The Issue of Legalization of Drugs - Coursework Example

Legalization of drugs Living in the social environment has always been considered to be among the essential prerequisites for the development of the human potential. Indeed, if it had not been for it, some of our characteristic abilities, such as verbal interaction, would not have developed. Being complex as well as self regulating system, the society has designed several measures in order to limit the negative impact of actions of its citizens. That is the main goal of the legal system. However, sometimes the citizens are willing to introduce changes into what should be legal and what should not be legal. A good example is legalization of recreational drugs. This paper will prove that recreational drugs should not be legalized since this action will undermine the basic principles upon which the society is based and because continuous practice of fighting drugs has a positive tendency of preventing their spread. To begin with, it would be highly advantageous to define some of the key terms that will be used in this paper. The first one is decriminalization. It is clear that this word is derived from criminalization, but with a negative prefix. So, the basic definition of decriminalization would focus on lack of criminal punishment for the use of the drugs in question. Thus, it may not be a criminal offense to smoke cannabis, but it will be a crime to distribute it. On the other hand, legalization is focused on the state when all the actions that are carried out with the drugs are not considered to be illegal. While these terms seem to be similar, there should not be mixed together. Finally, recreational drugs are the category of drugs that are supposed to stimulate positive experience (feelings, state of mind of the user etc.). First of all, the legitimacy of the need to prohibit recreational drugs is deeply rooted in that those substances are able to harm a considerable number of people. From a broad perspective, it may be justified by the following logic, which was expressed by Mills: “the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others” (“Ethics in practice: an anthology”, 2014, 295). The harm that the author is talking about might be seen in the negative effects on the organism of the drug users (Hyde & Setaro, 2009, 119). It must be noted that the war on drug should be declared as a social policy rather than some particular initiative of law enforcing agencies (Leuw & Marshall, 1994, 249). While dealing with drugs it is important to understand that in this environment all the substances are inseparably connected with each other, so legalization of recreational drugs might be viewed as a start of movement towards reducing all the limitations on drugs (Gerber, 2004, 25). In with regard, one should recall the fact that the use of drugs has always been found in the marginal parts of the society; so, legalization is likely to affect the very structure of it (Inciardi, 1990, 284). These are the aspects that should be considered while analyzing the social factors for supporting prohibition of recreational drugs. The next point which should be articulated is that legalization might be regarded as a step back in the war on drugs that the societies all over the world has been waging for a considerable amount of time. The significant aspect which shows the dangers of abandoning this policy might be viewed in that counter measures that are applied continuously are likely to be more effective than other measures. For example, Wilson suggests that “the three year heroin shortage interrupted the easy recruitment of new users” which should be considered to be a small victory (“Ethics in practice: an anthology”, 2014, 310). A considerable number of other studies point out that legalization of recreational drugs is likely to result in the increase of the population of addicts (Weintraub, 2010, 67). In addition to that, successful prohibition and not legalization are likely to affect the black market of drugs – the real menace in this case (Ruschmann, 2004, 97). It is understandable that the best way to do so would be to limit the supply which will damage the drug world as an economic system (Sieberg, 2005, 77). This approach may be considered to be an effective one since it is based on the utility rather than the abstract notion of morals (Lynch, 2009, 61). There are the aspects that urge the society to continue fighting drugs and not allow legalization. However, it is clear that the opposite side will be able to come up with some brilliant ideas concerning the issue. For example, Husak utilizes formal logic and argues that “the best reason not to criminalize drug use is that no argument in favour of criminalization drug use is any good – no argument is good enough to justify criminalization” (“Ethics in practice: an anthology”, 2014, 315). While this kind of thinking may be rational to a certain extent, it is clear that justification of criminalization is one of the self evident truths that make the foundation of the society in general. Another good point that the proponents of legalization make is that prohibition negatively affects the free will of the citizens. According to them, while the government is largely praised by the society, there are should be areas where it will not be able to dictate anything (Croft, 1998, 44). By choosing or not choosing to use recreational drugs, the people will exercise their free will – the concept which they must not be deprived of since it constitutes one of the basic principles of any society (Wyler, 2008, 31). Finally, the opponents of prohibition point out that this action may be biased: a good example is the racist character of such policies conducted in the early twentieth century (Goldstein, 2010, 29). Finally, the analysis would benefit from viewing the problem from the perspective of the major ethical theories. The first one, namely virtue ethics, would not support the extensive prohibition of recreational drugs, since that would not allow people to make their choice between the vice and the virtue. Indeed, one might argue that in the long run it will have a negative impact on the society since people will not have opportunities to exercise the power of their character. The second theory that will be utilized in the analysis is deontological ethics. The crucial point here is to determine the obligation that the society should fulfill. Keeping in mind the constructive nature of the social environment, prohibition of drugs would comply with the obligation of the government to keep the citizens safe and healthy. That is why, any efforts to legalize the above mentioned substances will be seen an unethical and, therefore, should be dismissed. The last theory, utilitarianism, will take historical evidence into consideration. As has already been expressed, the societies have been fighting drugs for a considerable amount of time and the population of addicts has been contained. Therefore, it would be logical to continue prohibiting drugs, since it will limit the spread of their negative influence to a small group of people. Having examined all the claims, it would be logical to come to the following conclusion: recreational drugs should be prohibited since they harm the rest of the people who comprise the society and because the negative effects of stopping fighting this negative social phenomenon will be disastrous. In spite of the fact that opponents of this position might bring up some claims about legitimacy of prohibition or exercise of free will, they might be rebutted by referring to the basic principles of formation of society. References Croft, J. (1998). Drugs and the legalization debate. New York: Rosen Pub. Group. Gerber, R. J. (2004). Legalizing marijuana: drug policy reform and prohibition politics. Westport, CT: Praeger. Goldstein, M. J. (2010). Legalizing drugs: crime stopper or social risk?. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books. Hyde, M. O., & Setaro, J. F. (2009). Drugs 101: An Overview for Teens. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books. Inciardi, J. A. (1990). Handbook of drug control in the United States. New York: Greenwood Press. Ethics in practice: an anthology (4th ed.). (2014). West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. Leuw, E., & Marshall, I. (1994). Between prohibition and legalization: the Dutch experiment in drug policy. Amsterdam: Kugler Publications. Lynch, T. (2009). In the name of justice leading experts re-examine the classic article "The aims of the criminal law". Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute. Ruschmann, P. (2004). Legalizing marijuana. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publishers. Sieberg, K. K. (2005). Criminal dilemmas understanding and preventing crime (2nd ed.). Berlin: Springer. Weintraub, S. (2010). Unequal partners: the United States and Mexico. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. Wyler, L. S. (2008). International drug control policy. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. Read More