Assignment task: Respond to the following post by answering why you disagree with the post and what facts can you use to back up your opinion.
The question for the discussion post was to argue the reasons to prohibit, as well as legalized drug drugs based on the material discussed in this week's chapter, and then what is my personal stance on the topic?
I think that there are both necessarily good and bad reasons when it comes to why drugs should be legalized. To elaborate on that, some individuals take drugs for medical assistance which I believe to be a reason to legalize it.
Because the only way they obtain or need to use those drugs is because of the medical condition they have and they went through a lot of doctors and things that it was approved to take certain drugs and things for those medical issues. When it comes to helping a person medically and not just because a person was bored or followed the crowd, in that instance, it could be because they're doing it for just the feeling or because they see someone else doing it, or they're obtaining those drugs to sell them to somebody else for their own financial gain. That's where I think it should be prohibited in that case. Chapter 14 of the textbook speaks a lot about the concept of substance abuse. This is a direct quote from the textbook, "there is a great debate over the legalization of drugs and the control of alcohol. Some consider drug use a private matter and drug control.
Another example of government intrusion into people's private lives. Furthermore, legalization could reduce the profit of selling illegal substances and drive suppliers out of the market." I found that quote to be interesting because it shows that if it is legalized, then it kind of makes it not as a hot commodity to some because if it wasn't legalized, you go to anybody and pay such high amounts and basically, it's like, their way of getting a lot of money because they know that many people want it, and it's hard to get. But when it's legalized, anyone can get it. Then it loses that "it" factor or desire by everybody because it's easy to get. In that case, that's where I look at legalization as being a good thing in a sense because the drug suppliers and the profit of selling those drugs would not be as popular as it was before it was legalized. I think that drug use in relation to the legalization of drugs could be deemed a private matter. When it begins to affect individuals not only themselves, but individuals in the community, I think it should be re-evaluated and possibly prohibited because then it becomes an outside issue. As the years have progressed, drug use has increased, and sometimes declined and or was stable throughout years. Even though there are times where drug use does stabilize and or declines, I noticed that it is not to a point where there is a great decrease to present the notion that the prohibiting of drugs is unnecessary and that it should be fined to legalize it. I believe that if drugs are completely prohibited, individuals will do anything possible to obtain drug drugs, even if it is resulting in committing crimes to keep up with their drug habits. On the other hand, if it is legalized, I think there should be higher restrictions such as having to have a medical card or you have to have valid reasoning as to why you need these drugs, or how is it going to benefit you in a way that you need to feed into your habit or just because you want them, it should have a valid reason for it. I also believe that if it's legalized but with certain parameters set in place, there may be also a decrease in young people taking up drugs or getting caught up in the use and dependency of drugs because you would probably have to be a certain age or have some form of identification to prove that you are able to have the certain drugs or able to take them and depending on your age and what the reasoning is behind it. Overall, I believe that if drugs were to be legalized, there should be great restrictions set in place, and if it were prohibited, there is protections in place because individuals would be upset at the change in legality of drugs being able to be bought, sold, and taken by people. Overall, throughout the whole discussion post, I think that it's reasonable to legalize it, but with proper strong and structured prerequisites in order to obtain certain drugs with medical backed reasoning.