If illegal drugs were legalised and government controlled, would that reduce crime?
915338
Drug-related crime would go down. Drug-Induced crime would stay about the same.\n\nLegalized drugs would demolish the drug trade. It would also increase tax revenue. It would also diminish the appeal of drugs, since they could be gotten at any specialized store.\n\nBut this would not eliminate all the drug problems. There will always be a difference between those who use the "socially" and those that abuse them. I'd imagine we'd have scenarios similar to alcohol, where there are those that use it in a social situation for a good time but there are others who abuse it.\n\nHowever, compare the user/abuser scenario to what we have now. Billions of dollars each year are funneled into the DEA, fighting a "war" that can never be won. Endles violence from cartel wars down to armed robbery for a fix. The list goes on.\n\nLegalizing it makes the prices go from astronomical to economical. You eliminate the illicit trade crossing the borders. Cartel and gang drug related violence would drop like a rock. And since the use/user is being tracked, it would be much easier to follow those that have bad habits.\n\nPlus, we'd get some amount of cash back in the government for other projects.\n\nThere would still be problems to be sure, but I believe it would be a net positive gain.\n\n~X~
251341
Yes.  The government wastes huge amounts of money on enforcement, a great many lives are disrupted by their contact with the criminal "justice" system, and their families thrown into chaos.  All this for something which ought to be a personal decision of adults, and a parental decision for children, just like other herbal remedies.  \n\nI don't like taxes generally, but if the tax were no larger in proportion to that on tobacco, it would be no less fair than taxing alcohol and tobacco.  It would then stabilize a market which is currently based on an underworld versus an authoritarian control system, both sides of which have the effect of jacking up the price.  \n\nAnd you can tell the Supreme Court has to reach really hard when they use the interstate commerce clause, and cite parallels with wheat price control cases, in order to maintain federal control over what should be a state matter.\n\nPlease note that it would still be illegal to operate a vehicle while intoxicated.  Marijuana is considerably less dangerous in that regard than alcohol.  One's concentration can actually be improved on grass; it can only be dulled by alcohol.  But most pot smokers agree that driving a car while high is not something they want to do.  If you need to in an emergency, you can probably do better than someone who is drinking, but it will ruin your high.  Of course, the emergency that made it necessary to drive would probably also ruin it.\n\nDon't forget that just because it becomes legal, there is no reason to suppose that everyone will start smoking all the time, or that those who smoke will stay high all the time.  People who live under secure enough conditions that they have no paranoia about getting arrested generally do not smoke all the time anyway, unless for control of chronic pain.  The high is reduced if you don't get to contrast it with being straight some of the time.  I think for most people it would just be a better way to unwind when they come home from work than a cocktail.
811897
The current drug laws really don't make sense and your idea has merit. There are always going to be drug users. Decrimiinalization will not make more drug users. It will reduce petty crime and strike a serious blow to organized crime.\n\nUnfortunately, it would also make tens of thousands of government employees useless. They would have nothing to do and their bosses would lose their little empires. We can't have that, now can we? After all, it's only taxpayer funds they are wasting on a lost cause.
356066
Wow. That's a tough question.\nPersonally I disagree with government controls of personal decions. Unfortunately, there are a lot of stupid people out there that don't know how to behave responsibly. Also, meth is an amazingly addictive drug. I know, I became addicted to it. I haven't touched it in over a year and a half, but having been there I can say that there is no positive outcome from using it. It eats your body and numbs your mind.\n\nSo, should it be legal? Probably not.\nDo I feel that it would be safer if allowed to be produced in safer, controlled conditions, not to mention the amount of money it would save the government not fighting that particular war? Plus tax revenues? Probably. Plus our personal freedoms could use every boost they can get, even in this "free" country.
