Public Opinion: Should the United States Legalize Drugs?
More "war on drugs" or controlling them through regulation and taxation? Tell us what you think.
The United States has been fighting a "war on drugs" for decades, yet illegal narcotics remain a problem for the country. Some, like Peter Moskos, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and author of Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore's Eastern District, argue that the best way to deal with drugs is to legalize, regulate, and tax them. Others, like former federal drug czar Lee P. Brown, say that the solution is to keep them illegal and target demand in order to eliminate supply. Should drugs be legalized? Post your thoughts below.
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Reader Comments
Drugs
My opinion on all of this really is. If drugs become legal, you should have to be a certain age to by them, and show proof. But then again that dosen't matter to most people, because they tend to get an older person to buy them something, or they'll find a way. Yes I agree drugs are very bad, and the reason for most common deaths and for people being aressted in the world today.
Drug Addiction IS a serious problem
We all know that drug addiction in the U.S. is a serious problem. What some fail to realize is why. As a society that punishes the addict instead of finding realistic ways to treat them we are doing nothing to better ourselves. We are only using someones weakness as a capital gain. People with major drug addiction don't have to go to a dealer on the street to get their fix even now. They can go to a doctor (who is business to make money) and complain of chronic pain and be prescribed medication that is just as hard core as the drugs found on the street, just cleaner.
Why not legalize them? What do we have to lose? We can tax marijuana! There is your economic stimulas package! Whether or not you have smoked marijuana or used it any way is not for me to say. From experience, I have seen that many many people use this drug, for reasons as simple as stress. I would much rather a pot smoker be on the road than an alcoholic. It is time to set our society up in a manner that is caring and peaceful and stop fighting wars for unjustified reasons. War(on drugs) is not the answer!
Drugs should be legalized
Drugs should be legalized. Why? If they were we would have less intenses of marijuana users that have been exposed to drugs that were laced. Recently, my cousins went to college,smoked marijuana occasionally with friends and came back home mentally ill. Doctors have diagnosed him with drug induced psychosis. This illness can last for years. He is unable to hold a conversation, unable to get a job, unable to sit through an enitre movie. He noe also has OCD and manic depressive characteristics. This also happened to another person I know. He too went away to college and came back home depressed and acting out of the normal. One day after coming home from work his parents found him hanging balcony. This could have been prevented if marijuana was legalized. If marijuana was legalized there would be no chance of the drug being laced with PCP, cocaine or meth, and there would be a chance for my cousin to live his life just like you and I do. I do not do any drugs but I do know that I dont want what happened to my cousin and my friend to happen to my children or to your children.
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