Decriminalize, Don't Legalize

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Recommended: Argumentative eesay why drugs should be legalised

As human beings, we are naturally curious about different things in our society. We want to absorb as much knowledge as possible, whether it is in a classroom environment or by experiencing it ourselves. When it comes to illegal drugs, people want to experience it for themselves since it has a different effect on each individual. In the United States, the drug use is quite high. Different legislators and philosophers believe that legalizing drugs will have more benefits than harms to our society. I believe that it will be the opposite. In this paper, I will present several arguments about why certain drugs should not be legalized, but decriminalized instead. Before I state my arguments, I would like to point out that all the choices that we make now will have an effect on others, either immediately or in the future. For example, eating your favorite cereal for breakfast. It seems like this choice only affects you, but by you eating that cereal, you are helping someone stay employed at the factory that makes that cereal. There is no way that our choices do not affect others. That is why it is impossible to say that taking drugs only affects the person consuming the drugs. It will have an effect on someone else later on. In an article by Meaghan Cussen and Walter Block, they state, “our drug laws amount to partial slavery” (526). They argue that since the government has these anti-drug laws that the government has inadvertently taken control of the bodies of the people and violated our basic constitutional rights (Cussen and Block, 526). This argument has no substance to back it up. The government has not taken any ownership over our bodies. A person can still make the choice to take drugs. The only way the government could have ... ... middle of paper ... ...m illegal is not working. This is the perfect solution to the war on drugs. Works Cited Cussen, Meaghan, and Walter Block. "Legalize Drugs Now!: An Analysis of the Benefits of Legalized Drugs." American Journal of Economics and Sociology 59.3 (2000): 525-36. Print. "Drugs of Abuse." DEA.gov. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Department of Justice, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. . Hollersen, Wiebke. "Evaluating Drug Decriminalization in Portugal 12 Years Later." SPIEGEL ONLINE. N.p., 27 Mar. 2013. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. Peters, Justin. "Don't Believe the Hype about the "Flesh-Eating" Drug Krokodil." Slate Magazine. N.p., 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 05 Dec. 2013. .

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