Pros and Cons of Legalizing Drugs - Essay Example

? Pro’s and Con’s of Legalizing Drugs Purpose: To inform Audience: The government and the public at large Tone: seriousand straightforward Thesis: “Legalizing drugs” pro’s and con’s. Pattern of development: Exemplification Organizational approach: Emphatic order I. Causes and effects of legalizing drugs Effects A. To the government a. Decline in economic growth b. High costs incurred c. Increased mortality rate d. Increased war with other nations and terrorism e. Increased revenue f. Reduce drug trafficking B. To the citizens a. Increased expenditure b. Increased insecurity c. Separation of social ties d. Destruction of young generation C. To an individual a. Poor health and loss of life II. Causes of legalizing drugs a. To increase revenue collection b. To reduce drug smuggling c. To free up government resources III. Conclusion Below are some of the effects of legalizing drugs to the government, to the citizens and to an individual: A. To the government a) Decline in economic growth- Drugs trafficking is one of the most threats to the growth of a country’s economy. This is because when an individual or people are under drugs’ influence, they can rarely perform up to the expected standards. The economic growth of the country starts retarding and the growth curve starts behaving abnormally. The government starts experiencing constraints in sustaining its citizens and therefore is forced to result to heavy borrowing from other nations, non-governmental organizations, World Bank among other financial institutions. The resulting effect is a huge deficit in the balance of payments, which in turn leads to bad debts (Parks 2009). b) High costs incurred- The costs incurred by the government in following up and arresting drug traffickers are high. It involves the use of machines like vehicles and detectors, to track the criminals and this means expenditure has to be incurred. When these criminals have been arrested and prosecuted, they have to be retained in the cells and provided with the basic needs. If any of them falls sick, they have to be taken to the hospital by the government and it settles their medical bills. This all are extra costs incurred which should have otherwise been saved (Bean 2010). Many nations find it unreasonable nowadays to arrest and prosecute drug offenders as that is not helping in any way to reduce the vice and hence the urge to legalize drugs. The graph below compares the total number of people jailed for drug abusing in U.S.A and the total number of people arrested and jailed by the European Union for all offenses: Retrieved on 6 march 2013 from, http://www.balancedpolitics.org/marijuana_legalization.htm Medical expenditure by the government increases since many fall victims of drug abuse. Many of them become addicted to the drugs to a point whereby they cannot do without them, and this means rehabilitation is the only solution to save their lives. The sensitization programs that the government may decide to organize to enlighten the people on the effects of drug abuse and ways of avoiding drug abuse are very costly. c) Increased mortality rate- Due to drug legalization, many drivers will be under the influence of drugs when driving. This increases road accidents hence leading to loss of lives of many civilians and traffic jams in the roads. In addition, since it is legal to use drugs, many people will result to abusing them. Drug abuse may lead to death of the victim at the end because the drugs have their side effects on human health. For example, many people have been abusing pharmaceutical products that are legal and this has resulted in the death of the individuals. These deaths reduce the population of a country, which should have provided the country with enough labor force to maximize output thus profits (Parks 2009). d) Increased war with other nations and terrorism- Many terrorists do abuse drugs so that they can stimulate their bodies for the plans ahead. Many of these drugs affect the reasoning capacity of an individual and someone may end up even going mad. Anyone under the influence of drugs can do anything so long as it pleases them. Legalizing drugs by a nation results to negative reactions from the other nations like withdrawing their trading partnership with the nation, restricting its citizens from touring the nation among others. e) Increased revenue- Legalizing drugs results in increased revenue collection by the government. The government to finance its expenditures for the benefit of the nation uses the revenue collected. The tax collected may also be used to settle the bad debts the country may be experiencing and improve the infrastructure of the nation. f) Reduce drug trafficking- Many nations have discovered that they lose a lot of revenue through drug smuggling which should have been collected and used to develop the nation. The government may also reduce the costs incurred in following the smugglers and prosecuting them. (Goldstein 2010) B. To the citizens a) Increased expenditure- Many drugs are very expensive, and therefore those addicted to drugs spends heavily on them. This money used on drugs if used effectively, can boost the living standards of the person involved. The high demand for money may force one to steal to get the money needed to purchase the drugs. The most rhetoric and funny behavior with drug abusers is that, it is better they go without food but makes sure they have used the drugs. There is