Legalization of Drugs Debate

[Ragnarok]

I did a search for this topic and only found a dated thread on decriminalizing marijuana, which is very specific, I'm talking about all drugs in general.

Sweden has one of the lowest crime rates in the western world and guess what... drugs are legal there. Believe it or not, there is a connection between high crime rate and drugs being illegal in the U.S.A. (which I will talk about later in my post) Prohibition is a great example of what happens when you put a ban on something, the amount of alcohol consumption and crime increased when it was made illegal. It is also a cold fact that in the United States typically drug offenders do more time in prison than child molesters, rapists and murders. Part of this reason is because prisons are overpopulated.

The Drug War has led to some of the worst violations of the constitutional liberties of Americans, as well as to the worst wave of violent crime in American history since Alcohol Prohibition. It has been used to rationalize unlawful searches and seizures, corruption of the court system, no-knock raids, racial profiling, and "civil asset forfeiture"—a policy whereby government officials can confiscate private property without even charging anyone with a crime. The War on Drugs, more than anything else, has served as a means of destroying the Bill of Rights. It has also led to excessive taxes and spending, costing more than 40 billion dollars a year to arrest, prosecute and imprison non-violent drug offenders.

Drug Prohibition has caused gang warfare and other violent crime by raising the prices of drugs so much that vicious criminals enter the market to make astronomical profits, and addicts rob and steal to get money to pay the inflated prices for their drugs. On average, drug prisoners spend more time in federal prison than rapists, who often get out on early release because of the over-crowding in prison caused by the Drug War. While violent criminals can usually have their sentences reduced, drug offenders are subject to "mandatory minimums," which strip away judicial discretion and force judges to put users and dealers in prison for decades.

The Drug War also has funded terrorists; providing them with opportunities for enormous profits, and even by giving foreign aid to such regimes as the Taliban as long as they promised to have "tough drug" policies.

The Drug War does not curb demand, it barely reduces supply, however it makes America much more dangerous and much less free. I think there should be laws on drugs, but making them illegal has caused many other problems which can be traced back to illegal drugs. Think of the gangs such as the bloods and krypts, the drive-by shootings, theft and murder which many times have been drug related.

I have more to say, but I got to go, so I will save it for another post. Let the discussion begin.