Primer: Illicit Drugs
Last week, Ohio became the 24th state to legalize recreational cannabis use. It’s another step in the long march of marijuana legalization across the country, first starting with medical and now recreational use. Eventually, pro-weed activists would like to see legalization on the federal level, like Canada. Some want to go further than cannabis, though, and apply some of the arguments for legal marijuana to legalizing all illicit drugs. This week, Political Union will debate a resolution on this topic: The US government should legalize illicit drugs nationwide. The primer is below.
The pro side has a difficult argument to form, but they can make some points. Their thesis would be that our current drug enforcement is incredibly expensive, socially divisive, and counterproductive when it comes to preventing violent black markets for drugs. In 2023, federal drug control spending was roughly $41 billion, so legalizing drugs could redirect that enormous sum elsewhere or help counteract our deficit problems. Drug enforcement has also caused societal tensions in the past and present: the War on Drugs and our current high incarceration rate have caused great damage to our society’s well being. It is also arguable that drug legalization is what's needed to bring black markets under control: the violence, secretive nature, and gang-relations that characterize drug markets can be more easily discarded if transactions become legal. It’s clear that the status quo is untenable, and something must change.
The con side’s argument centers around the idea that legalizing drugs will lead to more people doing drugs, which is bad for many reasons. Increased drug consumption across society could lead to higher public health spending due to more overdoses, more common fetal deformities, a rise in drug-related accidents like car crashes, a loss of worker productivity because of on-the-job usage and absenteeism, educational impairment, and more drug-induced violence and child abuse. That’s a long, serious, and incomplete list of terribly negative effects from possible legalization. Fentanyl and its effects empirically illustrate what results from widespread drug consumption: lower life expectancy, higher unemployment, decreased family formation, more teen pregnancy. The huge negative impacts of drug legalization greatly outweigh any potential benefits.
We look forward to seeing you Monday, November 13 at 7pm at Scott Hall 201 for our last debate of the quarter!
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