Jaysun McKinney Mr.

Warren English 4 February 26 2014

Legalization of drugs in America

Freedom. Our country is ounded on this idea but in modern times there is a lot o disagreement on !hat our ore athers meant !hen they s"o#e about reedom !hen !riting the documents that !ould become the oundation o our country. One concern that has had a large amount o attention lately is the issue o drugs. Whether it be the increasing "roblem o criminal gangs !hich use drugs as their main source o re$enue% discussions on ho! to hel" "eo"le !ho are addicted to these substances% or sim"ly the gro!ing mo$ement o "eo"le ad$ocating mari&uana legali'ation. (o! these t!o to"ics% that o reedom and that o drugs% are related is ob$ious. ) !e are ree should !e not be allo!ed to do !hate$er !e !ant !ith our bodies* or is it the go$ernment+s duty to "rotect "eo"le !ho cannot "rotect themsel$es rom themsel$es, -his is not &ust an issue o reedom though. )n beginning to tal# about this issue i !ant to ta#e the time to discuss the !ar on drugs. (o! it started% !hat is gro!n into% and most im"ortantly it+s ine ecti$eness in combating the "roblem our country has !ith illicit drug use. -he !ar on drugs !as started in the .0+s and !as intended to end /merica+s gro!ing issue !ith drug abuse% it !as intended to hel" "eo"le but today it can be seen that it has neither hel"ed "eo"le !ho are addicted nor has it sto""ed or e$en slo!ed the steady lo! o drugs into this country. 0es"ite this the go$ernment insist on

continuing the !ar and claims that they are ma#ing "rogress !hen e$en la! o icials admit that e ecti$eness is 1uestionable. -he idea behind the !ar on drugs is to sto" the grou"s that are "roducing and im"orting the drugs to /merica but !hat /merica doesn+t reali'e is that !e !ill ne$er be able to do that. -he "rohibition on drugs has created a mar#et that creates billions o dollars o re$enue or those !illing to ris# in$esting in it and e$ery time one drug lord% cartel leader% smuggling ring% ect is brought do!n it &ust "a$es the !ay or another to ta#e it+s "lace. One could ma#e the argument that the "rocess is slo! but !ith diligence a considerable amount o these criminals could be brought to &ustice and the lo! o drugs into our country could be !ea#ened but this is not the case. -he illicit "roduction and sale o drugs is a booming business that% des"ite the !ar on drugs% is gro!ing steadily !ith ne! grou"s orming at the same rate or aster than they can be disbanded by la! en orcement. -he reason or this is sim"le2 With drugs being illegal the "rices "eo"le are !illing to "ay to get them ha$e soared. -his means anybody able to ac1uire the resources to "roduce% distribute% and sell these drugs can become $ery !ealthy es"ecially since the "ro it isn+t ta3ed. / solution to this "roblem that has been suggested is to legali'e drugs. ) they !ere legali'ed then the $alue o them !ould go do!n due to the thing that ma#es them so $aluable in the irst "lace% their illegality and there or the danger in "roducing and selling them% ha$ing no longer being "resent. /lso the blac# mar#et or these substances !ould become $irtually none3istent. -he 1uality o blac# mar#et drugs are o ten $ery "oor and !ith the introduction o chea"4as com"ared to !hat is sold on the blac# mar#et5% medicinal 1uality drugs the demand or drugs rom the blac# mar#et !ould all as !ould the "ro it to be made rom them as the "eo"le distributing the blac# mar#et drugs !ould ha$e to under cut the "rices o the legal substances !hich !ould already be much belo! the "rice that they are currently. -here ha$e been arguments that organi'ed crime !ould sim"ly

ind a ne! !ay to ind to und itsel and that it !ould sim"ly change and ada"t but the truth is that there+s sim"ly $ery little "ossibility that they could bring in the amount o money that they they are currently. -he reason is this