Liberalization Controversies of Illicit Drugs in United States

Crack, cocaine, MDMA, LSD, marijuana, ketamine, meth and much more are the drugs that have been used throughout decades in the USA and other countries. Nowadays, people from all over the world can see people with addictions and users in social media, news, films, music videos and etc. With time, thoughts on illicit drugs have been changing, especially in the US. Teenagers being mostly, most of the people in the US now see using drugs as a “cool thing to do.” According to CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), half of the students between 9th and 12th grade are reported to have once had marijuana. The rates are higher in older ages. This changed point of view brought up the controversies about the legalization of all illicit drugs. People who want illegal drugs to be legalized claim that it is their right to do whatever they want as long as they do not harm other than themselves. However, people who oppose the situation claim that these drugs do only harm and it should stay illegal to prevent people from harming themselves. Moreover, some say that the amount of money used while fighting with them can be used for other services when the situation is revised and drugs are legalized. More importantly, the Federal government and State Governments can make money out of drugs. Furthermore, there are more things that these two sides claim. This paper will focus on the controversy of drug legalization in the U.S. as it is an important ongoing debate across the country with millions of people talking about it.??

People who are on the behalf of legalization of drugs have different reasons, one of them being freedom issues. As we know, Americans value their liberty and it is generally associated with “American Traits”. So, as it is one of their most important virtues, people think that it is their right to use and it is a freedom issue. For example, a Gallup Poll survey in May 2019 states that people, when they were asked “Please say whether each of the following is a very important reason why you favour legalizing marijuana, a somewhat important reason, or not an important reason.”, 60% said very important and 29% somewhat important as the answer to “It is a matter of freedom and personal choice”. In total, 89 per cent of the people said it is a matter of freedom and personal choice and this rate is incredibly high.??

Another reason is the money used for preventing drug smuggling and usage or in other terms “War on Drugs”. According to Betsy Pearl’s article, it is estimated that, since 1971, $1 trillion has been spent on the war against drugs, which makes $200 billion annually (2). In order to explain how big the amount of money is, let me give some examples. With 200 billion dollars, the USA could give every human being on the earth 26 dollars or could create nearly 3 SpaceX companies. As the amount of money spent for the war against drugs is huge, some people think that it could be better if we legalized drugs and spent the money on other crimes or services. In the article of Institute for Behaviour and Health, it is stated that “Advocates of drug legalization believe that making high-quality drugs cheaply and widely available will eliminate the illegal drug market, regulate quality and price, and decrease law enforcement costs including arrest and incarceration.” They predict that governments will spend less money on law enforcement, benefit from a new source of tax revenue and that drug-related crime will fall if drugs from marijuana to heroin become routinely accessible, more or less as are alcohol and tobacco. This is why it is one of the general thoughts of the public for legalizing drugs.??

Marijuana legalization and its economic benefits are one of the other reasons for legalizing all drugs. Marijuana is only illegal in 6 states while in 17 states it is fully legal and decriminalized in other states. According to Gallup Poll survey made in 2019, 45 per cent of the people have tried marijuana and 12 per cent consider themselves as marijuana smoker. As we can see, rates are higher for a minority and usage is considerably high. This legalization and smokers benefited both state and federal government as they can tax marijuana, it became an additional source of money and it made a considerable amount of people happy. For example, in 2020, the state of California made $1 billion in tax revenue just from legal sales of marijuana (Bieber). This situation brings up the question “What if we legalized other illicit drugs, such as LSD, Heroin, Crack, made money out of them and made another minority happy while keeping them safer than before by putting restrictions on drug manufacturing?”??

