Illegal Drugs Made Legal

Should we legalize illegal drugs? I say illegal drugs because already drugs such as alcohol and nicotine are legal and can be purchased by regular people of proper age and these two drugs combined cause many more deaths, family problems, divorce, lost work days, increased medical costs and other havoc than all of the illegal drugs combined. We Americans like our legal drugs like alcohol and nicotine. They are socially acceptable for the most part, although smoking is getting akin to pedophilia in many places, like California where I live.

A majority of folks would probably like to ban alcohol and nicotine and make it illegal. But, we tried it once with alcohol with disastrous consequences. We have never tried it with smoking but reasonable people would have to conclude that the same result would obtain. There would be a huge black market for cigarettes, prices would at least double, and shady characters would reap the benefits. Somehow, and I don’t think that I am alone, I would rather have Philip Morris and their ilk reap the benefits from their habit forming, dangerous products than the shady characters.

Now, the shady characters, of course, control the illegal drug business. One may argue that if the illegal drugs were legal, the shady characters and all of their trappings, influence, and crime would go away. This is probably right. After all, why should certain drugs of choice like alcohol and nicotine be legal, and not heroin and cocaine? Nicotine is more addictive than either heroin or cocaine, and together with alcohol kills more people than heroin and cocaine combined and ruins more lives and families.

Let’s be logical though. Just because we screwed up with alcohol and nicotine doesn’t mean that we should let all of the horses out of the corral. We tried to bring alcohol back to the corral and it didn’t work. It won’t work with nicotine either.

What are we afraid of by making illegal drugs legal? That we will become a nation of drug addicts? Perhaps. But, that doesn’t say much about us, does it? Is the only reason that we’re not all screwed up on drugs is because they are illegal, expensive, and we can’t buy them easily at a 7-11? I hope not, and I seriously doubt it. If you want illegal drugs, they are just around the corner.

Here’s my solution to this mess. Let’s make illegal drugs legal by prescription at age 18. In other words, you can’t buy them over the counter like nicotine or alcohol; you need to see a physician. Yes, I know, this is easy to get around, you shop around for the right doctor, and then you give them to minors anyway, just like is done today with cigarettes and alcohol. But at least it puts a doctor in between the purchase. Look, education is the only thing that is going to work with alcohol and nicotine, and the same is true for illegal drugs. The war will not be won by banning them, because they will still be prevalent and shady characters will benefit.

Moderation, of course, is the key. Two or three drinks a day or five cigarettes a day are probably not going to harm anyone or society at large. Just like taking cocaine one day a week or heroin once a month would probably yield the same innocuous results. The problem is the constant, habitual taking of the drugs. This is what ruins lives and families and costs the U.S. so much money. If a person had to go to a doctor to get the drugs there would at least be a mediating effect on the user. Maybe, just maybe, the user will finally get the message. I just don’t see any other way that makes sense.