‘Should drugs be legalised?’
Junkies, illegal use, addiction, black market, gangs, crime...what
comes to mind when you think of the term ‘drugs’?
When I think of the term ‘drugs’ I most certainly think of
all of the above, but there is so much more to it than meets the eye, there are
benefits of using drugs but these are often looked past because of the negative
stigma drugs have. Like using drugs for medical use and to boost tourism, do
you ever think of that? But are these positives considered important enough to stem
legalisation by the UK Government?
Introducing legal drugs would also help to fuel the economy
as tax would be added onto the substances; this would help society as more
money could be spent in services such as health and schooling. In an extreme
situation the legalisation of drugs could boost tourism in the UK like in
Holland where the legal use of marijuana attracts travel makers from all over
the world.
Not to mention the medical advantages legalising drugs would
carry, for example helping drug addicts put an end to extreme hardcore drug use
such as heroin by giving them a softer alternative that will work in the long
term run.
The legalisation of drugs in the UK could also see reduced
crime rates due to illegal acts such as drug possession and smuggling being abolished;
this could lessen the cost to society as there would be a decrease in the use
of police officers’ time, court hearings and keeping criminals imprisoned.
If drugs were to become legalised it would help to erode the
black market in which drugs are illegally bought and sold under, this would
hold a number of advantages including fewer street gangs, and decreased crimes
stemming from these gangs such as violence, burglary and weapons trafficking. The
drugs sold within the black market can also be very unsafe, leading to health
problems and sometimes even death, if drugs were to become legalised it would
help to eliminate the health risks as they would be safer and of better
quality.
But on the other side to this, would it just be encouraging
further drug use? Cigarettes and alcohol are classed as drugs and cause a whole
host of problems; but do they make users any better and actually help society?
Do we really want to add a third ‘evil’ into the equation? If we allowed
further drug use this could contradict the point made about helping the
economy, as the money made could go straight back into treating drug users as
many more could get addicted. Would the economy really be able to relive more
drug users if the substances were legalised?
We must also think about the countries that are illegally
exporting drugs at this current time, when their income is sourced from the
illegal trade of drug exporting if the UK began manufacturing its own drugs
this would hinder others’ economies and diminish their income. So, although it
may help the UK’s economy, it could have a serious effect on those less
fortunate in the world, can we really justify making the economies’ that are
bad even worse?
Legally or illegally drugs will still be recreationally used,
it just leaves us with the question, could all the benefits of drug use
actually help our society if legalised, or should they still be left to trade
under the black market?
I would like to hear your views on this subject, and for you
to answer the question ‘should drugs be legalised?’ Please comment below.
Thank you for reading,
C