more expenses incurred by family members and friends, once one of them has become an addict and taken to a rehabilitation centre, or some of the body parts are infected and one is hospitalized. b) Increased insecurity- Terrorism is at the climax where people are at liberty to use the drugs freely and openly. Criminals broke into peoples houses at night; rob them everything and some even reach extend of raping the women and killing the people. Cases of kidnapping increase and shops, banks and other businesses of the people are broken into. Corruption also increases marginally and becomes very difficult to control. Some nations consider it morally wrong for one to use drugs (Bean 2010). Emergence of illegal unregistered groups is high and which threaten the security of the nation. c) Separation of social ties- Legalization of drugs may lead to breaking of social ties. Many people who use drugs tend to segregate themselves from the other members of the family and friends and establish their own groups. Mainly, this results from the fact that these persons have an attitude that they cannot fit in such groups but only in their own. In addition, when put under arrest as a drug offender, you are taken to court for the hearing and later taken to jail for imprisonment and this means you are separated from your family members. Other friends and family members once they know that one of them is involved in any way in a scandal involving drugs, they tend to shy away from them as they do not want their image to be tarnished. This creates a gap between them as they distance themselves from them further. d) Destruction of the young generation- Legalizing drugs means they are accessible to anyone. Many of the young children do not know much about the effects of drug usage and therefore end up involving themselves in the drugs. Parks (2009) argues tha many become addictive and cannot be able to concentrate on their studies and therefore drop out of school, others, the side effects overcome them, and they lose their lives. Others involve themselves in immoral activities like prostitution, theft and raping cases increase. C. To an individual a) Poor health and loss of life- Legalizing of drugs will give those who use them courage to use them openly and without limits. The result is that many of them become addicted and their health deteriorates drastically. This may be due to internal infection like, lung, liver, and bile infections. Some end up losing their lives, others taken to rehabilitation centers and put under medication for the rest of their lives. The diagram below shows some of the individuals who have been addicted by drugs: Retrieved on 6 march 2013 from, http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/susan-milligan 2. Causes of legalizing drugs b) To increase tax collection- Drug business is one of the most incomes generating business of late. Though not legalized in many nations, it is a business that is in operation. The government may decide to legalize drugs to collect more revenue from the business to increase its treasury. According to Goldstein (2010), this increases access to funds by the government, and it uses it to finance its operations to develop the nation. This is because the business under the classification of an income generating activity must pay tax. c) To reduce drug smuggling- The government may deem fit to legalize drugs so that it reduces the smuggling effect, which leads to emergence of black markets, hence loss of money. Legalizing drugs reduce related crimes like theft because the price of the drug is lowered, street justice related to drug disputes, prostitution and many others. This also reduces corruption cases and maintains a country’s integrity. d) Freeing up, of government resources- These resources include police who will be involved in following up the drug offenders and the court resources where the judging of the offenders will take place, vehicles, and the other necessary resources used (Bean, 2010). 3. Conclusion The debate over whether to legalize drugs or not has taken the center stage of late. Many countries give their opinions about what they think of the suggestion to legalize drugs proposed by some of the nations. Some have come in support of it and others have rejected it completely no matter how much benefit the nation will reap from the business. Some nations owe legalization of drugs to the fact that many have abused alcohol, cigarettes, and pharmaceutical products that are legal and they have worse side effects compared to the illegal drugs. Others argue that, some drugs like Marijuana have medicinal benefits and are ingredients in the manufacture of some products (Goldstein, 2010). The negative effects and positive effects all put together, many countries support the legalization of drugs. The big problem remains on whether the way the government is viewing the drug business, is the same way the civilians are also considering it. Therefore, this calls for every nation first to educate their citizens on the need to legalize drugs and the effects of drug abuse. This will help the government to have easy time with the people when going on with its business. References Bean, P. (2010). Legalising drugs: Debates and dilemmas. Bristol: Policy Press. Goldstein, M. J. (2010). Legalizing drugs: Crime stopper or social risk?. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books. Parks, P. J. (2009). Drug legalization. San Diego, CA: ReferencePoint Press. Read More