538629
I think all drugs should be legalized, and I havent touched anything harder than alcohol in the last 10 years. If the US legalized everything, here are some of the advantages:\n\n1) They would tax it. Hopefully this would get them to ease up on some of the other things that are taxable. Additionaly maybe we could work off some national debt, use the money for medical and scientific research and other benificial things.\n2) Crime would go down. Many crimes are committed (ie armed robbery, breaking and entering, etc...) are commited to raise money for drugs. Since the government would be the ones selling and pruducing the drugs, there would no longer be drug dealers on our streets, forcing them to find other means of income. \n3) We would weed out a lot of society. My theory is that within the first 6 months of legalization, we would eradicate many of the junkies, simply due to overindulgence. Many of them would simply OD due to having a vast supply of their favorite drugs. \n3) I think there would actualy be a reduction in drug use. Many people use drugs for the simple reason that they are something that is illegal. \n4) We would free up prison space for actual violent offenders. More than half of the prison system today is filled with people who just had felonious amounts of drugs on them, as opposed to killers, rapists, child molestors, etc...that we allow to walk free. \n\nThats just a few of the reasons i believe they should be legalized. Of course we would also have to have strict rules and regulations for use. Some jobs would have to be exempt from these legalizations for obvious reasons, such as doctors, public engineers, professional drivers, and others that would have a reasonable potential for affecting others lives in a negative way. \n\nOk, thats long enough. Theres a lot of other things that i would say, but ill leave some space for others to answer.
93458
The government could make a fortune if they legalized it and taxed it.
278622
By making drugs illegal, the government makes them more expensive and more difficult to obtain. The newspaper Chicago Sun Times had done a series of articles years ago that suggested that Prohibition was not as ineffective as is normally accepted. In fact, by making alcohol illegal the government was not able to stop the consumption or alcohol completely, but was definitely able to dramatically lower the per capita consumption of alcohol. This was a direct result of alcohol being more expensive and more difficult to obtain.\n\nOne need only look at the practices of modern sales and advertising for legal but unhealthy items to see what the legalization of drugs would do to harm the US. Advertising and marketing of items like alcohol, fast food, over the counter stimulants, pornography, along with their ease of acquiring, leads to the overconsumption of these items. This overconsumption leads to horrendous national problems such as a generally unhealthy lifestyle, shortened life spans, loss of productivity, increases in health care costs, and indirectly to the further erosion of the family, increases in the rate of bankruptcy, etc.\n\nAs the magazine THE ULTIMATE UNKNOWN has stated, the legalization of recreational drugs would lead to their legitimization, and that would lead to their general acceptance and overindulgence by everyone.
229718
Less than the cost of law enforcement and result of crime from the lack of it.  Studies have shown in countries that have health care for their public, they have less crime due to lower unwanted pregnancies, more treatment for drugs.  Healthcare costs go down as they are regulated by the government.  People are more apt to take care of themselves better and creates less tension with people in general.  \n\nIt is not the is all answer but it does make a difference in a number of areas.  It should not even be an issue in my opinion.  Everyone should have proper healthcare.  Why would not you not give someone better health?  \n\nAs long as pharmaceutical companies and the healthcare industry in general are making multi-billions, you will never see it here.\n\nThe costs would be greatly offset by the benefits.
325699
It basically makes up organized crime these days, in the 20's it started with alcohol, then that was legalized so now its on to drugs.
830744
What would happen to the crime rate if it were legalized?\n\nWhat would the number of users do if it were legalized... would it increase or decrease?\n\nWe know it's a harmful substance so why would one want to legalize such a harmful drug?\n\nIf it were legalized, then teens (for the most part) using the substance to rebel against parents, rules, laws, and whatever else, what would they do?  Would they continue using marijuana or would they move on to another, more harmful substance?\n\nHow and why would this benefit society?\n\nThe only use for marijuana that's acceptable in society today (for medicinal purposes) is already available in many states/provinces with a prescription from a qualified doctor.  What would the purpose of legalizing marijuana be?  \n\nIf it were legalized, wouldn't it be easier to get ahold of and be easier for children to access and be harmed by?\n\nWould you allow your own children (either now or several years down the road when you do have children) to use marijuana?  If it's legalized they can purchase it on their own much easier.  Just gives a person a little bit to think about.
457028
for it. I think that if legalized it will help cut down on drug crime. and if it were legalized yyou would at least know what quality you are getting, which is iffy from dealers. and if it were legal, lots would probobly not want to do it because it would lose the appeal of doing something that you should not be doing. besides, it could be a great cash crop. this question makes me think of dazed and confused....  oh the memories..
