Upon reading Gore Vidals "Case for Legalizing Marijuana" one may wonder why drugs are not legal in the United States of America. Afterall, several valid reasonings were made throughout the article. There is a demand for drugs and many people are supplying them, while also making a small fortune. If drugs were made legal and sold for high prices, their market would decrease because many people would not be able to afford them. Most people involved in the drug world do not know the consequences of that which they consume. If drugs were labeled with the affects that they have, it is likely that people would turn away from them. However, it would be the users choice to continue drug use if they wished. People are simpily uneduacated about the realtites of drug use. Sometimes drugs can be benifical to ones health but they can also be deadly. If there was an open market for drugs and Americans’ were educated on the effects drugs can have on their bodies, the monopoly for drugs would rapidly decrease. Drugs are outlawed in America yet prohibition has never been successful in America. Anytime the government has tried to stop the distribution of a substance people have always jumped at the chance to make …show more content…
Since marijuana was legalized there have been dramatic results. States that allow the use of marijuana have increased the public’s awareness of the drug’s effects. After an increase in public awarness, many people are setting the drug aside due to long-term effects. If other drugs were made legal in the United States and their long-term and short-term effects were taught, it is very likely that there would be a decrease in their use. People are less inclined to get hooked onto drugs when they realize it could kill them. If drugs were legal in the Untied States and people were educated on their affects, the drug world would eventually eradicate
Furthermore, Vidal says “it seems most unlikely that any reasonably sane person will become a drug addict if he knows in advance what addiction is going to be like” (par.5). His view on the majority of America is that more people will recognize the damage that is done from drugs if all drugs are legalized. He also admits that the American people often forget important history, such as the great alcohol prohibition, and will go to far extents to achieve financial
In a span of seventeen years, from 1980 to 1997, the number of the incarcerated individuals imprisoned due to non-violent drug offenses increased from forty thousand to five hundred thousand (Drugpolicy.org, n.d.). At the start of the decade only 2% of Americans viewed drugs in America as a major issue, but after only nine years, that number grew to an astonishing 64%. The media and politicians contributed to this meteoric rise in such a short time. Television networks and news programs began to cover the negative side effects of drugs that were ignored during the two previous free living decades.
The consumption of drugs have always been a part of society, from tobacco used by the native Americans to the coco leaf used by mayans, people exhibit a tendency to use narcotics. While drugs were used for medicinal purposes risks were still associated with them as they are today. As with most things, narcotics can be harmful, and even dangerous, while drugs do not usually cause a society to collapse, it does have a profound effect on how societies function as in the case of the 1900s. While there were positives to the initial inaction of prohibition it was more detrimental than beneficial.
Within a community which legalizes drugs, consumers experience just the downsides of usage. Using prohibition, furthermore, they stake offense, penalties and fees, losing specialized permits, and others. Therefore prohibition unambiguously damages people who benefit from regardless of prohibition. And also prohibition does indeed, come with large expenses, irrespective of how dangerous drugs is perhaps. (SPIEGEL ONLINE,
Simple economics suggests that people are more likely to buy something that is widely available at low prices than something that is expensive and hard to find. Wilson wrote: “I suppose that we should expect no increase in Porsche sales if we cut the price by 95 percent, no increase in whiskey sales if we cut the price by a comparable amount—because young people only want fast cars and strong liquor when they are forbidden” (p. 152). Another reason we are better off when hard drugs are prohibited is that treatment of addicts works better when it is mandatory and making treatment mandatory is harder when drug use is not a crime (p. 159). Similarly, education is more effective when hard drugs are illegal, because we are not confusing young people by telling them not to do what is perfectly legal (p. 159). Finally, Wilson argues we are better off with prohibition of hard drugs than without it because prohibition protects human decency.
The belief that the most effective way to stop people from using drugs is through enforcement is not backed by data. Rather, a look at these numbers reveals how this act, which focused on enforcement only, was not effective and did not achieve its initial stated
Sanya Sethi Do the benefits of decriminalizing drugs outweigh the disadvantages? 2000 words Do the benefits of decriminalizing drugs outweigh the disadvantages? By Sanya Sethi Introduction ‘I’m a recovering drug addict and know that drug addiction is an illness, it’s a disease, so by criminalizing that you criminalize a huge percentage of the population. You malign them and stigmatize them, you generate more crime, you create a criminal culture, and speaking from the perspective of a sufferer it’s simply not helpful’.
Likewise, Hari (2013) argued that opiates in pure form do not damage the organs or flesh. Therefore, people are capable of using low doses of pure opiates and can be productive in the workforce. However, with decriminalizing drugs comes another issue of who will be producing drugs. In the present day, pharmaceutical companies are big money businesses that only care about profits and not the health of the people. Similarly, Hari (2013) illustrates how big pharmaceutical companies essentially are drug lords in the context of prescription painkillers, such as Vicodin or Oxycontin.
It’s alienation caused by capitalist exploitation and atomized culture is what drives so many people to not only use drugs, but to become addicted to them. Utilizing the example of the ‘Rat Park’ by Bruce Alexander, if a rat’s environment actively meets both their social and physical needs, there’s no reason for the rat to choose the cocaine water over the regular one. In contrary, without the engagement and socialization, without the needs being met, the rat will resort to the cocaine water actively over regular water. Moreover, drug cartels cannot compete with government owned substances for free. This is how the government inadvertently funds them; the solution should be to remove the economy behind drugs.
I completely agree with Gore Vidal’s opinions on the legalization of drugs expressed in his controversial essay. Mr. Vidal captured my ballot within the first two sentences declaring,” It is possible to stop drug addiction in the United States within a very short time. Simply make all drugs available and sell them at cost.” The authorize of narcotics would obtain many positives to the United States. Also, disputing the complications that originate from exploitation of drugs.
Make something easier and cheaper to obtain, and you increase the number of people who will try it,” said Walters (2002). This is why, if drugs were legalized, it will not make the situation better but make it worse. There will be no penalties anymore and the price of the drug will be cheaper. People will always try to use something which exists around the society with a cheap price and easy to obtain. It would increase drug demand because it allows people to consume them freely and it would be a daily need for them,
In the world today people use illegal and prescription drugs regularly day in and day out. People lose their families, their houses and can lose their lives. Abusing drugs, prescription or illegal, can and more then likely will kill a person. Getting drugs these days is as easy as going to the store and buying a gallon of milk. One can literally walk two blocks down the road and get any and every drug they need or want, and very cheap at that.
Politically, in many ways, they are correct. John P Walter, the former director of The White House Office of National Drug control policy, points out that failure to fight against drug legalization in the country works against International anti-drug efforts. This could then weaken ties with Nations that have been strong trade partners and political allies, thus weakening our country's position in the world. In opposition to this point, some argue that the weakened trade alliances could benefit our country by encouraging businesses to remain in the United States rather than outsourcing their businesses
In juxtaposition to this governments still allow big pharmaceutical companies to produce and sell drugs legally to the public under the guise of them being good for your health. In reality these legal drugs can be just as addictive and dangerous to your health as illegal drugs, in some cases even more
However, is it doing more harm than good? Countries all over the world should legalize drugs, and treat them as a commodity. Drugs impact various aspects of society ranging from personal liberties (bodily autonomy), economics,