Want to clean up the drug scene? Legalise them

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Opinion

Drugs can often be a horrible addiction - a blight and curse.

Yet something drives adolescents and young adults to consume drugs. Is it because they perceive themselves as "cool"?

They often boast, mock and quarrel about who has taken the most drugs, usually in front of a non-drug-consuming audience.

One wonders what would happen if drugs were legalised. Would drug use increase? Personally I think not.

The main reason adolescents take drugs is because they are illegal, proving them rebellious in the eyes of their peers. Only a small minority consume drugs for the effects.

Let's say we legalise cocaine and methamphetamine, the two most illegally used drugs. If we were to put taxes on them and restrict use to those over 16, the buying and consumption of these drugs would decrease and the global death rate wane. For proof, look at alcohol.

Alcohol is a drug. Not many people know this fact and yet this dastardly substance is legal.

US statistics show that in 2008, in 37,261 deaths, 13,846 of the deceased were under the influence of alcohol. This single substance contributed to a staggering 37 per cent of all the deaths.

Why not make alcohol illegal and drugs legal? This will definitely decrease the death rate due to alcohol intake. Do governments not want to save lives?

Investigation of and prosecution for illegal drug use in the UK costs $14 billion a year. No kidding.

Now, close your mouth and let your mind wander for a second: imagine if that $14 billion was redirected to other causes, like advances in medical science perhaps, or security against terrorists, or even towards poverty-stricken children in less developed countries.

This figure is for the UK alone. Now imagine how much money the world could save and use in other ways if every country legalised drugs.

With drugs becoming legalised you could argue that more people would be going to hospitals with drug-related problems.

This may be true.

However, with better medical equipment, training and funding, patients (drug and non-drug related) could be treated in a more effective way, resulting in more lives being saved.

You could also argue that legalising drugs could cause the crime rate to shoot up, as an increased number of addicts steal to buy drugs.

Perhaps. However, if governments introduced additional laws and restrictions, and used money saved to provide more resources to the police (equipment and manpower), this would reduce crime rather than increase it.

Another reason to legalise the drug trade relates to the people who control it at present.

I am talking about drug lords.

While drug users will continue to exist, drug lords will not. Drug lords are at the top of the food chain when it comes to drug smuggling, dealing and selling on the black market.

They are often feared, respected, worshipped and draped with women and money.

Drug lords are multi-millionaires in many cases and all these riches were gained by drugs being sold illegally. If we were to legalise drugs, these fiends, together with their business, will disappear.

Clearly, the case for legalising drugs is justified on economic, legal and social grounds. However, whether it will ever happen is a political question.

So, Prime Minister, are you listening? The ball is in your court. You have the facts. You have the data. But do you have the political will?

* Marc Spires, Year 12,
Macleans College