Thesis Statement For War On Drugs

Group Thesis Statement: The United States Government spends Billions of tax payers’ money on drug enforcement which has become a complete failure and have not had any advances in controlling the drug issue in the country; funds for the “War on Drugs” should be cut and drugs should become taxed and regulated to allow for more funding to be used towards more important areas such as education and health.
I. Funds for the war on drugs should not be cut and taxation of the drugs would be a wasted effort (rebuttal).
A. It would be difficult to keep track of what is being sold illegally even with taxation.
1. “States have been levying taxes on illegal drugs for over thirty years, long before even California decided to legalize marijuana.” (Jeremy

Vaida, The Altered State of American Drug Taxes). If the drugs are illegal, it makes it hard to regulate and would be difficult—if not impossible—to monitor. If states have been levying taxes for years, we have nothing to show for it and the purpose has been lost.
2. “Whether or not the rates could be higher or lower, marijuana taxation represents an entirely new revenue stream. This new money is being used to fund a wide range of policy initiatives, from school construction, state pensions, health services, and general state governance.” (Vaida, The Altered State of American Drug Taxes). The money has to come from somewhere, and it can’t be those who are buying the drugs. Do we really want our buildings and education to be funded by the taxation of illegal drugs? By taxing the drugs and using that money to do those things, we are creating foundations built on and out of illegal drugs.
B. By raising the taxes on the drugs, theft and violence would become more common and a higher threat to society.
1. “Over the past 40 years, the war on drugs in the western hemisphere has produced disappointing results, with continued high levels of addiction, incarceration, and violence.” (Adam Kahane, Re-viewing the War on Drugs). With this said, how can we possibly think the violence will end after we raise the taxes even more? Illegal drugs are the cause of many deaths already and to add fees onto the drugs we can only expect the crime rates to skyrocket.
2. Taxing illegal drugs is a compromise to the purpose of the war on drugs. By receiving disappointing results, we fail to achieve what the war is even about.