As for the opposition, their reasons are generally about health issues, overdosing and death rates. Firstly, we need to talk about the harms of marijuana as it is the most used stimulant and popular drug among other illicit drugs. In the article of NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse), it is stated that, for short term effects, marijuana can cause hallucinations, delusions, impaired memory, difficulty with thinking and body movement as for long term effects, marijuana can cause a deficit in IQ between the ages 13-38 (2-3). Even though it seems like it does not harm that much, IQ deficit in the long term, especially at younger ages, is a big problem. Since illegal usage of marijuana’s age is as low as 13, a deficit in IQ can ruin a kid’s future and ability to understand. Furthermore, in the same article, it is also said that it can cause mental issues but study findings about the topic are complicated and not clear (5). In addition to its mental effects, there are also its physical effects such as breathing problems, intense nausea and vomiting (3-4). Even though marijuana is seen as the most innocent of all drugs, since it is the most acceptable for usage and general thoughts about it are mostly positive, effects in the long term both physically and mentally worry people.??

Synthetic drugs are different from the others as their substances are unknown since they are all illegal and there are no concerns about human health during the production. Kathleen Smith addresses the situation in her article by saying “Synthetic drugs are increasing in popularity in the United States. Because many people make the mistake of assuming they are safe or naturally grown, they overlook the real facts of these designer drugs. Many new versions of these drugs are manufactured in China and brought into the United States each year, and they often contain substances that have never been tested on people.” These drugs are generally produced as stimulants and their impacts are worse than marijuana as chemicals can leave permanent harm to its users. In the same article of Smith, hallucinations, violent behaviour, depression, brain damage, kidney and liver failure and the possibility of death were counted as side effects of these synthetic drugs. Moreover, these drugs are notorious for their ability to addict someone easily which leads to overdose and death. Overdosing is the action when a user consumes too much synthetic drug and takes more chemicals than the body can bear. Consequences are generally fatal. According to data from CDC, nearly 850.000 deaths have occurred since 1999 due to overdosing. To conclude, the opposition has a stronger stance against synthetic drugs as their harms can be fatal.??

These were claims which have been made by both opposition and supporters of illicit drugs. As for my point of view, I think only marijuana should be legal in all terms. Marijuana is a natural plant, similar to tobacco, including THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), the ingredient which causes the high sense, and CBD (Cannabidiol) which is the ingredient that is medical and has health benefits. CBD does not have any considerable side effects. WHO, in its research, states “CBD was tolerated in all patients, with no signs of toxicity or serious side effects. (16)” THC’s side effects are generally associated with psychology. It is said that it can lead to depression and paranoia but effects differ from person to person. Both of these ingredients can be set at a certain level via botanic techniques. When someone wants to use marijuana but does not want to get high, one can buy a product with high CBD rates or vice versa.??

When marijuana is used for medical purposes, according to Grinspoon’s article for Harvard Medical School Blog, CBD reduced the effects of seizures, in fact, it stopped them completely in numerous studies. It is also used as medicine for anxiety, depression and other psychologically related problems. Since this benefit of CBD based marijuana is known, in the U.S., 43 states allow marijuana and CBD oil as a medical product. THC, on the other hand, basically just causes the sense of high. As I mentioned before, hallucination, dizziness, impaired body movement were counted as side effects of THC based marijuana; however, these effects are temporary and just there for 1 or 2 hours, after that, people continue to their lives as if they did not use THC. Psychological side effects, on the other hand, differ from person to person. According to an article in Washington Post by Christopher Ingraham, when people were asked why they use marijuana 37% said to relax, 16% said to have fun, 6% said to be more creative and 19% said to relieve the pain. 78% of the smokers use it for a need or a cause, not to have a depressive mindset or to feel anxious.??

Furthermore, there is no clear evidence of marijuana killing people. This is another reason why legalizing marijuana should be considered since synthetic drugs’ death rates are notably high. In the same survey as I mentioned in the synthetic drugs paragraph, only in 2019, 70,630 people died because of a drug overdose. However, it is not the case when marijuana is the reason. One of the closest findings about death related to marijuana that I was able to find was in the article of Forensic Science International. It is stated in the article, two sudden death cases can be worsened because of marijuana usage but cannot be said it all due to marijuana toxicity (1-2). In another survey by Emma Zahra, it is confirmed that in a total of 559 cases of death, there is no case solely related to marijuana toxicity. So, people tend to feel like it is safe to use marijuana either as medicine or just as personal pressure.???

