Drugs in Society: If Drugs Were Legalized, Would Drug Use Increase? and Would Crime Worsen?
Issue 1: If drugs were legalized, would drug use increase or decrease? Would crime and additional drug-related problems worsen or not? If illegal drugs were decriminalized, the same people who use drugs now would probably continue to use them. However, they wouldn't have to steal to support their habit and could live more normal lives, so drug-related crimes would likely be reduced. People who reject using drugs would continue to reject using them because the reasons why they do not use drugs have little to do with legal or illegal. They reject drug use because they have other more important things to do with their lives, such as getting ahead in the world, earning a living, and paying a mortgage. Drug use gets in the way of success. This is clearly seen in the drug statistics which show that "young people ages fourteen to twenty-five are the largest percentage users of illegal drugs, and that there is a significant drop in the reported use of illegal drugs after the age of twenty-five" (Hutchinson, 2003, p. 9). After age 25, people are often married, have families to support, and too many responsibilities to be heavily involved with drug use. They have much more to lose-their career, spouse, children, and reputation.
It is already clear that dealing with drug use and abuse as a criminal justice problem is ineffective and a waste of money, not to mention making criminals out of people who might otherwise be good citizens. They show increasing use, but the use of certain prescription drugs, such as Viagra, has increased enormously too. Warning young people about "dangers" that do not really exist may result in a boomerang effect. Common sense tells me that they are the ones most likely to benefit from treatment, and because they sincerely desire freedom from drugs, programs to help them should be available. Currently, many people go into drug treatment as an alternative to prison time. No one is certain whether or how these animal studies apply to human beings or if the same changes occur. Issue 4: Will making rave parties illegal reduce the use of club drugs? Are the people who do not do drugs at these parties penalized unfairly?MDMA (Ecstacy) is a social drug. True, but we already control alcohol use by these people-drug use would be subject to the same controls. This is really an unfair shot at the small minority of people who have the courage to speak out in a political climate where it is disastrous to be perceived as "soft on drugs. Using MDMA should not be a casual decision like deciding to take a drink. The same people who do NOT drive when they are drinking would abstain from driving when under the influence of some substance other than alcohol. They state that over 4,000 emergency room visits "were attributed to Ecstasy" in 2002; however, they do not show that any of those visits were associated with permanent injuries or death. The real purpose of the drug war is not to eradicate drugs but to keep the military funded and busy and to make it appear to the American people that the war on drugs is being won and is worth the cost: "The goal (of the drug war) has not been to stamp out drugs per se, but to create a war-time atmosphere of hysteria in which the government would feel justified in using extraordinary measures to counter an extraordinary threat" (Lazare cited in Inouye, 2004, p. Money is not the main issue for the person who is addicted to drugs.
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