On: Blanket Legalization of all Drugs

America has been adamantly fighting a war on drugs for upwards of forty years and the effort has done little to quell the rampant drug use that exists throughout our country; in rich neighborhoods and impoverished slums, and even in suburban housing developments. The issue is widespread and all-reaching, and with medical marijuana legal in an ever swelling number of states and recreational use newly legalized in Washington and Colorado, it poses the question: ‘Why not legalize all drugs?’

Blanket legalization and decriminalization nationwide of all controlled substances would have numerous positive effects on the nation, first and foremost being on the economy. With the nation plunging further and further into debt, our nation doesn’t have the resources to continually waste on ineffective battles. America spends an estimated annual $41.3 billion dollars (not including the economic responsibilities of imprisonment of individuals due to drugs and drug related crime) losing a battle against drug use. Is this sensible? Despite the money and effort expended, drug use is still widespread; therefore it only makes sense to save the money and put it to a better, more productive use, such as the military or other government funded programs. If legalization of all controlled substances came hand in hand with regulation and taxation—which may be a step too far for some individuals’ comfort zones yet seems practical, and drugs were taxed similarly to tobacco and alcohol today, the Cato Institute estimates that America would profit from about $46.7 billion dollars each year, in addition to the $41.3 billion that would be saved from stopping prohibition and prosecution, totaling a whopping estimated $88 billion dollars.

In addition to saving billions of dollars, blanket legalization of all controlled substances has the potential create a safer environment for both our country and for the world. The prohibition of drugs creates a demand-based, unregulated vacuum that allows drug cartels to take over areas, cities, and in some cases even countries and promotes crime and violence. The illegality of drugs drives their prices sky high making crime almost necessary for these “drug lords” to stay in business. Legalization would cause the prices or illicit drugs to collapse, and along with it the motives to commit drug-related crimes would collapse, pushing the violent and dangerous cartels almost into nonexistence. With drugs legalized, citizens of the United States will be able to sleep a little more soundly because organized crime and drug trafficking would plummet as it would be taken out of the shadows.

Along with creating a safer environment, drug legalization of all forms could solve a number of other problems in our nation such as prison overcrowding and corruption of officials. With the high prices of drugs due to their illegality, often times members of society such as police officers will make “deals” with drug traffickers offering them protection in return for a share of their profits or even go as far as to seize a dealer’s merchandise and resell it themselves. According to debate.org, in the past few decades 59 police officers in Miami have been fired for trafficking, using, or selling illegal drugs. Legalization could also help slow the spread of some viruses such as HIV/AIDS. Because some drugs need to be injected via hypodermic needles and access to needles can be limited, users often share needles, which causes spread of infection. Finally, legalization could also help repair America’s relations and reputation with many foreign countries. For example, the United States often pressures other countries into fighting their domestic drug “problems” and to countries like Bolivia, America isn’t helping them, but threatening their right to make a living. If we legalize drugs it could remove many countries fuel to their hatred or distaste for our country and could end in us gaining more allies.

Many people fear that with blanket legalization our nation will become one of drug addicts but I must disagree. Even with drugs being prohibited in our country, there are still millions of Americans who use them daily. Legalization itself would have little to no effect on the majority of the population, if not a positive effect. Programs such as D.A.R.E could still exist but be funded by volunteers and private organizations and children should still be taught to not engage in activities that could be dangerous to their health or well-being, and in no case should drug use be condoned or advocated, however in most cases the use of illicit drugs is a “crime” without a victim and should no longer be considered a crime.