In recent years, the war on drugs in America has become a growing problem. In William Bennett’s paper, “Drug Policy and the Intellectuals”, he stresses the issue of “intellectuals” ignorantly becoming advocates of legalization. He talks about how changes in current drug policies would help stunt the growing drug epidemic, saving people from loosing their personalities and lives to drugs. Lastly, he suggests that legalization would give the government, and therefore the people, a fat receipt to pay for. There is a country, Portugal, that decriminalized the use of drugs. Bennett states that “with legalization, drug use will go up, way up” (par 12) in America. However, Portugal found that when drugs became legalized, the opposite happened.
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Paying cops to catch drug abusers and sellers where they are sent to prisons that citizens fund. While these “criminals” are in jail they add no value to our productivity as a society and have no ability to rehabilitate and get the proper care they need. Then, when they get out of jail they find it hard to find employers that would hire them, making it more likely that they will start abusing drugs again, creating a vicious cycle. If they cannot find work, some will try and abuse social welfare to find a means of getting some kind of income. Others might steal from stores and thus raise prices for goods and services. However, Bennett believes that the cost of treatment, social welfare, and insurance is what it takes for legalization and would cost a great deal. Thought, the cost of valuable treatment aimed to fix the root cause of a drug abusers addiction could reform them and decrease future incarcerations thus saving tax dollars. These saved up tax dollars could be used to fund valuable rehabilitations and help drug abusers become productive members of society. The war on drugs targets the addicts who need treatment and sentences them to a life of incarceration. Thus limiting their ability to escape a pattern of crime and addiction. Focusing on the root cause of an addicts dependence can lead to proper therapy and treatments that enable a user to recover and repair their life. Instead of spending money on the primal justice system and jails, the money can be used to provide support to the
Paying cops to catch drug abusers and sellers where they are sent to prisons that citizens fund. While these “criminals” are in jail they add no value to our productivity as a society and have no ability to rehabilitate and get the proper care they need. Then, when they get out of jail they find it hard to find employers that would hire them, making it more likely that they will start abusing drugs again, creating a vicious cycle. If they cannot find work, some will try and abuse social welfare to find a means of getting some kind of income. Others might steal from stores and thus raise prices for goods and services. However, Bennett believes that the cost of treatment, social welfare, and insurance is what it takes for legalization and would cost a great deal. Thought, the cost of valuable treatment aimed to fix the root cause of a drug abusers addiction could reform them and decrease future incarcerations thus saving tax dollars. These saved up tax dollars could be used to fund valuable rehabilitations and help drug abusers become productive members of society. The war on drugs targets the addicts who need treatment and sentences them to a life of incarceration. Thus limiting their ability to escape a pattern of crime and addiction. Focusing on the root cause of an addicts dependence can lead to proper therapy and treatments that enable a user to recover and repair their life. Instead of spending money on the primal justice system and jails, the money can be used to provide support to the