The motorist killed by a drugged driver is a victim, battered children and spouses are often victims of drug abusers, some citizens who are raped, assaulted or murdered are victims of drug abusers, and society is also a victim. This amount does not include the billions in economic costs lost each year because of drugs. Additionally, increased use of marijuana is often correlated with increased use of more dangerous drugs. Keeping drugs illegal holds down use, addiction, and death. In contrast, about 13 million Americans use all illicit drugs combined, producing an estimated 14,000 deaths per year.
History indicates that legality is a factor in reducing drug use.
America's alcohol policy and experience with its costs and tragic effects is one of the best arguments for keeping marijuana and other drugs illegal. The move to legalize marijuana as medicine legitimizes the drug and creates an acceptance of its use. This impression that, since medicine is helpful and not harmful, sends mixed messages about how dangerous this drug really is at a time when the rates of experimentation and habitual use are going up among 12-17 year olds. According to the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse, children rate drugs their number one problem, and the percentage of children who say they are likely to try illegal drugs doubled from 1995 to 1996. The 1997 National Education Goals Report found that drug use is skyrocketing.