Regarding the Legalization of Drugs: How Far Should We Go on the State Level?

I say legalize ALL OF IT.

The only reason people rob for drug money is because they are illegal. Which raises the price. If drugs were legal the price would drop.

No one is robbing people for beer money for example. The intrinsic value of crack or weed or heroin is low. It’s expensive because of the risks associated with smuggling it into the country.

The truth is anyone who wants to smoke weed, or crack, or snort coke, does already. We’re just kidding ourselves with these laws.

Legalize all drugs.

We’re experiencing the EXACT same scenario as 1930’s prohibition.

– victimless act made “illegal”
– street gangs selling an unsafe product to supply the demand to make money
– consumers are exposed to unsafe product due to black market consequences
– violence increases over territory

It’s all ridiculous. It’s all victimless. Ingesting a drug? No victim. Robbery? Obvious victim.

You junkies would like that wouldnt you? Only reason i would say yes is so all of you can OD and rid the rest of us of your stupidity.

The drug generally isn’t more harmful than alcohol or tobacco if used in moderation. As you’ll see by reading research studies from the related links section at the bottom of the page, the studies of the harmfulness of marijuana are inconclusive and contradictory. Most doctors would agree that it’s not very harmful if used in moderation. It’s only when you abuse the drug that problems start to occur. But isn’t abuse of almost any bad substance a problem? If you abuse alcohol, caffeine, Ephedra, cigarettes, or even pizza, health problems are sure to follow. Would you want the government limiting how much coffee you can drink or how much cheesecake you take in? Most doctors believe that marijuana is no more addictive that alcohol or tobacco.

Limiting the use of the drug intrudes on personal freedom. Even if the drug is shown to be harmful, isn’t it the right of every person to choose what harms him or her? Marijuana use is generally thought of as a “victimless crime”, in that only the user is being harmed. You can’t legislate morality when people disagree about what’s considered “moral”.

Legalization would mean a lower price; thus, related crimes (like theft) would be reduced. All illegal drugs are higher in price because the production, transportation, and sale of the drugs carry heavy risks. When people develop drug habits or addictions, they must somehow come up with the money to support their cravings. Unless a person is wealthy, he or she must often resort to robbery and other crimes to generate the money needed to buy the drugs. Legalization would reduce the risks and thus reduce the prices. There would therefore be less need for the secondary crimes needed to raise money.

There are medical benefits such as the those for cancer patients. As detailed in the related links section, there are a number of medical benefits of marijuana, most notably in the treatment of patients undergoing chemotherapy. Others believe it helps in the treatment of depression. Certain states like California have brought initiatives to legalize the drug for at least medicinal purposes.

Street justice related to drug disputes would be reduced. Currently, if someone in the drug trade screws you over, there’s no police to call or lawyers to litigate. You must settle disputes yourself. This often leads to cycles of retaliatory violence. Legalization would create proper means to settle disputes.

It could be a source of additional tax revenues. An enormous amount of money is raised through government taxation of alcohol, cigarettes, and other “sins”. The legalization of marijuana would create another item that could be taxed. I’m sure the government would have no problem spending all that extra money.

Police and court resources would be freed up for more serious crimes. Many consider the War on Drugs an expensive failure. Resources for DEA, FBI, and border security are only the tip of the iceberg. You must add in the cost of police officers, judges, public defenders, prosecutors, juries, court reporters, prison guards, and so on. Legalization of marijuana would free up those people to concentrate on more important things like terrorism, harder drugs, rape, murder, and so on. In addition, an already overloaded civil court docket would be improved; thus, the wait time for other legitimate court cases would be reduced.

Drug dealers (including some terrorists) would lose most or all of their business. Perhaps the biggest opponents of legalizing drugs are the drug dealers themselves. They make their enormous sums of money because of the absence of competition and the monstrous street prices that come from the increased risk. Legalization would lower prices and open competition; thus, drug cartels (that might include terrorists) would lose all or some of their business.

The FDA or others could regulate the quality and safety of drugs. Many drug users become sick or die because of poorly-prepared products. After all, there is nothing to regulate what is sold and no way to sue anyone for product liability. By bringing marijuana into the legitimate business world, you can oversee production and regulate sales.

Like sex, alcohol, or cigarettes, marijuana is one of life’s little pleasures for some people. All of us have our guilty pleasures. They are part of what makes life worth living. Several of these little pleasures–coffee, sex, alcohol, cigarettes, etc.–are potentially harmful if abused. Even legal substances like pizza and donuts can be harmful to a person if not consumed in moderation. Would you want to give up all these things for the rest of your life? Would you want someone else telling you what you can and can’t have when it is only your body that is affected?

Drug busts often trap young people in a flawed system that turns them into lifelong criminals. Imagine an impressionable teenager who is tired of earning minimum wage, who hates living in a poor ghetto area, or who needs to sa