Arguments Against Legalization of Illicit Street Drugs

This paper will argue that we need to legalize illicit street drugs such as heroin and cocaine that are currently prohibited under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Drug use and abuse will always be an issue in Canada, so government intervention is vital for the safe consumption of narcotics. A person who uses or purchases drugs causes harm only to themselves. By legalizing illicit drugs, violence and crime will massively decline. Finally, the criminal marketplace will be eliminated and starved of their income, which allows us to regulate and control the market.

Counterpoints to the Legalization of Illegal Street Drugs

A person who uses drugs only causes harm to themselves. By using drugs, you are not violating anyone else’s life. Since law and philosophy are closely related, I will discuss the most important legal liberal theorist. John Locke believed that all individuals have rights, and those rights include life, liberty, and property. Locke discussed how the government was created to preserve these rights and nothing more or less. Locke talked about the rights to another person, which regarded a specific limitation; as long as you don’t violate another person’s life, you can live your life. For example, marijuana and heroin are acceptable as long as they belong to you and are for personal use. Actions such as drug use and prostitution are deemed okay to participate in as it’s your own body, but acts such as stealing a car and murder violate the property and physical well-being of another individual. Many people partake in consuming drugs at their own leisure; who’s to say we can deny them that liberty and lifestyle since it violates no other person's rights? By prohibiting illicit drugs, we unnecessarily criminalize millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens. This results in the distribution of drugs being forced upon unregulated and violent dealers/criminals.

Impact on Violence and Crime

Violence and crime would massively decline if drugs were legalized. There is no doubt that a correlation exists between prohibition and violence and crime. A demand-led, unregulated market determines the price of illegal drugs. Currently, drugs on the street are very expensive. This means that some dependent users resort to thieving to raise funds. Legalization would enable us to regulate the market, set a much lower price, and remove users' need to raise funds through crime and violence. This would result in our legal system being freed up, and our prison population dramatically reduced, saving copious amounts of taxpayer money. Drug dealers would be left in the past, and their salary would minimize, making the job financially unsound. Gun shoot-outs by drug dealers would be minimal to non-existent. Communities in poverty would pull themselves together. Adults and teenagers previously involved in criminal life would be forced to seek legitimate work. Deaths due to infected needles and poisonous street drugs would be eliminated. The billions of dollars claimed by organized crime and drug rings will now go to honest workers. Community gang violence will be reduced, as well as the profit margin for cartels smuggling drugs into Canada. By prohibiting drugs, we are inflating crime bosses' profit margins. As long as drugs stay illegal, turf wars and murder will continue because criminals get greedy and want to eliminate their competition with extreme measures. In 2001, Portugal decriminalized the acquisition, possession, and use of small quantities of all psychoactive drugs. This led to Portugal’s capital city being one of the safest in all of Europe. According to Laqueur (2014), the acts of violence and crime reduced and continued to do so through the last decade. Crime and violence continued in other areas, but arrests and incarcerations involving drugs drastically dropped.

Conclusion

Though drug use is unacceptable, it’s getting more and more common, and it pertains to everyday life for many people. The importance of government intervention in regulating drugs is obvious and much needed. Wouldn’t you feel better knowing users can avoid fentanyl and find safe ways of injection? The government needs to implement a new policy regarding drugs and substances unless they want the war on drugs to continue going downhill.

References

• Laqueur, H. (2014). Uses and abuses of drug decriminalization in Portugal. Law & Social Inquiry, 40(3), 746-781.