Debate Primer: Should We Legalize All Drugs?

Background Information: 

• Overview: Decriminalization vs Legalization (Alcohol and Drug Foundation) [~700 words]

  • The con debater tomorrow will be arguing that we should decriminalize all drugs, while the pro debater will be arguing we should legalize them, so understanding this difference is important.

Opinions:

• Drugs, Morality and the Law (Paul Smith | Journal of Applied Philosophy) [10 pages single-spaced]

• Surveys various moral arguments for and against drug legalization, concludes that the con arguments are not persuasive.

• Don’t Legalize Drugs (Theodore Dalyrmple | City Journal) [~4,700 words]

  • This writer is anti-decriminalization, a different position than the one supported by tomorrow’s con debater, but still a con argument to the question being debated tomorrow.

• On Moral Arguments Against Recreational Drug Use (Rob Lovering | Philosophy Now) [~2,500 words]

  • Does not directly answer the question that Political Union is arguing tomorrow, but argues that drug use is not immoral.

• I Used to Support Legalizing All Drugs. Then the Opioid Epidemic Happened. (German Lopez | Vox) [3,100 words]

  • Argues for a milder version of prohibition than currently seen in the US.

• The War on Drugs (Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute) [~6,000 words]

  • Creates a fictionalized mid-21st century version of America to argue in favor of drug legalization in this book chapter.

Related Content:

• Portugal’s Radical Drug Policy Is Working. Why Hasn’t the World Copied It? (Susana Ferreria | The Guardian) [~5,000 words]

• A positive account of drug decriminalization in Portugal.