Recreational drug use can be traced back to the earliest known humans. The practice is pervasive, problematic and rife with moral and religious opposition. In this country, we need only to look back less than 100 years to see the earliest incantation of this debate. Prohibition: “The Noble Experiment” was instituted from 1920 to 1933. A moral high road, which was believed at the time, would cure all of society’s ills. Economically, it was believed that the taxpayers would benefit by less incarcerations, better mental and physical health and a more productive workforce. I would like to assert that in the context of “drugs”, I am speaking only about marijuana. Legalization of harder substances such as heroin, in my opinion, would not be practical due to their deadly toxicity.
Evidence of current taxes on cigarettes provides the basis for the economic benefits of marijuana legalization. For example, the state of Texas recently raised it tax on cigarettes to $1 per pack. This resulted in net revenue of over 1.5 BILLION dollars. That is quite a chunk of change in today’s economic climate. The parallel here is that; the packaging, distribution and sale of marijuana cigarettes-much like tobacco, could generate considerable revenue.
Many studies have concluded that the carcinogens present in cigarettes far exceed that of marijuana. So, from a health standpoint- marijuana is less harmful than already-legal cigarettes. Furthermore, to dictate or infringe upon individual choice is an infringement on personal freedom.
“It is not worthwhile for a law to forbid people from willingly exposing their own bodies to harm by using drugs, any more than by overeating or bungee-jumping. Obesity is a national epidemic, killing millions ev...
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Dubner, Stephen J. "What Prohibition Can Teach Us About Marijuana Legalization -- and Other Tales From Last Call Author Daniel Okrent - NYTimes.com." Opinion - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com. 4 Aug. 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2011. .
Dubner, Stephen J. "On the Legalization -- or Not -- of Marijuana - NYTimes.com." Opinion - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com. 30 Oct. 2007. Web. 26 Feb. 2011. .
During the duration of this paper, I will discuss an issue that has been controversial for over a century; prohibition and how it has effected, currently effects, and will, most likey, continue to effect American society. The aspects that I choose to address from this issue are political, historical, they make you wonder, and they should effect anyone who reads this paper. For decades, the American government has had a restriction or ban on drugs and alcohol. Also for decades, these restrictions have been met with resistance from our society. In the early twentieth century, from 1920 through 1933, it was the prohibition of alcohol. A corrupt time, in which, so called, "criminals" and law makers both manufactured and sold bootlegged alcohol. There was high demand then and everyone was in it for the money, everyone. A time which proved to be a failed attempt by the government to take away what is now one of the United States' top commodities. During the 1970's President Richard Nixon started an ongoing "war on drugs" and every president since Nixon has continued this fight to, somehow, rid the entire country of illicit drugs. Today, a few states have taken a new approach to one of these drugs and eyebrows are being raised to the war on drugs all together. States, such as, California, Washington, and Calorado have loosened their tight grip on prohibiting marijuana and even have medical marijuana dispenseries. This idea has been proven to have boosted those economies, and it has allowed people with cancer to use a medication that actually gives them comfort. However, marijuana is still illegal. Why would we restrict the nation from something that beneficial...
Works Cited "The California Marijuana Vote." New Yorker 23 Dec 1996: 62+. Brookhiser, Richard. "Pot Luck." National Review 11 Nov 1996: 27+ Simmons, Michael. "Give Pot a Chance." Rolling Stone 26 Dec 1996: 111+. Rist, Curtis and Harrison, Laird. "Weed the People." People 21 Oct. 1996: 75+. Funk and Wagnall's Volume 23 "Marijuana" 1996 Baum, Dan. "California's Separate Peace." Rolling Stone 30 Oct. 1997: 43+ Brookhiser, Richard. "Lost in the Weed." U.S. News & World Report 3 Jan. 1997: 9 Buckley, William "Legalization of Marijuana Long Overdue" The Albuquerque Journal. Online. 8 June 1993.
The debate between prohibitionists and citizens who believe in the legalization of illegal drugs provide many arguments. Since there are many drugs that are illegal there are many different arguments on what should be legal and what shouldn’t. The biggest debate, and the argument that I will mostly focus on, is the reform of marijuana. Prohibitionists argue that marijuana has adverse health, safety, social, academic, economic, and behavioral consequences (Goldberg 183). Not only do they claim that it causes all of those consequences but it also can cause harm to others including family and friends (Rachels 228). The obvious argument in harming others is driving under the influence of the drug but proh...
Benson, Adam. "Brandeis U.: EDITORIAL: Recent ballot measures indicate need to legalize marijuana." America's Intelligence Wire 12 Nov. 2002. General OneFile. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.
