LEGALIZE EVERYTHING

I remember when I learned that it is illegal for a person to commit
suicide. To me this was as ridiculous as somebody saying that Disney's Tale
Spin wasn't the coolest show on television. This was so shocking to hear
for the first time because even my seven-year-old mind realized that
suicide is essentially a victimless crime. Also, there is comfort in
knowing that you have the freedom to end your life if it becomes too
overwhelming, even when you have no actual desire to commit suicide.

All propaganda aside, the question of the legality of drugs is not much
different: at its core, the use (or even abuse) of any drug is a victimless
crime. Many Americans use them, from your roommate to your parents to
Robert Downey, Jr., and it is absolutely unacceptable that America's
outdated policy on drugs continues to stand unchallenged--the benefits of
making every single drug legal far outweigh the possible detriments.

The most obvious benefit of the legalization of drugs would be government
regulation. In this case, even decriminalization would not suffice. If all
drugs were legal, they could be manufactured and marketed in such a way
that their users would not be at risk of consuming a narcotic that might or
might not be what they think, and hope, it is. Many health risks involved
with drug abuse are related to laced narcotics or to the inability of users
to regulate the quantity of the drug they consume. Still, the benefits of
all drugs being legal go far beyond quality control.

With legalization, hundreds of studies that are illegal now could be
performed to discover what health concerns exist related to the abuse of
various drugs. As a result, everyone would be more informed and less
speculative.

During the period of alcohol prohibition, America learned a lesson, and it
is strange that this lesson hasn't been applied to every other illegal
narcotic: when a substance is illegal, crime related to the production and
distribution of that substance is inevitable. There are many people in
prison right now for violent crimes that could not have occurred if drugs
were legal. The government is also forced to imprison those drug offenders
who merely violated a "zero-tolerance" possession law.

So much money is spent on keeping these people in jail and even more
potential revenue is sacrificed because an illegal substance cannot be
taxed. If drugs were legal, all of these funds could be used more
productively, such as for drug addiction treatment programs. It is
ridiculous that so much money and effort is wasted when it could be applied
in much more effective ways.

All practical reasons aside, drugs should not be illegal because it is not
the government's place to make them illegal. The consumption of drugs, like
alcohol, usually hurts nobody except for the user-only when this is not the
case, should any sort of legal intervention be acceptable. As John Stuart
Mill said, "the trends in America towards laws that work for the general
benefit of society are misguided and the consumption of alcohol and any
drug should not be limited because true freedom includes the right to use
drugs as much as the right to free speech."

Currently, America is seeing growing support for the legalization of
marijuana. Many opponents of this say that if marijuana were legalized, it
would just be the beginning of a slippery slope towards the legalization of
all drugs. This is very probable, but what neither side realizes is that at
its core, there is no drug that should be any more illegal than marijuana
or alcohol or even nicotine or caffeine. Every single one of these can be
addictive and every single one can be harmful to their user if abused. The
only difference is that alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine are all legal and
as a result, much more is known about them and much more can be done to
help someone who is addicted to any of them.

For all of its freedoms and civil liberties, America is an extremely
Puritan nation--full frontal nudity is allowed on public television in
every civilized country except ours. So much of the information that
Americans have on drugs is propaganda that they learn from television
commercials or grade-school programs like Drug Abuse Resistance Education
(DARE).

Let's face it: the only thing most kids get out of DARE is learning how to
roll a joint, and even people who choose to pass on drugs don't use DARE's
lame suggestions about how to do so.

The first step to finally ending the war on drugs is to inform every
American about drugs, and the last step is total legalization.