Michael Fowler (FGCU) Legalization of Drugs

Even though I do not use drugs, the legalization of drugs in America will make us a stronger, safer place, with less crime and have less tax burden on our citizens. I support the legalization of marijuana because history shows that controlling behavior by legalization does not work. For example, the alcohol prohibition of 1920-33, the results of that experiment clearly indicate that it was a failure on all counts. No measurable gains were made. It removed a significant source of tax revenue and it increased crime. The prohibition provided illegal activity and corrupted law enforcement officials and politicians. The structure now called organized crime was born during the Prohibition. Organized crimes are groups or operations run by criminals, most commonly for the purpose of generating a monetary profit. Organized Crimes are going on right now with marijuana. If the government legalizes marijuana these organized crimes would not exist. According to a 2003 Zogby poll, two of every five Americans say “the government should treat marijuana more or less the same way it treats alcohol: It should regulate it, control it, tax it, and only make it illegal for children.” 

Another reason why the government should legalize marijuana is so they can tax it and create revenue. We are losing a lot of tax revenue for illegal “commerce.” Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation similar to that used for alcoholic beverages would produce combined savings and tax revenues of between $10 billion and $14 billion per year, According to Dr. Jeffrey Miron a visiting professor of economics at Harvard University. 

With marijuana be illegal there is a lot of crime. According to the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, Ethan A. Nadelmann said, police make about 700,000 arrests per year for marijuana offenses. That’s almost the same number as are arrested each year for cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, Ecstasy, and all other illicit drugs combined. Roughly 600,000, or 87 percent, of marijuana arrests are for nothing more than possession of small amounts. Millions of Americans have never been arrested or convicted of any criminal offense except this. With all this crime, this cost the tax payers an enormous amount of money for trials to incarcerate these drug users. The Average cost to incarcerate a prisoner for a year is $20,142. Enforcing marijuana laws costs an estimated $10-15 billion in direct costs alone. This is ridiculous; just think what we could be doing with all this money. 

Most of this illegal marijuana dealing is preying on the youth and poor. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) provided statistics to support its views that too many youths have tried marijuana, must enter marijuana treatment programs. We need to prevent individual hardships on the youth today. If the government legalizes it then they can regulate it and only make it illegal for children. Legalizing marijuana is simply about society adopting the better way, and what makes it a better way of regulation is the one thing that marijuana users have to offer in exchange for it, their cooperation in making regulation a more successful policy than the current prohibition. We need to take these guys off the street who are trafficking illegal drugs.     

Finally, I believe that if it were widely available to people, they would not want to use it as much. The legalization of drugs in America will make us a stronger, safer place, with less crime and have less tax burden on our citizens; Let us not forget history; and the failings of the Prohibition Era; but rather let us learn from it! 

This entry was posted on 23. April 2009 at 08:01 and is filed under Introduction to Sociology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.