Drug Legalization

Opening Argument Some drugs have high potention for addiction, others can be realively safe if used properly. More dangerous drugs commonly leads to drug addiction. However, is war on drugs and decriminalizing them the best way to solve drug addiction? Also, some drugs like psychedelics are safe and can actually have positive effects if used properly. Yet, these "safe" drugs are still discriminated against. 1. War on drugs is pricy and isn't lowering drug use We are spending more and more money on drug control spending. This year, we have spent over 40 billion dollars on war on drugs. We are crowding prisons with drug users and spending way too much money on America's war on drugs. That insane amount of money we spent on the drug war could be used for other more important issues. Drug usage since the 1970s has stayed roughly the same, even after the increased money spend on america's war on drugs. We are spending money not to help lower drug addictions, but instead make life worse for addicts. Drug addicts would have been much safer and have more help with quitting in the past. Drug abuse treatment is a much better alternative then simply throwing every drug addict in prison. I will get more in depth into this topic on the section of my argument labelled "Heroin." Sources http://thinkbynumbers.org... http://www.thewire.com... http://www.drugsense.org... http://www.newswise.com... 2. Heroin legalization Heroin belongs to a class of drugs known as Opiates. Heroin is a very strong opiate and recreational users use an insane amount of Heroin to reach a high beyond what our bodies can reach through endogenous opiates AKA endorphins. I'm pretty sure you are well aware of how bad Heroin addiction can be. However, illegal heroin hurts more than legal heroin. One reason for this is the quality and purity of the Heroin. If you find a street drug dealer and get some street heroin, chances are that the heroin usually isn't pure. There are several factors explaining this, one is that some drug dealers cut up the heroin they are selling with other drugs, chemcials or even poisons. They may typically do this to alter the high or make more money per gram of heroin. Another factor is that illegal drugs are cheaply made as opposed to pharmaceutical drugs. Illegal drugs are typically made in cheap home made labs. Pharmacuetical drugs are professionally made with high-tech equipment and the quality is regulated to be as pure as possible. If heroin were legal, addicts would be safer with clean and pure heroin as opposed to more deadly street heroin. Heroin addicts are also in poor health not due to heroin, but due to their lifestyle. Heroin may have some bad effects and all but the main health issues of heroin addicts (and other drug addicts) is due to their unhealthy lifestyle. Many heroin addicts are homeless, they barely get to eat or even sleep, they might not take baths, ect. Getting the next hit of heroin is literally all they think about. A good reason for heroin addicts living an unhealthy life style is due to the criminalization of heroin. Heroin addicts are at constant watch for the police and they are afraid to seek help. Instead of helping heroin addicts, we throw them in prison with very little treatment for them. A heroin addict will then come out of prison only to continue using H. A legal heroin market may solve some of the issues here, heroin will be cleaner and cheaper. Some may argue that legal heroin would mean heroin is easier to get and result in more addictions. However, illegal heroin is really easy to get thanks to the black market drug dealers. I could go on the silk road with TOR browser and buy heroin online if I wanted to. It also seems that the main cause of heroin addiction is abuse of narcotic prescription drugs. Doctors are prescribing too much morphine (or any other narcotic) for chronic pain. Medical marijuana is a safer and more effective alternative painkiller as opposed to morphine. If doctors were to give less opiates and give more medical marijuana, heroin addiction rates may lower. Legal heroin however is not the answer to solving heroin addiction. Ibogaine (a psychedelic drug) can help heroin addiction. After a heroin addict uses ibogaine, they will not experience any opiate withdrawal symptoms. Ibogaine is illegal in many places and if rehab centers were to use Ibogaine, heroin addicts would have an easier time getting off heroin. sources http://www.theguardian.com... http://www.healthyplace.com... http://theweek.com... http://www.bbc.com...; Legalization of Psychedelics The DEA's schedule of psychedelics is schedule I meaning they are in the same category as heroin. However, the DEA's scheduling of drugs was not very accurate as psychedelics are not so bad if used in moderation. Psychedelic drugs are physically harmless and not addictive at all. Have you ever seen a psychedelic addict on the streets doing illegal work just for more psychedelics? You see that with Meth, Heroin, Crack, Bath Salts, ect. Psychedelics can expand your mind and consicousness. Users of these drugs pretty much always report that psychedeliics positively impacted their life. These people are not addicted to these drugs, but it positively changes them and expands their mind. Steve Jobs was a user of LSD and he said that LSD has made him more creative. Many other geniuses (just to name a few) such as The Beatles, Bill Gates, Eminem had all done psychedelics of some sort. Psychedelics also are physically harmless if used properly. One downside to psychedelics is a "bad trip" which can be avoided easily if you do proper research on these drugs. Scientific research of psychedelics has been low for a while and if more research is done, we may find out just exactly how a bad trip is caused. Some people say that psychedelics can be addictive but you can get addicted to merely anything. Addiction to psychedelics is purely psychological and they normally can be used correctly. Psychedelics can expand your mind and have positive effects if someone does research and uses these drugs responsibly. Psychedelics also do pose for some medical uses but I won't get too in depth into these medical uses for now. Sourceshttp://www.livescience.com...http://www.slate.com...http://www.npr.org...http://bigthink.com...http://www.utne.com...Medical MarijuanaMarijuana's negative effects are highly exaggerated by anti-drug people, in fact it has a lot of medical value. For this argument, I will be talking about how hemp oil can CURE cancer. Some studies have suggested that cannabinoids from cannabis have an anti-cancer effect. Many people have also tried using hemp oil (cannabis which is cooked into an oil) to cure their cancer and it surprisingly has worked for many people. Cancer organizations get billions of dollars worth in donations which is one reason why the government may be hiding the cure for cancer. Chemotherapy is not effective for cancer at all, it might make it worse in same cases. You can google more reports of hemp oil supposedly curing cancer. sources http://www.cureyourowncancer.org...http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...http://www.nature.com...http://phoenixtears.ca...