Add to the list of harms more deaths from overdose, more babies born to addicted mothers, more accidents by drug influenced automobile drivers and fewer people able to hold jobs or act as competent parents. Treating such people would become far more difficult. As psychiatrist Sally Satel has written on this page, many drug users will not enter and stay in treatment unless they are compelled to do so. Phoenix House, the largest national residential drug treatment program, rarely admits patients who admit they have a problem and need help. Phoenix House CEO Mitchell Rosenthal opposes legalization, and for good reason.
Legalization means less coercion, and that means more addicts and addicts who are harder to treat.
If we legalize drugs, the chances of treatment making a difference are greatly reduced. And as for drug use prevention,. forget it. Try telling your children not to use a legal substance. But people who want to keep drugs illegal have problems of their own. The major thrust of government spending has been to reduce the supply of drugs by cutting their production overseas, intercepting their transfer into the U.S. and arresting dealers.