607571
Most illegal drugs are cultivated by various communist or terrorist groups using slave labor.  Anyone who refuses is murdered.  Actually, murder, torture, rape etc. are routinely used to keep the slaves intimidated so they don't even think of causing trouble.  In places like North Korea and Cuba, its the government doing this to its people.  In places like Mexico and Columbia, various criminals do this while the local governments and police are powerless to stop them.  The drug money supplied by rich jackasses who do drugs, in the US and europe simply makes them too powerful to stop.
453178
No\nJust De-criminalized
794404
Legalize or at least decriminalize drugs. The examples of other countries who have decriminalized drug use indicates that crime and violence decreases and that alcohol use decreases also.\nThe real reason drugs are illegal is money....and it will never be legalized in the US as long as organized crime keeps greasing the hands of politicians to keep it illegal.
524069
Depends on the crime. and your first sentence has nothing to do with the rest of the question. In the rest you say "they know" they will be punished.\n\nIf you had no job skills, had to drop out of school, oe even if you didn't but had a readily available supply of a product in which you can make more than most exectives, would a couple years in jail deter you.\n\nIf you were hooked on a drug and the only way to support your habit was selling drugs or prostitution what would you do.\n\nIf you had a habit and you needed to support it, would you pick buying the dope or robbing a house.\n\nMany people do it when they know they will probably die, and many want to.\n\nAs long as their is poverty there will be drugs and prostitution. Actually the biggest users of cocaine are the rich. Why don't you think the threat of losing there job, family and everything they own doesn't deter them.\n\nMany crimes are crimes of passion. No one thought about what they were doing before they did it. recidivism for these type crimes are very low.\n\nIf you are poor and you have children and you don't make enough to live, are you going to steal, lie, or let your kid starve. That isn't much of a choice.\n\nWhite collar people commit bigger crimes than poor people, like Boeing, but the government is not going to touch them and the biggest thing that happens is a slap on the wrist.\n\nHow to deter it depends on the crime. Eliminate poverty, make some drugs legal, and throw the book at people who commit white collar crime instead of letting them get away with it.\n\nThe other problem is who does the crime. If you are Bush, the records are sealed when they arrange to get you out of a cocaine bust, or Kennedy who was prosecuted, but essentially walked away from what could be a negligent homicide, or Rush Limbaaugh walks away from prescription drug abuse of a narcotic, oxcodon. What message does that send to the rich? Think you could make a deal if you were poor. You would be in jail so fast.\n\nLook at Bush and his insider trading, and the rest of the Bush family who stole millions during the S & L scandal which we paid back 2.1 TRILLION dollars. Their penalty? NADA!\n\nI don't think there is a quick answer, especially the way the criminal and court system are set up. \n\nIf the law was really blind, which it isn't, perhaps a lot of crime would stop.
776473
making smoking illegal is impractical.  with our overburndened criminal justice system, from the cops up to the judges, there is no way it could handle a larger scale 'war on drugs' . with smoking illegal, we would be promoting massive profit for gangs and mafias.  \n\nviolence would increase, as these gangs battled over who would control the illegal and profitable trade in tobacco.  children, who for the most part now have diffculty buying tobacco while it is under government regulation, would have easier access since drug dealers on the street don't ask for ID.  there would also be no regulation on additives in the tobacco, so that dealers could lace it with cocaine, speed or other hard drugs.\n\nthe US already has the highest percentage of its people in prison in the world. this would only increase if smoking were illegal.
371527
Legalizing would actually in a sense deter alot of the drug problems facing society today.  If the government legalized and regulated drugs, then it would drive out a lot of the black market competition.  Drugs wouldnt be cut with dangerous fillers, a huge revenue would be opened up to the gov., and also the amount given to users would be regulated much like any other prescription. The gov. has spent a ludicrious amount of money fighting the drug war and drug abuse is still rampant. If the government actually regulated it, all of the drug traffiking problems would go away. However society has been taught that this scenario could never work. Yet look at Amsterdam which legalized many drugs much the same way as I described above. And they have some very very low crime rates. Over there drug use, prostitution, and drug sales is all regulated by the gov.