To start, you need to ask why drugs are prohibited in the first
place. I for one am totally against the government telling its
people what they can and can’t do to their bodies. But putting this
aside, what people use as an example is families who have been torn
apart by drugs. Or a drug addict who is in prison for burglary to
fund his/her habit. Or a murder which happened because of an
argument over payment for drugs. So the Government wants to stop
these things happening. The conclusion then is that drugs are the
problem is it not? So if drugs are the root of the problem, then
they must be prohibited. Everything seems normal here.
But what needs to be done is to look further into the matter
without being forced into a knee jerk reaction. Why do these people
get addicted to drugs in the first place? What is the cause of
someone getting to the stage in life of being dependent on drugs?
Why are the crime rates related to drugs so high? Once these are
answered, they can be addressed and the reason people become
addicted to drugs can be targeted. Prohibition as a solution is a
short term one and an easy decision. Politicians can say “we are
fighting drugs with all we can muster” and hike up the amount of
people going to prison for drug related offences. But this just
sweeps all the problems further under the carpet under the easy
guise of doing something about the problem.
Take Mexico for a very stark warning of an example. They’ve waged a
“war on drugs” which is a huge statement and to the people in
Mexico, it sounds comforting. But how is that war getting along?
It’s getting worse. More and more people are getting killed and more
and more people are getting swept up in the illegal drug trade. The
longer this goes on, the worse it’s going to get and why is that?
Because of the prohibition of drugs. Let me stress again, this is
the easy (so called) “solution” and is very, very short sighted. In
fact, I’d go as far as saying that it’s not only an infringement on
human liberties, but is so detrimental to the well being and health
of a nation they are “trying” to conserve!