Wilson, Clare “The Case for Marijuana by Prescription." Marijuana (Contemporary Issues Companion). Tardiff, Joseph, ed. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2008. 63-70. Print
Drug legalization is an enduring question that presently faces our scholars. This issue embraces two positions: drugs should not be legalized and drugs should be legalized. These two positions contain an array of angles that supports each issue. This brief of the issues enables one to consider the strengths and weakness of each argument, become aware of the grounds of disagreement and agreement and ultimately form an opinion based upon the positions stated within the articles. In the article “Against the Legalization of Drugs”, by James Q. Wilson, the current status of drugs is supported. Wilson believes if a drug such as heroin were legalized there would be no financial or medical reason to avoid heroin usage; therefore, anybody could afford it (367). Wilson stated that during 1960’s, British physicians were allowed to prescribe heroin to addicts until the number of addicts increased fivefold. He argued that cocaine is not a “victimless crime.” Addicts victimize children by neglect and spouses by not providing (370). Wilson upholds that illegality of drugs increases crime because users need to pay for their habit (372). He believes the benefit of illegal drugs is it forces patients who enter under legal compulsion to complete their treatment due to the pressure and drug-education programs in the schools (374). Wilson is convinced the difference between nicotine and cocaine is that while tobacco shortens one’s life, cocaine debase it and destroys the addicts humanity (375). Wilson’s argument is strong because he demonstrates his knowledge of the subject and supports it with many clear, scientific facts and historical examples of drug usage. He interprets facts differently by seeing “logical fallacy and factual error” (371) in what other perceive as being a true. He also acknowledges his opposition by addressing how the advocates of legalization respond to his position. Wilson recognizes that that he may be wrong about his conclusions of drug legalization. Yet he states if he is wrong, money will be saved, while if he is right, and the legalizers prevail, then millions of people, thousands of infants and hundreds of neighborhoods will live a life of disease (377-8). In the article “Drug Policy and the Intellectuals,” by William J. Bennentt, drug legalization was not supported. Bennett wants to address the “root causes” of drugs by means of...
Marijuana is the cause of much commotion and debating, as the question of legalization becomes more of an issue. Drugs are a major influential force in countries all over the world today. Legalization is an option that has not had a chance, but really should be given one. Although many people feel that legalizing marijuana would increase the amount of drug use, legalization would benefit for the following reasons: 1)reduction of money spent on law enforcement 2)increase in the countries revenue 3)lessen crime 4)useful in treating certain medical conditions.
Just say no? This is not exactly the philosophy that the vast majority of the United States population tends to follow. Drugs have become a routine aspect of everyday life in the United States. Neither a gigantic metropolis nor a minute town have gone without feeling the everlasting effects of drugs. Drug use has always posed a major dilemma for America to overcome. The banning of illegal drugs takes many back to the days of the Prohibition problems involving the banishment of alcohol. Prohibition obviously did not work in the 1920’s, and some modern day people feel that making drugs legal would solve the constantly rising drug problem. In his article Facing up to Drugs: Is Legalization the Solution?, Pete Hamill presents both sides of the argument very thoroughly. Using tremendous techniques in both writing and in major points, the author persuades the reader to give a great deal of consideration to the author’s belief that legalization is the answer to America’s drug problem.
Recreational drug use has been controversial for years. Government has deemed the use of certain drugs to be dangerous, addictive, costly, and fatal. Governmental agencies have passed laws to make drugs illegal and then have focused a great deal of attention and money trying to prohibit the use of these drugs, and many people support these sanctions because they view the illegality of drugs to be the main protection against the destruction of our society (Trebach, n.d.). Restricting behavior doesn’t generally stop people from engaging in that behavior; prohibition tends to result in people finding more creative ways to obtain and use drugs. However, just knowing that trying to control people’s behavior by criminalizing drug use does not work still leaves us looking for a solution, so what other options exist? This paper will discuss the pros and cons about one option: decriminalizing drugs.
The legalization of marijuana has the potential to bring our economy back to life if it were to be legalized. There are a number of ways in which legalization could improve the economy. We could use the revenue from taxes on marijuana to provide for a better quality of life for Americans in need. Legalizing marijuana would also save us money by cutting the cost of putting someone in jail for harmless marijuana related charges that waste tax money. Also it would put more money into circulation by keeping the profits off the black market and into the legal and taxed market. With an estimated twenty-five million active marijuana smokers in America that consume nearly thirty-one million pounds of marijuana each year, we are missing out on extreme revenue that this country cannot afford to go without for much longer (Krulick).
Let’s begin with US revenue gain that would occur from legalizing marijuana. Marijuana Offers Extreme US revenue boost in several different ways. Shouldn’t we want to collect revenue due to taxation other then criminalization? Marijuana is too expensive for our justice system and should inst...
Drug legalization has become a great issue among Americans for many years, and there have also been those that try to stop that legalization. The article, “Legalizing Drugs is Not the Solution” by Gerald W. Lynch, has a good argument based on facts and incidents that have occurred from drug use. In this article a person thinks twice about what they are really doing when they use drugs, and it is clear as to why legalizing drugs would not be a logical solution
Smith, Dave. "'Medical' Marijuana:10 Health Benefits That Legitimize Legalization." International Business Times. International Business Times, 08 Aug. 2012. Web
It costs jobs, time, money, and hassle to keep Cannabis illegal. There would be many benefits on the economy of a state for legalizing marijuana. One benefit would be increasing money for the state’s tax base. Take Colorado for example, it was the first state to legalize marijuana. As a result of that, the state collected millions of dollars in tax revenue in a short period of time after legalizing the
The legalization of drugs has been a heavily disputed argument for many decades. If drugs were to be legalized, there would be many benefits that follow. The argument claims that there are two reasons why drugs should not be legalized. One being because moral reasons and the second reason is because of the consequences legalization would bring to our culture; but in reality, the legalization of illegal drugs is very beneficial for both of these issues. In fact the US as a nation would be a much better and safer place for our future generation. Legalization would lower crime rates, generate jobs and also generate more money for the federal government and states.