Legalization Of Drugs
The drug connection is one that continues to resist analysis, both because cause
and effect are so difficult to distinguish and because the role of the drug-
prohibition laws in causing and labeling "drug-related crime" is so often
ignored. There are four possible connections between drugs and crime, at least
three of which would be much diminished if the drug-prohibition laws were
repealed. "First, producing, selling, buying, and consuming strictly controlled
and banned substances is itself a crime that occurs billions of times each year
in the United States alone" (Lindsmith Center). In the absence of drug-
prohibition laws, these activities would obviously stop being crimes. ...
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the millions of
alcoholics who can support their habits for relatively modest amounts, many
cocaine and heroin addicts spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars a week"
(Lindsmith Center). If the drugs to which they are addicted were much cheaper-
which would be the case if they were legalized-the number of crimes committed by
drug addicts to pay for their habits would, in all likelihood, decline. Even if
a legal-drug policy included the a demand of relatively high taxes in order to
discourage consumption, drug prices would probably still be lower than they are
today.
The third drug connection is the commission of crimes- violent crimes in
particular-by people under the influence of illicit drugs. "This connection
seems to have the greatest impact upon the popular imagination" (Lindsmith
Center). Clearly, some drugs do "cause" some people to commit crimes by reducing
normal control, unleashing aggressive and other antisocial tendencies, and
lessening the sense of responsibility. ...
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Prohibition, violent struggles between
bootlegging gangs and hijackings of booze-laden trucks and sea vessels were
frequent and notorious occurrences. Today's equivalents are the booby traps that
surround some marijuana fields, the pirates of the Caribbean looking to rip off
drug-laden vessels en route to the shores of the United States, and the machine
gun battles and executions carried out by drug lords -- all of which
occasionally kill innocent people. Most law-enforcement officials agree that the
dramatic increases in urban murder rates during the past few years can be
explained almost entirely by the rise in drug-dealer killings" (Lindsmith
Center).
Perhaps the most unfortunate ...
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CITE THIS PAGE:
Legalization Of Drugs. (2005, December 31). Retrieved March 26, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Legalization-Of-Drugs/38895
"Legalization Of Drugs." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 31 Dec. 2005. Web. 26 Mar. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Legalization-Of-Drugs/38895>
"Legalization Of Drugs." Essayworld.com. December 31, 2005. Accessed March 26, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Legalization-Of-Drugs/38895.
"Legalization Of Drugs." Essayworld.com. December 31, 2005. Accessed March 26, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Legalization-Of-Drugs/38895.
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