Addictions

Legalizing Drugs or Joining the Drug Addict Circle?
Over the years, drug abuse has been a rising problem in almost every country in the world. Day by day more people are involved in this endless cycle of drug craving, money shortage, and drug related crimes. The most popular proposition set forward by growing number of leaders now is to legalize the use of drugs; but will it help solving the problem or make it even worse?

Over the years, drug abuse has been a rising problem in almost every country in the world. Day by day more people are involved in this endless cycle of drug craving, money shortage, and drug related crimes. Congressmen and politicians of United States, seeing this unstoppable crime wave which is about to spread throughout the country, begin to address various kinds of possible solutions to end this crisis in the most efficient and effective way. As discussed in Alan M. Dershowitz’s “The Case for Medicalizing Heroin” and Charles B. Rangel’s “Legalize Drugs? Not on Your Life,” the most popular proposition set forward by growing number of leaders now is to legalize the use of drugs; but will it help solving the problem or make it even worse? I agree with Rangel that in order to end drugs abuse completely, we have to find the root of the problem and use any forces necessary and retain the determination to keep on fighting because it will not be an easy battle.
Dershowitz believes that even though we cannot eliminate every single drug addict by legalizing drugs nor make the black market disappear, but it would at least improve the present situation. He goes on to describe how it can be done and that it will minimize the chance of youngsters becoming drug addicts and that giving drug addicts a fair dosage of drugs is far more better than letting them committing crimes just to get enough money to afford drugs. He even goes further to suggest the possibility of considering legalizing other drugs if the result of experiment turns out to be positive. But is everything as simple as Dershowitz and other advocates of legalization think? If drugs are legalized in real life, will we be able to see improvements or deterioration”

All the arguments Dershowitz make seem reasonable from the surface, but if you take a step back and think it through, legalization is not a simple task as Dershowitz thinks it is; and there is a big chance that it might bring up more problems than there already is. In order to make it work, numerous decisions have to be made beforehand and the government has to make sure they always have everything in control; because once things started to get out of hand, it will be too late for any damage control. Moreover, teenage addicts are not likely to quit their addiction just because they cannot get it legally; they can either buy it from drug dealers who always find a way to access to the drugs no matter what or they can ask adults to buy it for them. Also, the black market is not going to be out of business if drugs are legalized; instead, they would have more buyers than they did before the legalization since purchasing drugs is no longer a crime and more people might get addicted. Now, we really have to ask ourselves this question: is what seems like a million dollar plan to legalize drugs worth all the risks”

The best way to deal with drugs is to start from the heart of this problem and fight it. As Rangel puts it in his essay, .”..what they (advocates of legalization) are really admitting is that they’re willing to abandon a war that we have not even begun to fight,” (467). If we really are going to deal with this problem, we have to make it a national battle. Like Rangel suggested, everyone in the country should be involved in the process. First, let politicians and congressmen set new policies which includes severe punishment for any violation. Then, army forces and police will cooperate and enforce these policies. Furthermore, rewards can be given to people who witness violations and report them. Afterall, we should make our every effort to stop the increasing drug crisis before considering other risky propositions like legalization.

All in all, fighting drugs is not a responsibility of the government but everyone in the country, and we can do it as long as we all put our hearts into it with determination that we must bring an end to this problem. It is clear that by legalizing drugs we are practically offering more access to drugs and making it more available instead of controlling it. If you still think legalization of drugs seems feasible, take a look at the present number of people who have lost their lives from alcohol-related accidents and lung cancer since alcohol and nicotine were legalized many years ago; tell me, do you still think it will help”.