Drug Legalization by Seth Sprague

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I think that society should permit the use of drugs

for recreational purposes. After all, over twenty years of

troop sweeps, police actions and military rhetoric, the

evidence is all around us. The war on drugs has flopped. It

has been more then ineffective and has actually made things

worse. We as American citizens have to wake up and realize

that there will never be a "drug free" utopia that we have

been promised. People will always be willing to experiment

with their bodies and use drugs no-matter the cost involved

in doing so. It is our human nature to want things we can't

have and to crave addictive substances whether it is heroin

or that addictive chocolate bar in the express lane aisle

of your favorite grocery store. In this case we need to

permit new stimulants and legalize illegal drugs so that

American companies and tax paying citizens can profit.

If all drugs were legalized tomorrow, drug dealers,

terrorists funded by illegal drugs, and black market rings

would all suffer; if not permanently put out of business.

There would be no need for expensive anti-drug commercials

and D.A.R.E. type programs, which have only flooded the

minds of children with curiosity. "Also, taxpayers would

save billions each year, in fact through the Office of

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National Drug Control Policy, the federal government spends

an estimated $17 billion". With the strain of drug related

policing removed, serious crimes could be given the

resources they deserve. This would free up more space in

our already overcrowded, uneconomical prison system, which

presently operates today. Also, the permittance of drugs

would only further demonstrate the freedom we have in our

democratic society.

Let's face it, drugs are harmful whether legal or

illegal, but the Pandora's Box is wide open and it is not

going to be shut, ever. There is no way to stop something

so big and with the range of getting drugged so broad and

endless from those drugs grown in the ground like

marijuana, produced in the basement like ecstasy or those

drugs legally available such as caffeine stimulants,

nicotine, paint thinners and glue. Illegal or not, they

can be found everywhere. Living in the city, suburbs and

rural America myself, I have discovered drugs to be

literally everywhere from my place of work, school or on

the street. These drugs are readily assessable and at

anyone's grasp with the least craving or desire. The range

of drugs that can be swallowed, injected, snuffed or chewed

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is literally endless. We have to remember that whether

someone wants to do drugs is there personal choice and in

the end; there's alone. In this situation we need to take

action by allowing our pharmaceutical companies the ability

to produce safer drugs with the same effects as those on

the streets, this intern would allow American companies to

profit here and around the world, drug dealers to loose

their clout and to take the immediate burden of

the tax payers of this country.

The immediate effect of a legalized drug market would

be increased safety for drug users. All clean and natural

drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin are

pathologically harmless if taken in appropriate doses and

not tampered with in a lab before hand. A regulated drug

market would do just this and provide such safety for drug

users as consistent doses, lowering the likelihood of

overdoses with some drugs. Clear labeling, instructions,

and warnings like those listed by the surgeon general on a

pack of cigarettes would result in safer usage. The

legalization of drugs would allow pharmaceutical companies

to