Anti-legalization of Drugs

Anti-legalization of Drugs

Drugs have been around for many centuries and proceeds to be a major

issue

for the last few decades. Marijuana was first federally prohibited in

1937. Today, nearly 70 million Americans admit to having tried it (

Inciardi 19 ). Whether people stop using drugs, there will always be

more and more people reaching out to use drugs. For the past few

decades, many people have tried to legalize drug use as well as

stopping the use of drugs. Society, in my opinion, would not know how

to react if drugs were to be legalized. I think that legalizing drugs

will not only ruin the community, but also people's lives.

Legalization of drugs has been a failure in other nations. Great

Britain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands are among the nations which

have successfully provided areas where drug takers can obtain and use

drugs. Recently, an MTV documentary on the drug issue highlighted

coffeehouses in Amsterdam as a model for controlled, successful

environment in which young Europeans can enjoy marijuana. However, the

experience with legalizing drugs has had its negative effects. For

instance, violent crime is a major problem in the Netherlands. A 1992

study of crime victims in twenty mostly European countries ranks the

Netherlands as the number one country in Europe for assaults and

threats (Olson 79 ). The British system didn't work. Addiction levels

rose, especially among teenagers, and more people became addicts. This

sets an example to how it will hurt the nation as one, not only will

the nation look bad, but go bad as well.

Crime, violence, and drug use go hand-in-hand. Many believe that

legalizing drugs w...

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...stigation, Uniform Crime Reports for the United

States

1996, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office ( 1997)

Inciardi, James A. "The Wars on Drugs." Palo Alto: Mayfield, 1986

Kennedy, X.J., Dorthy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron, eds.

The Bedford Reader. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford, 1997

"Legalizing Drugs." Greenhaven Press. San Diego: 1996

Olson, William J. " Drugs Should Not Be Legalized. " Greenhaven Press.

65-92

Riga, Peter J. " Legalization Would Help Solve The Nation's Drug

Problem."

Greenhaven Press. 52-54

Rosenthal, A.M. " The Case For Slavery." Kennedy, Kennedy, and Aaron

370-372

" Two Crucial Issues in the Argument for Drug Legalization." 25 July,

1999:

Vidal, Gore " Drugs." Kennedy, Kennedy, and Aaron 365-367