Thursday, March 31, 2005
Drugs
Why does the government waste so much money every year to combat illegal drugs? Because they're illegal. To my mind, the obvious solution is this: legalize the fucking drugs.
"That's a terrible idea!" wail the right-wingers. But have you ever stopped to think about it?
First of all, anyone who wants to use drugs is going to use them, regardless of their legality. Laws against drugs won't stop anyone who's determined to get high. And the laws certainly don't discourage our impressionable youth from experimenting either. Legalizing drugs won't swell the ranks of drug addicts because everyone who is inclined to do drugs is already doing them. Rather, the opposite effect will occur. Like alcohol during Prohibition, one of the reasons illegal drugs are so popular is simply that they are illegal. If we legalize them, that appeal will be gone, and there will be fewer addicts.
Sure, drugs are bad for you, but so are lots of perfectly legal things, like tobacco and alcohol. Outlawing alcohol didn't stop drinking, it just drove it underground. The same thing is happening with drugs. People who do drugs, like alcoholics and smokers, are idiots, so who cares if they do something that's bad for them? Idiots who want to get stoned are going to get stoned whether it's legal or not. No more lives are going to be ruined by legal drugs than were ruined by illegal drugs, so why exactly are they illegal at all?
Drugs should not be legalized for their own sake, but because the government funds currently being used to fight drugs could definitely be better spent. If we used it for education, for instance, maybe our public schools wouldn't be such shitholes. No one benefits from drugs being illegal, and that money could be put to better use practically anywhere. No matter how hard we try, we'll never catch all of the drug smugglers, drug dealers, or drug addicts (or even most of them), so why try at all? Even if all of them could be caught, the laws aren't fairly enforced anyway. The government turns a blind eye to the rampant drug use that occurs in celebrity circles, which is ridiculously hypocritical.
Legalizing drugs won't make them more popular. In fact, it will probably make them less popular. No one is going to be screwed over by drugs who isn't already being screwed over. Legalizing drugs definitely won't make the situation worse, and even if it doesn't help, it will free up money that can be used for more important things. The government has to pick its battles, and drugs are one thing that just aren't worth fighting over.
"That's a terrible idea!" wail the right-wingers. But have you ever stopped to think about it?
First of all, anyone who wants to use drugs is going to use them, regardless of their legality. Laws against drugs won't stop anyone who's determined to get high. And the laws certainly don't discourage our impressionable youth from experimenting either. Legalizing drugs won't swell the ranks of drug addicts because everyone who is inclined to do drugs is already doing them. Rather, the opposite effect will occur. Like alcohol during Prohibition, one of the reasons illegal drugs are so popular is simply that they are illegal. If we legalize them, that appeal will be gone, and there will be fewer addicts.
Sure, drugs are bad for you, but so are lots of perfectly legal things, like tobacco and alcohol. Outlawing alcohol didn't stop drinking, it just drove it underground. The same thing is happening with drugs. People who do drugs, like alcoholics and smokers, are idiots, so who cares if they do something that's bad for them? Idiots who want to get stoned are going to get stoned whether it's legal or not. No more lives are going to be ruined by legal drugs than were ruined by illegal drugs, so why exactly are they illegal at all?
Drugs should not be legalized for their own sake, but because the government funds currently being used to fight drugs could definitely be better spent. If we used it for education, for instance, maybe our public schools wouldn't be such shitholes. No one benefits from drugs being illegal, and that money could be put to better use practically anywhere. No matter how hard we try, we'll never catch all of the drug smugglers, drug dealers, or drug addicts (or even most of them), so why try at all? Even if all of them could be caught, the laws aren't fairly enforced anyway. The government turns a blind eye to the rampant drug use that occurs in celebrity circles, which is ridiculously hypocritical.
Legalizing drugs won't make them more popular. In fact, it will probably make them less popular. No one is going to be screwed over by drugs who isn't already being screwed over. Legalizing drugs definitely won't make the situation worse, and even if it doesn't help, it will free up money that can be used for more important things. The government has to pick its battles, and drugs are one thing that just aren't worth fighting over.
# posted by Ben @ 5:13 PM 