To sum up, the legalization of all illicit drugs is a hot topic in the U.S. currently with millions of people having an opinion about the current situation. People who support the legalization of all illicit drugs put forward claims like, it is an issue of liberty and people are free to use whatever they want in their homes and lives, the money used in order to prevent illegal drug sales and usage are incredibly high and this money could go somewhere else, such as social aids or prevention of other crimes etc. And they say, states and the federal government could earn a lot of money from drug sales, if it was legal since marijuana revenue is considerably high. On the other hand, the opposition put forward claims such as health problems due to drug use, physical and mental problems they can create, the death rate caused by overdose. However, I am in the middle of the controversy. In my opinion, only marijuana should be legal to use and other synthetic drugs should remain illegal since CBD based marijuana has health benefits and even though people use THC based marijuana for enjoyment, there is no or too low recorded death due to marijuana toxicity while synthetic drugs worry me as they can cause fatal results.?

Photo: https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/legalize-drugs

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Works Cited?

Bieber, Christy. “Marijuana Tax Revenue: A State-by-State Breakdown.” The Motley Fool, 29 March 2021, https://www.fool.com/research/marijuana-tax-revenue-by-state/.?

CDC. “Drug Overdose Deaths” Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 3 March 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.html#:~:text=Drug%20Overdose%20Deaths%20Remain%20High&text=In%202019%2C%2070%2C630%20drug%20 overdose,2019%20(21.6%20per%20100%2C000)

CDC. “Teen Substance Use & Risk.” Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 February 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/features/teen-substance-use.html.?

DISA. “Map of Marijuana Legality by State.” DISA Global Solutions, April 2021, https://disa.com/map-of-marijuana-legality-by-state.?

GALLUP. “Illegal Drugs.” Gallup Organization, https://news.gallup.com/poll/1657/illegaldrugs.aspx?

Grinspoon, Peter, “Cannabidiol (CBD) – what we know and what we don’t.” Harvard Health Blog, 24 August 2018, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/cannabidiol-cbd-whatwe-know-and-what-we-dont-2018082414476.?

Hartung, Benno, et al. Sudden unexpected death under acute influence of cannabis, Forensic Science International, 2014, https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2014.02.001.?

Ingraham, Christopher. “11 charts that show marijuana has truly gone mainstream.” The Washington Post, 19 April 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/04/19/11-charts-that-showmarijuana-has-truly-gone-mainstream/.?

Institute for Behavior and Health. “Drug Legalization: A False Hope.” Institute for Behavior and Health, https://www.ibhinc.org/druglegalization#:~:text=Advocates%20of%20drug%20legalization%20believe,costs%20i ncluding%20arrest%20and%20incarceration

NIDA. "Marijuana DrugFacts." National Institute on Drug Abuse, 24 Dec. 2019, https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana Accessed 19 May 2021.?

Pearl, Betsy, “Ending the War on Drugs: By the Numbers.” Center For American Progress, 27 June 2018, https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminaljustice/reports/2018/06/27/452819/ending-war-drugsnumbers/#:~:text=Economic%20impact,more%20than%20%243.3%20billion%20annually

Smith, Kathleen. “The Dangers of Synthetic Drugs.” PSYCOM, 14 May 2021, https://www.psycom.net/the-dangers-of-synthetic-drugs.?

WHO. CANNABIDIOL (CBD) Pre-Review Report. World Health Organization, Geneva, 6-10 November 2017, https://www.who.int/medicines/access/controlledsubstances/5.2_CBD.pdf.?

Zahra, Emma, et al. “Rates, characteristics and manner o cannabis-related deaths in Australia 2000-2018”, Drug and Alcohol Dependence. vol. 212, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108028.?