The United States Federal Government's War on Drugs should be ended.

Will present my case first, if I have mm refute later: C1: the war on drugs has worked Health experts in Portugal said Friday that Portugal's decision 10 years ago to decriminalise drug use and treat addicts rather than punishing them is an experiment that has worked. [1] Oh BTW to avoid plagerism issues a footnote=quote from source or near quote. Now governmental stats: However, overall drug use is down by more than a third in the last twenty years, while cocaine use has dropped by an astounding 70 percent. Ninety-five percent of Americans do not use drugs. This is success by any standards. [2] Legalizing drugs would lead to more users: Additionally, the normalization of marijuana seems to have an effect on the production of the drug. Jansen notes that the annual Nederweit (high potency Dutch-grown marijuana) crop is about 100 tons a year -- almost all grown illegally -- of which 65 tons is exported. [3] So it is made more when legalized. This generally means higher demand. The normalization of marijuana in Europe has officials increasingly worried. A European Union working group on drug policy issued a draft resolution in July of 2004 identifying marijuana as "European drug problem number one" [3] This means the people using it are high in Europe, where it is usually legal. C2: There is no right to drugs First, we don't have the right to do anything we want with our body. Can I walk down the street naked? Can I say what I want anywhere I want? (if you said "yes" to the last question, try yelling "hijack" on a plane and get back to me.) [4] It is technically only a american right if the Constitution says so. Also the Constitution does state a right usually cannot hurt other people, drugs hurt many people: PCP is phencyclidine, and is actually formed from a much more complex drug that was originally developed for use as an anesthetic. And yes, the drug can numb users to the point where they can become extremely dangerous to those around them. Sometimes people dip marijuana joints into liquid PCP or combine it with other drugs such as crack. [5] So people around you when your stark raving mad, affect them. When you do drugs, you are putting your life and someone else's life in danger. Drugs can affect your health, your family, your friends, your finances and your career. [6] So having a war on drugs is a public safety issue as well a a personal health issue. Of those who had been arrested for a serious crime, 46% had used marijuana within the past year[7] This means someone else was effected hurt, killed, raped etc possibly because of drug use. C3: Crime There is a general belief that the drug-crime link is causal. More importantly, it is assumed that drug use causes crime. The criminological evidence to support this belief is not as strong as some might imagine. In fact, the best available research has generally concluded that the relationship is extremely complex and defies attempts to sort out directionality. [8] This is kinda given, drugs that make you dumber and crazier and less reactant to pain will make you feel above the law, invincible, and mess with your brain. It may cause you to do things you would not have done otherwise Dr Seena Fazel, a clinical senior lecturer in forensic psychiatry and consultant forensic psychiatrist at the University of Oxford, said: "The relationship between violent crime and serious mental illness can be explained by alcohol and substance abuse. If you take away the substance abuse, the contribution of the illness itself is minimal." [9] drugs cause violence. C4: Cost In the year 2000, drug abuse cost American society an estimated $160 billion. [10] Now you claim most of the cost is n the law enforcement, which is a falsity. Actually only 3% of the drug war is law enforcement. As seen in my 10th source. The rest is rehab and treatment, which you probably support, therefore legalizing it wouldn't change sending to any huge degree. C5: possible economic detriment when legalized In addition, legalization—and the increased addiction it would spawn—would result in lost workforce productivity—and the unpredictable damage that it would cause to the American economy. [10] In 2000, productivity losses due to drug abuse cost the economy $110 billion. [10] So as the source states, drug usage would increase. So the drug usage already hurts us, legalization would make it worse. well I am tired and will refute next round. =conclusion= legalizing drugs is a bad idea as mentioned above. Vote con. sources: http://www.forbes.com... [1] http://www.justice.gov... [2] http://www.opposingviews.com... [3] http://www.gargaro.com... [4] http://www.drug-rehabcenter.com... [5] http://www.nwitimes.com... [6] http://www.redstate.com... [7] http://www.aic.gov.au... [8] http://www.guardian.co.uk... [9] http://www.justice.gov... [10]