Politics and law The Social Order There is a progression in the minds of men: This is just what is happening with the idea of legalizing drugs:
Legal or not, people will continue to use drugs. Prohibition makes it socially acceptable to treat drug users as criminals, and to prevent people with substance abuse problems from accessing treatment for fear of legal repercussions.
Decriminalization and legalization would promote compassion and allow people to receive treatment for substance abuse problems when they need it. In many cases, prohibition can prevent reasonable dialogue about drugs.
The widely-used DARE program was generally considered a failure due to its abstinence-only approach and hyperbolic anti-drug rhetoric. In contrast, anti-tobacco campaigns have drastically reduced tobacco use through science-based education and restrictions on use and advertisement.
The best way to reduce drug use is through evidence-based education, harm reduction, and regulation, none of which can be effective as long as drugs remain illegal. There is no doubt that drugs can be dangerous, but that is not a valid reason to make them illegal.
Alcohol alone is one of the leading causes of preventable death in the United States, yet you never hear anyone argue that we should outlaw pain killers or alcohol. History shows us that making drugs illegal creates criminal enterprises, and prohibition exacerbates the very real dangers of impurity, violenceand poverty.
Education and harm reduction strategies are much more effective ways to reduce the dangers of drugs than prohibition. The biggest risk to a teenager who chooses to use drugs is not addictionbut being caught and introduced to the criminal justice system.
Rather, the best way to prevent youth drug abuse is through science-based educationand smart restrictions on access and advertising. Sensibly regulating access will be part of any legitimate drug legalization policy, but locking up youth over drugs is just counter-productive.
Drug violations are the most common reason for arrest in the U. While studies have consistently shown that drug use is distributed relatively evenly across racial demographics, the vast majority of people in jail for drug-related offenses are people of color.
More than four decades of the War on Drugs has systematically criminalized certain populations while doing very little to reduce violent crime.
Aaron Juchau is an intern with the Drug Policy Alliance.The economic argument for drug legalization says: legalize drugs, and generate tax income.
This argument is gaining favour, as national administrations seek . 10 Reasons to legalise all drugs comment from Transform: the campaign for effective drug policy 1 Address the real issues For too long policy makers have used prohibition as a smoke screen to avoid addressing the social and economic factors that lead people to use drugs.
10 Reasons to legalise all drugs comment from Transform: the campaign for effective drug policy 1 Address the real issues For too long policy makers have used prohibition as a smoke screen to avoid addressing the social and economic factors that lead people to use drugs.
So the legalization of drugs cannot be supported by philosophical principle. But if the pragmatic argument in favor of legalization were strong enough, it might overwhelm other objections.
It is upon this argument that proponents of legalization rest the larger part of their case. The arguments in favor of legalizing the use of all narcotic and stimulant drugs are twofold: philosophical and pragmatic. Neither argument is negligible, but both are mistaken, I .
PRO-LEGALIZATION ARGUMENT.
Order Description WRITING ASSIGNMENT. Below, there are two different passages that contain arguments. One of them is an argument for the claim that we should legalize drugs; this is the called the PRO-LEGALIZATION ARGUMENT.