Many of the drugs that are illegal today are not illegal because of the risk they pose to the individual, many of them are illegal because of the associations with the drugs. The first drug law passed was in the 1875 which banned the smoking of opium. The reasoning behind the law was that many young men and women from respectable families were being ruined morally. From then on the anti cocaine laws in the south were targeting blacks, and marijuana laws in the early 1900s targeted Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans.
The real war on drugs that we know today was declared in June of 1971 by president Nixon. He increased the amount of drug control agencies, placed mandatory sentencing, and categorized marijuana as a schedule one drug. …show more content…
Organized crime such as drug trafficking between the U.S. Mexican border is created when drugs are criminalized. Legalizing drugs takes away income from organized crime and allows the government to regulate and control market. Legalizing drugs would also decrease crime, part of the violence that is due to drugs is because of its legal status. It would free up a lot of prison space saving the U.S. money. If we look at the tobacco industry, because it is legal there is no violence associated with the sale of tobacco, same can be said for alcohol.
The legalization of drugs makes drug use safer. It is one thing to be a heroin addict, but through legalization we can help limit the spread of diseases that are associated with drug use such as HIV and Hepatitis. If anything else we know prohibition does not work. There are no real benefits in criminalizing drugs. The effect increases our prison population of non violent offenders, and creates a vacuum for the illegal drug market that bring violence and worse effects. Legalizing all drugs does not put an end to the problem, but it helps us address the real underlying issues that cause drug
The real war on drugs that we know today was declared in June of 1971 by president Nixon. He increased the amount of drug control agencies, placed mandatory sentencing, and categorized marijuana as a schedule one drug. …show more content…
Organized crime such as drug trafficking between the U.S. Mexican border is created when drugs are criminalized. Legalizing drugs takes away income from organized crime and allows the government to regulate and control market. Legalizing drugs would also decrease crime, part of the violence that is due to drugs is because of its legal status. It would free up a lot of prison space saving the U.S. money. If we look at the tobacco industry, because it is legal there is no violence associated with the sale of tobacco, same can be said for alcohol.
The legalization of drugs makes drug use safer. It is one thing to be a heroin addict, but through legalization we can help limit the spread of diseases that are associated with drug use such as HIV and Hepatitis. If anything else we know prohibition does not work. There are no real benefits in criminalizing drugs. The effect increases our prison population of non violent offenders, and creates a vacuum for the illegal drug market that bring violence and worse effects. Legalizing all drugs does not put an end to the problem, but it helps us address the real underlying issues that cause drug