Advantages and Disadvantages of the Legalization of Illicit Drugs (Essay Sample)

Name
Instructor’s Name
Course
Date
Legalization of Illicit Drugs
In many countries around the world, governments have criminalized the use of specific drugs. These drugs fall under a category called illicit drugs. By definition, illicit drugs either stimulate, inhibit, or cause hallucinations on the users, and examples of such drugs include cocaine, heroin, and marijuana respectively. Even though these drugs have some effects, there are people who feel that the United States should decriminalize the use of illicit drugs, as other countries have done in the past. However, the debate of legalization of illicit drugs has divided the nation in groups of proposers and opposers. With such a division, it is essential to pay attention to both sides of the debate for the nation to make an effective decision.
In his essay, “Drug Legalization Would Lead to Increased Drug Abuse”, Thomas A. Constantine paints a picture of the negative effects that the United States would experience if it legalized illicit drugs. Among the effects covered is the fact that legalization of drugs would lead to many people engaging in drug abuse. This means that even the people who do not use illicit drugs currently would start using the drugs because they would be available. Constantine’s concern is genuine considering the happenings in the world. For example, the stores in Canada ran out of marijuana the first and second day after the country legalized the recreational use of the drug (Daily Mail). This happened because many people went out to buy the drug and use it. Consequently, Constantine is not wrong when he says that legalization of illicit drugs would lead to increased use of such drugs. When many people abuse the drugs, the citizens will have a larger burden of supporting them in rehabilitation centers when they become addicted. Besides, drug abuse makes people irresponsible, and this means that many people might even fail to report to their workplaces after abusing the drugs.
Nevertheless, upon close examination of both the advantages and disadvantages of legalization of illicit drugs, I support their legalization due to the advantages the move presents. Legalization of illicit drugs would lead to improvement of the quality of life. The nation today spends over $50 billion in the fight against illicit drugs every year (Johnson). That amount is a huge amount of money considering that it is only meant to fight against illicit drugs and not anything else that benefits the citizens. The money could be put into other use if the government legalized the recreational use of the criminalized drugs. For instance, the money would help to construct roads and schools for the public. Besides, such a huge amount could be used to fund cancer and Aids research. Consequently, by legalizing the illicit drugs, the government could have a lot of money that could be used to help the citizens.
With legalization of illicit drugs, the government could also start taxing the trade. Currently, the government cannot tax people that sell illicit drugs because the act is criminalized. However, after decriminalization, the government could legitimize the trade and develop ways of collecting taxes from the same. Such taxes would help the government to finance its projects, which would lead to better lives for the citizens.
Furthermore, legalization of illicit drugs would help to save many lives. Currently, the illicit drug trade is conducted in unhealthy and uncontrollable means. This kind of behavior poses many dangers for the participants. For example, if the traders try to double-cross one another, there is no legal way of dealing with the disagreement that would result. Illegal contracts are unenforceable, and as such, traders cannot take the matter to the court. This leaves them with the option of fighting one another, and this leads to death. Besides, the fact that the trade is illegal means that there is no legal means of checking the content of the drugs, and as such, criminals can poison such drugs to kill the users. Consequently, prohibition of has driven the markets underground, and this puts the lives of many people at risk. The government should legalize the drugs to change this.
As seen, there are benefits and disadvantages of legalization of illicit drugs. As noted by Constantine, legalization would lead to drug availability, and this would increase drug use (Constantine). As discussed, there are many dangers that result when a big part of the population relies on drugs. On the other hand, decriminalization of drugs has led to many disadvantages. Consequently, there is a need to find a common ground. As seen, the only major issue with criminalization of drug is that it would lead