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What are drugs? In general, a drug is any substance that, when absorbed into one’s system, alters normal bodily function. Drugs have a broad spectrum, ranging anywhere from Tylenol to black tar heroin. This includes cannabis, psychedelics, methamphetamines, opiates, alcohol, and nicotine, among many other drugs. There are good drugs and bad drugs, but just because they are legal does not mean they are good for you. Drugs are bad mmkay, but a drug war is worse.
The term “drugs” is a way to broad term to be used, it lumps together completely different substances with completely different effects under one umbrella. What if someone were to set you up someone and all they would say is I want to set you up with a woman/man? Not very specific and there is an infinite range of possibilities. The same goes for drugs. A cannabis user is much different from a meth addict. An alcoholic is much different from a heroin junkie. The right (or wrong) drugs can destroy lives, homes, and people; but so can a drug war.
This war has been going on for decades and what has happened? Drugs have gotten cheaper and better in quality. Not a very big success if the opposite of your goal is accomplished. This war is by definition a failure and a waste of resources. I do not think we should abandon the war however. I am all for eliminating as much drug abuse as possible. I don’t believe we should be waging a war on supply though. There will always be supply as long as there is demand, making it illegal will increase demand, price, and now because it’s illegal more crime has been created.
We should legalize all drugs. I am not for solely decriminalization though. This simply means cops will turn a blind eye to drugs, which leaves the cartels intact and gives them much more power. I believe in legalization and regulation because it puts the cartels out of the drug business, which is their number one income. Historically prohibition raises violent crimes and demand. Legalization will not eliminate these problems, however it will reduce them drastically. There will always be drug users, abusers, and violent criminals, prohibition or not. So if you can’t fix the problem 100%, go for what will solve the problem the next best.
There are many reasons to legalize. Our prisons are too crowded, too many people are dying because they are afraid of seeking help, and drugs are too easy to get. There are no “heroin anonymous” groups. Even in Traffic, a person is overdosing and the only logical thing his friends can think to do is to dump him in front of a hospital. One of the characters also said that he does drugs because they are cheaper and easier to get than alcohol. Legalization and regulation could change this. Drugs could get out of the hands of kids.
Therefore I believe in legalization and RESPONSIBLE use. A smart person won’t do heroin in the first place. Legalize and don’t be an idiot.
You bring up a lot of really good points in your blog. I appreciated how you defined drug use in a way, and you really laid out your points well, and all in all, this blog seemed very nicely thought out and put together, so thank you. I agree with you said about supply and demand, because while eliminating supply may seem like the way to fix things, junkies will find another place to get their supply. Eliminating the demand is definitely the better road to go down in this case. While I do not necessarily agree with all of the points you made about legalizing and not only decriminalizing all drugs, I certainly see your point. Putting the drug cartels out of business is the ultimate goal, and legalization would definitely be a major blow to their “business.” While what you said in the end of your blog about responsible use would be nice, I am afraid that there will never be any “responsible” drug users.
ReplyDeleteDan, first off I really like your sense of humor in putting in these three drug related music videos. I gave me a chuckle. In your blog, I agree that drugs destroy lives and relationships. I do however, disagree with some of your points. I do not agree that people are attracted to drugs because they are illegal. Drugs are appealing to people because they are addictive. A person that needs to escape the grueling tasks of everyday life will turn to drugs because they are knowledgable of what they are capable of. I do, however, agree that legalization of drugs would essentially crush the cartels. Their sole existence is based off of pushing drugs into places that forbid them. If it were legal to buy drugs, then they would slowly fade into nothing. Furthermore, I like how you were specific and wrote about how "drugs" is a broad term. There are many types and all are dangerous on different levels.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I like the song choices you chose, especially the first one. It goes to show that a smart person would not do drugs in the first place. :) I do agree with what you said about legalization and that people who do decide to use should be smart about it. I also like the way that you presented your opinion in a funny, yet truthful way. I think that the government should have organizations (heroin anonymous) that help people who do abuse drugs (just maybe call it something different). I also agree that we should not completely stop the ‘war on drugs’ and the government should take a different approach to deal with illegal users or dealers. The movie Traffic really does show the negative side of drugs and more people should watch the movie especially for the part at the end of the movie that shows the girl going through a recovery stage.
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