Ending The Drug War Saves $77 Billion

Ending the drug war (legalizing drugs) makes sense for many reasons.

The first reason, in a supposedly “free society,” should be civil liberties. All people should be able to use drugs if they want to. Really that should be the end of the argument, but sadly not everyone understands the importance of individual liberty (until of course it’s their own freedoms being taken away.)

The second reason is that it would greatly reduce crime. Almost all drug related crime (and by crime I mean real crime where there’s an actual victim) stems from the fact that drugs are illegal. There are very few crimes because someone needs money to get drugs. Yes that happens, but it’s a rare occurrence compared to the “black market” related crime.

The third reason is the public health. If serious drug addiction (heroin addiction for example) were treated as a public health problem rather than as a criminal problem I believe far more people would be able to receive treatment for their problems so that they could really turn their lives around. I also believe that the spread of HIV could be slowed by the legalization of drugs as HIV is often spread through dirty needles.

The fourth reason is the one that will really hit home for a lot of people considering the tough economic times that the Bush Depression has us in: It would save us $77 Billion according to Harvard Economist Jeffrey Miron.