degrading their health, which will come back to sting us all through health care costs, crime and welfare. Legalization will bring very negative results in the end. Synthetic Drugs: SD’s are some of the most deadly drugs on the market and should never be legalized. They cause a large amount of devastating effects on people. SD's cause ". .. seizures, hallucinations, suicidal tendencies and attempts, homicidal tendencies, delusions, overstimulation, aggression, paranoia, chest pain, heart attack, overheating that causes a person to tear off his clothes, self-destructive behavior like bashing one's body or head against walls [or even, in most instances,] death" [20]. While these harms are dangerous and obviously something people want to avoid, empirical evidence [7, 17] shows that people will use drugs more often, even if the harms are know. This can be seen with Colorado [23] and animal experiments [29]. Synthetic drugs will be used far more when allowed and legalized, damaging people’s livelihood and burdening costs upon society. There can be no benefit from these drugs being consumed more or being legal. Conclusion:I have successfully refuted all of Pro's points and brought forward my own to show that the legalization of all drugs is a net negative on society and should not be adopted. Pro fails to fulfill his BOP and thus fails the debate. The resolution is negated. Vote Con. Sources:. http://www.debate.org...