War on Drugs
If you want to bitch about a stupid war, take your mind off of Iraq for a bit and think about the stupid ass war on drugs. The war on drugs has been going on for several decades now and hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent to stop people from doing drugs that were once legal. I have many points to discuss about how stupid this war is and the reasoning behind it. First, the people that use these drugs are only hurting themselves, except in the rare cases where their actions under the influence of these drugs lead them to harm someone else. This is no different than someone drinking and driving though. I'm not going to say that this is no big deal, but making them legal or illegal will not change this. There will always be people that are hurt by someone else's stupidity. There may be an increase in deaths related to drug use if drugs were legalized, but there will be many more innocent lives saved. Gangs and drug cartels would stop fighting over turf. This violence often leads to innocent deaths. People, most often kids, get caught in the crossfire of gang violence. Many innocent people have been killed in drive by shootings committed by gangs to clear other gangs off their turf so they can be the ones making money from selling drugs in the area. Also, without this added income from selling drugs, gangs would not have as much money to purchase weapons. Legalizing drugs would take money out of criminals hands and create more jobs for hard working people. Instead of our tax dollars going to fighting the war on drugs, we could tax the drug market creating more money for other projects.
Creating this war on drugs only creates more of a desire for them. The harder it is to get the drug, the higher the price is for that drug. This means that when a drug dealer is busted, the remaining drug dealers make more money per unit sold. This just makes it easier for these criminals to get richer. In the months post Sep-Elev, there were many anti-drug adds on TV talking about how by using illegal drugs, you could be financing terrorism. This is true, many terrorists are financed by selling illegal drugs. But, if these drugs were legal in the first place, there would be no way for terrorists to make money off of them. So it is the government's fault for this in the first place. There is no way to completely eradicate drugs. There's too much money to be made, and it is a great opportunity for people that have little to no future ahead of them.
Legalizing drugs would also make it less likely for someone to die from an overdose or a bad dose. With a pharmaceutical or leisure market for them would create a safer product. Drugs would no longer be made in bathtubs, dingy basements, or garages, but rather in chemical laboratories and grown on farms where people with the proper knowledge can produce the product. This would make it much safer for the people that use it. I see no reason as to why people can't intoxicate themselves if they want, it's their body. If we can get drunk, why can't we get high, or use any other drug we please. Of course their should be age restrictions just as their are with alcohol, and you shouldn't be able to use them anywhere, just like you can't drink anywhere. There are designated places, like bars and clubs.
Many people's lives have been ruined by drugs. Sure many have been ruined by overuse, but many people are able to use drugs in moderation for leisure. Many of these people end up paying huge fines and doing jail time for their drug use. Our tax dollars end up paying for their court time and the duration of their incarceration. Drug use aside, many of these people are model citizens, never committing a violent crime or any sort of crime against another human being. Again, if it is their body, why not let them do what they want to it. All too often government oversteps its bounds and creates laws to protect people from themselves. The seatbelt law is another great example. Granted jail time won't result from disobeying this law, but it could cost you $100. Hell, I know that wearing a seatbelt could save my life, but shouldn't it be my choice as to what risks I am willing to take. Just creating a law stating that all vehicles must be equipped with seat belts would make more sense. That at least leaves people to make their own decisions, but government wants to run everyone's lives. I can completely understand why the underage seatbelt law is in place. I child generally doesn't know what is for him/herself. Next, everyone will be required to wear a helmet when riding a bike (Sorry about the tangent, back to our main topic).
There will always be a demand for drugs, and this war will never end. During the years of prohibition, gangsters like Al Capone got rich quick by bootlegging illegal alcohol. It is the same today, gangsters get rich quick by selling drugs. As soon as alcohol was again made legal, Capone had that much less income coming in.
Most of the underage kids that I know now and knew when I was underage myself could get illegal drugs easier than they could get alcohol, which is legal to anyone over the age of 21. Right now, a drug dealer could care less as to whether he/she is selling drugs to a minor, a middle age person, a senior citizen. A drug dealer will get busted all the same. Stores selling alcohol pay close attention to whom they are selling their product, being very careful not to sell to a minor. Otherwise they can be severely fined. Making drugs legal would actually keep further out of the reach of kids. Kids would definitely still use them, they will always find a way to get what they can't have. Plenty of kids today use prescription drugs illegally though, so how does making something illegal make it any harder to get. Drugs are something that will never go away, making them illegal only creates a greater demand for them.
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