Legalization Our Only Salvation Research Paper

Legalization, Our Only Salvation
“No hay mal que dure cien años, ni enfermo que lo aguante.” There is no sickness that lasts more than a hundred years, or an ill person that will survive it. For the past decade the U.S has faced one of the biggest issues in the country, the war against drugs. Many controversial ideas have risen to help win the war on drugs, but the most controversial one is the legalization of drugs. Not all of the drugs should be legalized, just marihuana. By legalizing this drug violence could be reduced, regulation would be set upon it, and one problem would be solved to focus on the real damaging drugs.
First, one problem would be solved and time and effort could be focused on the real damaging drugs. In the U.S at least
Legalizing does not mean giving up on the problem; it rather means regulation and control over the situation. Contrasting the problem, criminalization means prohibition. The U.S cannot regulate what it prohibits, and drugs are too dangerous to remain unregulated. Prohibition will not help anyone, just like the U.S prohibited alcohol during the 20’s and 30’s, and it did not work. It is happening exactly like it with the drugs. U.S News & World Report writer Peter Moskos says, “ Illegal drug dealers sell to anyone. Legal Ones are licensed and help keep drugs such as beer, cigarettes, and pharmaceuticals away from minors. Illegal dealers settle disputes with guns, when on the other hand; legal ones solve theirs in court. Illegal dealers fear police, and legal ones fear IRS” (8). What Moskos is trying to explain is that by regulating the drugs things are kept under control. Usually people fall for drugs in a high percentage because it is “illegal”, and usually what we can have is what we want. By legalizing the U.S will be hitting hard the drug dealer’s economy and devastating their dirty, corrupt cartels. It is or choice to legalize drugs or pass through a second century of failed prohibition. Government regulation might not sound as powerful as “war on drugs” but it will do its job. (Moskos
Over the past two years, drug violence has become a fixture of the daily news. Some of this violence pits drug cartels against one another; some involves confrontations between law enforcement and traffickers. Recent estimates suggest that thousands have lost their lives in this “war on drugs.” Prohibition creates violence because it drives the drug market underground. This means buyers and sellers cannot resolve their disputes in orderly ways, so they turn to violence instead. The only way to reduce violence there fore is to legalize drugs. Fortuitously, legalization is the right policy for a slew of other reasons. If drugs were legal, the consequent unemployment could cause economic problems; but in contrast it could reduce violence and produce great opportunities for economic development (Borden 44). The right policy, therefore, is to legalize drugs while using regulation and taxation to dampen irresponsible behavior related to drug use, such as driving under the influence. This makes more sense than prohibition because it avoids creation of a black market. This approach also allows those who believe they benefit from drug use to do so, as long as they do not harm others. Magazine Publisher, David Borden said, “I argued, prohibition fuels violence and disorder, particularly in the inner cities, and these conditions drive away business and make every other method of addressing poverty far more