The war on drug has lasted for many decades and during this time, the government has spent immense sums on money to keep drugs away from the citizens. However, so many years of experience have shown that this strategy does not work. Drugs continue to be sold, bought and used by anyone who wishes to do so, and the fear of prison does not deter anyone from taking drugs if they want to. The prisons are packed with drug users, whereas the big drug dealers, who get rich from illegal money, remain free and cannot be held to account for their deeds. In these conditions, it is high time that the government changed its strategy and tried a different path in dealing with drugs. Legalizing drugs is the best possible solution to the drug problem in the United States because it can reduce the costs associated with drugs to a great extent, it will not cause more damage than other harmful substances people consume and it will decrease the number of otherwise potentially productive citizens who are imprisoned because of their drug use.
The cost of waging war against drugs is too hard to bear on the ordinary citizens, who do not see any improvement in this area anyway. Johnson estimates that we currently spend $50 billion a year to combat drugs. This money is used in order to investigate drug imports and sale, to arrest users, and identify dealers. They are used to prosecute the drug offenders and ultimately, to keep millions of users and dealers in prison. This is public money, which is not even used efficiently, since the drug consumption in the United States has not decreased due to the government spending on drug control. Even though the authorities put to prison tens of thousands of people every year in each year due to drug addiction, others take on drugs each day, many of whom are minors. Instead, if drugs were legal, this money would be much better used. In addition, the money from taxes imposed on drugs could be used to educate people about the risks of drugs. While drug legalization would save the state a lot of money, there would also be fewer risks associated with its intake because it will determine better control of all the supply chain (Johnson).
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In addition, drugs should be legalized because, at the society’s level, they are not more harmful than other substances which cause addiction, such as alcohol and tobacco, and would not cause more damage or mortality than they do. As Hoddin explains, “hard drugs are estimated to kill 4,000 people a year directly and several tens of thousands a year indirectly. Alcohol kills at least 100, 000 a year, addicts millions more and costs the marketplace billions of dollars” (A15). Even more relevant is the impact of tobacco, which makes 300,000 victims a year (Hodding III A15). Even though the greatest fear concerns the use of heroin and cocaine, recognized as the most dangerous drugs available, even these are comparable to the damage provoked directly and indirectly by alcohol intoxication. Therefore, illegal drugs are no more dangerous than legal ones. Illegal drugs seem scarier because they are usually bought and used in unsafe, unclean and therefore, more dangerous conditions. They are surrounded by an aura of obscurity and danger, as compared to alcohol use for example, which is presented as safe and completely acceptable, and even encouraged and recommended.
Finally, decriminalization of drug use is one of the most important and beneficial results of the legalization of drugs. Today, many of the inmates found in prisons, are drug users and dealers, or were arrested for drug-related crimes. Many are very young, and prison is not the best option for them. According to Hodding III, it is absurd to continue to claim that enforcing the law even more strictly is the answer to the problem, since the jails are so filled with convicts that either used or sold drugs, that there can hardly be found places for real violent criminals. Apart from unnecessarily filling the jails and spending public money to keep them in, the authorities should recognize that these people have addiction problems that need to be solved with the help of counsellors and medics. Moreover, if drugs were real, drug dealers would be ‘out of business’ and they would have to start performing real jobs. Today, people who are capable of working and who have families to support, fill prisons because they made bad choices. Alcoholics also make wrong decisions, but they are helped to cure, and with the support of their families, and with professional help, they do succeed to overcome their dependence, and the same is true for drug users.
Some critics argue that drugs are more addictive than alcohol and tobacco and that there is no reason for the government to allow another dangerous drug to ruin the lives of entire families, as tobacco and alcohol do. This, they argue, will happen much more often after the legalization of drugs, when they will be readily available, and much cheaper than they are currently. Thus, Rangel claims that “Drug legalization threatens to undermine our society” (2), because of all the negative aspects already associated with drugs, and which would double once they become legal. In particular, Rangel argues that, legalizing drugs, “would be a clear signal that America has no interest in removing the root causes of drug abuse: a sense of hopelessness that stems from poverty, unemployment, inadequate training and blight” (2). However, this is untrue. First because drug legalization has nothing to do with the removal of root causes of the drug abuse. On the contrary, drug legalization will make it easier to reach users, since they would not feel scared to search for help. Moreover, today, people who live in these communities use drug traffic as a source of income and they are also every day in contact with drugs, thus making it easy for them to become addicts. If drug commercialization became legal, large companies would organize their import and sale, of drugs, and it may be expected that drugs will be removed from poor communities.
Therefore, this paper tries to show that drugs should be legalized, because this is the most sensible way to deal with the problems associated with the war on drugs, such as the imprisonment of users, the economic burden, or the lack of control over the distribution of these substances. Since keeping drugs illegal is too expensive, since drugs are no more harmful than other substances that people consume, and since jails are almost packed with drug users, the government should stop trying to force people not to use them and instead, it should allow them to take the decision by themselves. Certainly, since drugs are so readily available on the streets, people who want to use drugs already do, but those who would like to ask for help may be afraid to do so for fear of the legal consequences .
