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War on drugs
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The question of whether or not to legalize certain drugs has been debated for decades. Although opponents have thus far been successful in preventing this, there are nonetheless a substantial number of people who believe that legalization should be given a chance. Their arguments range from the seeming ineffectiveness of current drug laws to the simple premise that the government has no right to prohibit its citizens from using drugs if they choose to do so.
The effects on society as a whole include more crowded jail cells (prompting politicians to demand more jails be built), higher taxes to support these jails, and the loss, or at least diminution, of a productive citizen. In order to buy drugs illegally, the user may be forced to expose himself to the fringes of the criminal world--something he would never do under any other circumstances. If drugs were legalized, the criminal stigma would be removed from their purchase, possession, and use. The government would collect taxes on drug sales and, conversely, would not be spending millions of dollars to stem the flow of illegal drugs. This increase in tax dollars could be put to use in drug education and treatment programs for those individuals who are unable to moderate their intake and subsequently become addicts. Then the government would be intervening with its citizens' lives in a benevolent manner (and only when asked) rather than in a forceful, punitive way. Many opponents to legalization point out that drug ...
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