The abuse of illegal drugs should be treated as a matter of public health, not of criminal justice

"…the solution lies in prevention, which in turn is largely a matter of education and enforcement, which aims at keeping drug pushers away from children and teenagers." This quote of the Drug Enforcement Administration compels me to affirm today's resolution, Resolved: The abuse of illegal drugs should be treated as a matter of public health, not criminal justice. For clarification of today's round, I offer the following definitions: Source: Black's Law Dictionary Abuse: To make excessive or improper use of a thing, or to employ it in a manner contrary to the natural of legal rules for its use. Source: Merriam Webster Dictionary Public Health: the art and science dealing with the protection and improvement of community health by organized community effort and including preventive medicine and sanitary and social science Source: Academy of Criminal Sciences The system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, and sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties. The highest value in today's round is Societal Good. The common good is defined as the greatest possible good for the greatest possible number of individuals, as defined from John Stuart Mill. The Common good is the most important in today's round because when dealing with public health, because the greatest good is what supports the public health. When these abuses are treated as a matter of public health, treatment is the first priority. Instead of simply punishing the victims of the addiction, Society can strive to treat and rehabilitate them. Thus not only rehabilitating the addict, but improving society as a whole. Because society seeks to better themselves through each other, and society can allow all of their people to live a life without addiction and without becoming a criminal. The best criterion for evaluating the resolution is Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative. Categorical Imperative is defined as an unconditional moral law that applies to all rational beings and is independent of any personal motive or desire. Categorical Imperative achieves my value of Societal Good because Societal Good is about bettering society, while Categorical Imperative is about morals that apply to all. So my criterion allows for morals to lead the way in helping society improve in the matter of public health. My three contentions supporting my values and criterion are as follows. I.Criminal Punishment is unjust II. Global War on Drugs is counterproductive III. Other Nations demonstrate efficacy Contention I: Criminal Punishment is Unjust In order to reach the greatest good in society, measures must be taken to make the treatment of addicts just. Unfortunately, Criminal Punishment of addicts is simply unjust. Today, thousands of people are serving in federal prisons for non-violent drug related crimes. Not only are these crimes non-violent, these crimes only affect the addict, because they themselves have become victim to the addiction. They not only suffer, but they are thrown into prison and made felons. Because of one mistake that an addict makes, the addict loses their right to vote, their ability to obtain a pilots licence, and their ability to obtain a state license, (i.e. Law, medical, cosmetology). These is no just moral is any of those actions, to obtain Societal Good, the greatest good must be done, which to rehabilitate the addicts, not punish them. Instead of rehabilitating the addicts, they are thrown into jails and prisons, which brings me to my first sub point. Sub Point A: Incarceration is too severe for non-violent offenders. Contention II: Global War on Drugs is counterproductive. In 2003, the Prime Minister's strategy Unity concluded that their effort in the war on drugs is a failure, saying, "Trafficking cannot be significantly curtailed: seizure rates of 60-80% would be required to have any serious impact, and nothing greater than 20% has ever been achieved." Worldwide, drugs have never been cheaper, more widely available, or more openly used then now. The openness due to the failure of criminal justice has caused much pain and suffering, leading to my sub point: The Global War on drugs causes misery and suffering. Simon Jenkins of, The Guardian, in London quotes, It is throwing 11,000 Britons into jail. It is corrupting democracy throughout Latin America. It is devastating the ghettoes of America and propagating Aids in urban Europe." These offenses are in the millions, taking otherwise law abiding citizens and throwing them in prison for something that they do to themselves. To truly achieve societal good and to create just laws, law must be changed to make the abuse of illegal drugs a matter of public health, because we can't let people lose their chance to live a normal life. We must allow them to be rehabilitated, not punished. Contention III: Many countries have decriminalized drugs instead of dragging on the criminal justice system. The results of this have been shockingly efficient. Portugal, who was the first country in Europe to decriminalize all drugs in 2001, shows their success. A report concluded in 2009 by the Cato Institute, a U.S. based think tank, concluded that the policy change had led to lowered instances of drug trafficking, sexually transmitted diseases, and overdose deaths, and an increase in the number of adults registered in addiction treatment programs. The Swiss have been treating heroin as a health problem since 1994. There were 23 clinics in the country where addicts could go up to three times a day to inject government-supplied heroin in 2007. The drug is provided on a sliding monetary scale. If an addict can pay for it, he or she does; if not, it's free. The crime rate went down by 60 percent.