4/27/97

Ethics

Essay

Drugs Should NOT Be Legalized

I remember when I was in High School over fifteen students got suspended or arrested for drug related incidents. Students were charged with possession, selling, or caught using drugs. Many students often used to show up to class high waiting to get caught. Do to the fact that so many students were getting caught in our school, the senior class decided to have a pro drug rally in the cafeteria. Over three hundred students showed up to support the issue. They were basically trying to legalize Marijuana. The students did make strong positive statements about the drug. They said it is used to treat cancer and AIDS patients. They felt that since it was natural and came from the Earth it was all right. However they did not talk about the negative effects on the drug. This event even made are local paper as well. This rally was talked about for months but they were obviously not successful in doing so. They felt that they did educate their audience very well.

In issue number twelve the argument about if drugs should be legalized is at hand. Ethan A. Nadelman argues that drugs should be legalized for many reasons. He feels that if drugs were legalized it would drastically cut the crime rate in our society. Jails would be less crowded as well. He relates drugs to the prohibition of alcohol. He feels that if we do legalize drugs crime would decrease, and there would be a new market created to consumers. This would also create money for the government through taxes. This could drastically change our economy.

I on the other hand agree with David T. Courtwright and feel that drugs should not be legalized. Just imagine if everyone had access to drugs, people would be on a constant high. The world would not function properly like this. The overall drug abuse rate would be at a all time high and hospitals would be filled with overdose patients. This would also cause health insurance to increase as well. There would be more babies born with birth defects also. The main reason why drugs can not be legalized because people in our society would abuse the right, and overdose death would be extremely common.

I strongly feel that drugs should remain illegal. Although the people who argue for the legalization of drugs have many strong points and facts, when you look at the big picture society would fall apart if drugs were legal. Courtwright says “Widespread availability, lower prices, and the elimination of the criminal sanction would result in more users, some of whom would inevitably become addicts”. This is the major reason why I think and believe that drugs should not be legalized in our society. No matter which side of the issue you stand on make sure you understand both sides of the argument before you know what your fighting for. People who only see one side of the issue might be blinded by the truth.

Word Count: 506