The "War" on Drugs

[gekko]

I have yet to hear a decent argument as to why to make them legal, and considering I don't do them, nor care to be around people who do them, my vote is to keep them illegal.

[KillerGremlin]

Originally Posted by Jason1

Eh, I disagree. I dont think anything should be legalized. I do think the government needs to do more to fight the Drug problem though. At least around here, the cops need to stop worring about busting underage drinking parties and go after the many many high schoolers doing cocaine. I swear in my town the cops get a hard on when they bust an underage drinking party.

That's because, statistically, underage drinking results in more DUIs and "accidents" than some kids doing coke. At least when you OD on cocaine you only drag yourself down. Besides, I can only imagine cocaine use is isolated amongst the teenage crowd, but what do I know I was never "hip" with the drugs. I would imagine proving that someone is high on cocaine is difficult as well. They can't breathalyze you, and anyone who has the slightest sense of their basic rights would deny taking a blood or urine test. Underage drinking party = good night for cops. Trust me, I'm sure the town I grew up in was worse than yours. If you got caught at a party with alcohol and you were underage they would publish your name in the paper.

Originally Posted by gekko

I have yet to hear a decent argument as to why to make them legal, and considering I don't do them, nor care to be around people who do them, my vote is to keep them illegal.

Prohibition doesn't work. I did a whole research paper on prohibition of alcohol, it was a giant failure. Actually, that's not entirely true. Chicago's economy saw an influx. There was an exponential growth of crime, and gangsters (like the famous Al Capone) took over the city. It was a profitable time for Chicago and there was massive growth in the city. Of course, it was at the expense of high crime rates, gang wars, and deaths, but never mind that. In the end alcohol still became legal.

Realistically, we can't and shouldn't legalize all drugs. And maybe this is where we agree. I think we should decriminalize drugs like Marijuana, which has been shown to be a very safe drug to use. But throwing billions of dollars at this "war on drugs" is not working. There is a very profitable black market making tons of money off the prohibition of drugs. Just like there was back when alcohol was banned.