Keeping drugs illegal costs American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars every year in law enforcement, incarceration, etc.
The cost of drugs is directly related to the legislation against them. Cocaine costs pennies per gram to manufacture, yet the street price for a gram in NY is around $25 (upwards of $100 upstate). Addicts are GOING to get high, regardless of who tells them not to. Never in my 15 years of partying have I seen somebody say "I'm not going to smoke/snort that because it's illegal". They always say "it's bad for you" when they decline to partake, so I know from experience that laws DO NOT stop people from using drugs, it's their upbringing that DOES.
Laws also have no effect on the AVAILABILITY of street drugs. I've bought cocaine like you would buy hamburgers at McDonalds, except it takes more time and effort to buy the hamburgers. I never had to leave my car, and I barely even came to a stop before the transaction was complete.
People often cite increased crime rates where drugs are present. As I said before, this is a direct result of the legislation against them. Drug laws INCREASE crime rates, simply because the addict (who is going to be an addict, regardless of laws) needs to steal more money to support his habit.
As for the GATEWAY hypothesis, a drug is not a "gateway" drug unless you use it as one. A chair is not a weapon until you bash somebody over the head with it. Then AND ONLY THEN does the chair become a weapon. The vast majority of beer drinkers are not pot heads, and the vast majority of pot heads are not crackheads, so we can therefore say with absolute certainty that a drug is not a "gateway" unless you use it as one.
I haven't used drugs in years, and I certainly don't condone it. But I've come to realize the huge amount of my tax dollars that are being wasted fighting this "war". I've always been able to afford my habits, but how many times have you seen on TV, some crackhead (who happens to be black) that was trying to steal a couple of dollars from somebody, who had a stick or pipe in his hand, and is now being charged with 1st degree assault as well as 1st degree robberyand will probably do 10 years in prison (10x$35,000).... WHY? I don't give a rat's ass about the crackhead, much less WANT to support him for the next 10 years of his pathetic life. But the police agencies are always parading around saying they need this and they need that, more overtime, more equipment to fight the crime wave that is hitting urban America. If that crackhead could get his weekly fix by scraping some bottles and cans together, that little old lady would never have been attacked (and thousands of police officers and corrections officers would have to look for work elsewhere, AND WE WOULD SAVE BILLIONS IN TAX DOLLARS)
I say legalize drugs and let's get on with our lives. Stop letting the government babysit grown adults and put the real criminals behind bars.
Log in to comment