Bennett’s chapter against the legalization of drugs he speculates that the legalization of drugs would remove the criminal stigma that currently labels drug users. Bennett theorizes that a removal of this stigma would take with it the hesitation felt by the majority of people who see no positives in a life of crime. He is talking about every drug which one would agree that such a broad decriminalization would send our country into a downward spiral filled with addicted citizens barely able to function within society. The hard drugs that Bennett describes are in fact a danger to society such drugs like PCP, heroin or crack cocaine. However, he barely touches on the fact of marijuana alone.
Legalization of all Drugs The United States Government seems to be blind to the fact that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is bringing the United States down and filling up our jails for criminal charges using drugs. Illegal drugs are the reason why crime is such a big issue in the United States, gangs are flourishing more so now than ever before. Although the DEA has been established for a while now, they still don’t having any regulation on what type of drug gets into the US, they crowd up our jails and waste a substantial amount of money that could be put to something profitable for the American people and economy. Even though the US government is aware that they are failing in the War on Drugs, they still are putting immense amounts
Drugs such as opiates and crack cocaine should not be legal due to the massive effects they have on individuals. According to Charles B. Rangel “Drug legalization threatens to undermine our society. The argument about the economic costs associated with the drug war is a selfish argument that coincides with the short-sighted planning that we have been using with other social policies. With any legalization of drugs, related problems would not go away; they would only intensify. If we legalize, we will be paying much more than the $30 billion per year we now spend on direct health care costs associated with illegal drug use.” (Charles B. Rangel; Criminal Justice Ethics, Vol.
This shows drug trafficking was recognized as a large problem over a century ago. With a better plan and more harsh consequences, drug trafficking can be under better control than it is today. “The position maintained by the United States, a drug-consuming country, was that the trade in dangerous drugs had to be prohibited and that narcotic drug supply should be eliminated at its source” (Keefer & Loayza, (2010), p. 88). This is still the goal for the United States today. Customs officers are expected to do their job and put a stop to the drug trafficking but the temptation of making some extra money may be extremely strong.
Another premiss is “Severe laws against marijuana do not discourage use of marijuana, but rather breed this contempt not only for drug laws but for laws in general.” This ties in with the first premiss, but can stand alone as its’ own as well. The conclusion would be “Severe laws against marijuana are more dangerous to society than the activity that they are designed to prevent.” This is a conclusion that explains its two premisses and makes an argument against the laws in which are enforced to prevent the use of marijuana. Also, in this case for this particular argument there are no extra superfluous premises. This is mainly because almost all the argument is used for the conclusion and
Drug advocates believe that drug legalization will cure America’s eroding and so- called unwarranted drug policy. People seem to follow this idea without understanding the true destructions that drugs already cause while illegal. In addition, Americans think the liberal drug policy of Europe is without problems. Drug legalization will cause a domino effect of problems that will tear apart America as we know it today. A very commonly abused drug is marijuana.
In fact, even with its severe user penalties, the United States still far exceeds the Netherlands for marijuana and cocaine usage where they do not take legal action for possession of pot for personal use (Smith). This means the people who are going to do drugs will do so regardless of the repercussions making the criminalization of such behavior ineffective in reducing the number of users. We can make all the drug busts and user arrests we want until the end of time and it won’t stop people from trying drugs. As long as there is a demand, there will always be a supply (Javdani 376) And let’s not forget about the newest and biggest trend thus far being made and distributed right here in the United States: prescription
In fact drugs are being encouraged for anyone in need of it. However in today's society drugs seem to result in chaos rather than stability. It is illegal to take drugs with the exception of prescription drugs. Sadly in our society, drugs are also quickly available for those that want it. Unlike soma, the drugs produce numerous negative aftereffects.
Illicit drug users need more help than simply abstaining from the use of drugs to overcome their addiction. The use of federal money to pay for sterile syringes is still prohibited, but funds can now be used to pay for other aspects of NEPs, including personnel, vehicles, gas, rent, and other expenditures needed to keep NEPs operational (Weinmeyer, 2016). The war against drugs is the main reason why the use of NEPs and MAT programs are incredibly perplexing. The ideology of assisting an individual in maintaining the euphoric feeling of illicit drugs or providing hypodermic needles to successfully administer drugs contradicts the campaign of “just say no”. The use of drugs is illegal, yet the government provides assistance with drug use.
Gardner’s ideas are too drastic and I believe he didn’t have enough support in his argument that his plans would actually decrease the murders in gang violence. To say that his thoughts on drugs are the missing piece to gang-violence; I agree with him one-hundred percent. Yet, to pinpoint on drugs as the only reason viciousness and violence happens in gangs, is almost too good to be true. Dan may as well fly off to Never-Never land, because those dreams aren’t ever coming true. First off, I would like to thank Gardner for his enlightening point of view, of how gang violence is heavily influenced by the whole drug trade and the black market that associates itself with it.