Effects of Legalizing Illicit Drugs
Introduction
Illicit drugs are highly addictive and include substances such as heroin, marijuana, alcohol, opioids, cocaine, among others. The legalization of these illegal drug has over years proven to be a significant challenge since after coming up with the legal framework it needs to be enforced which has increased cost
These drugs have also led to erosion of most societal values as crime is on the rise, organized groups also come up, issues with environmental pollution, addiction, and reduced human labor are on the increase.
The legalization of illicit drugs on the market will result in flooding the market with cheap black market drugs that will be more potent, and regulating such will be a tall order for most governments. Together with this, there is a high likelihood of organized groups that will come up that will be struggling to control the selling of these drugs that, in the long run, will increase crime rate in those jurisdictions. Due to ease of access, many people will end up as users, which will mean that in such locality, many of its populace will be addicts who cannot perform; thus, the citizenry will remain dysfunctional. The result is a lack of human force to work that will result in most people living in poverty.
The law of supply and demand states that the higher the commodity price, the less its accessibility. This law will also apply to the availability and access to illicit drugs. The higher the cost of the medicines, the fewer people will use, and the low the drug prices, the more people will use and, in the long run, addicted to it. Thus the demand for the respective drugs will depend on the costs of the products and their availability.
The legalization of illicit drugs comes with lots of social upheavals than benefits. Most of the proceeds of the drug business creat classes of empires, in turn, creates criminal entities that need to protect their territories. This results in an increase in crime rate, disorder of public safety, societal disharmony. Importantly, this will contribute to increasing environmental pollution due to drug-related issues, among other societal issues.
The drug that will be most affected will be the opioids since more people use them, and if they can be found easily in the market, then many people will abuse them that, in the long run, result in becoming nonresponsive in case they need it. Due to its high prices, the heroine will be less affected since not many people can afford it.
Pain-relieving drugs should be legalized due to an increase in many diseases like cancer that require them to be easily accessible and available. This will make it easy for many people who need them to access them cheaply and without a lot of legal impediments.