Why Recreational Drugs Should Not Be Legalized

Each year over two million people die from the use of recreational drugs. Each year hundreds of thousands of people are hospitalized. Each year this number increases leading to more deaths than we have ever imagined. With over twenty states legalizing the use of recreational marijuana, all these people are doomed to die. The United States of America should not legalize the use of all recreational drugs, because they increase the possibility of being infected with many deadly diseases, it makes violent crime more popular, and sends a horrible message which we do not want to send to young people who have never tried drugs.

Recreational drugs should not be legalized in the United States is because of the increased amount of diseases and death caused by it. Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from injecting these dangerous substances. The research from “Opposing Viewpoints: Drug Legalization” explains, “Officials in the medical, public health, law enforcement, and political fields agree that preventing drug abuse is an urgent matter. Users expose themselves to increased risks of contracting HIV, hepatitis C, sexually transmitted diseases, heart infections, kidney disease, seizures, skin abscesses, pneumonia, and death by accidental overdose.” This means that the use of recreational drugs makes you vulnerable to many types of deadly diseases which can possibly end your life. Officials also agree with this and think that getting rid of these narcotics is a big issue in our country. This is important to acknowledge because if people keep on using these dangerous substances, even more people are going to put their own families and other people’s lives in danger. To add onto this, the research from “Drugabuse.gov: Death Rates” explains, “National Drug Overdose Deaths—Number Among All Ages, by Gender, 1999-2017. More than 70,200 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2017, including illicit drugs and prescription opioids.” This evidence clearly shows that thousands of Americans are dying ever single year because of the use of these drugs. People are getting addicted to the narcotics and then taking an overdose which ends up in killing themselves. This is important because every year the number of deaths is increasing, and people are dying ever year because of drug overdoses. The U.S Congress should immediately criminalize the act of using any drugs for pleasure in this country because of the increasing number of deaths and vulnerability to lethal illnesses. 

In addition to the amount of deaths and diseases each year, recreational Drugs should not be legalized inside the United States because it causes more violent crimes. It is proved numerous times that getting impaired while on drugs can lead you to commit many crimes. It turns you into an entirely different person.  According to an article in “Bartleby”, it states, “In 2013 there was over a hundred thousand drug related crimes recorded in Canada.” This clearly means that tens of thousands of crimes are related to the use of drugs. This is not just happening in the US but in numerous countries around the world. This matters because the more we use drugs for recreational uses, the more violent crimes there will be which will endanger the common citizens. To add on that, the research from “Opposing Viewpoints” states that, “In addition, drug abuse erodes family relationships and is linked to poverty, work problems, and many kinds of crime. To earn the money needed to afford more drugs, addicts often resort to prostitution, larceny, crimes such as assault or arson.” This means that drugs can often create numerous family, work, and financial problems for many users. This results to making money illegally and crime. This matters because they will start to steal due to financial and work problems and become human beings that we do not want them to become. The government should stop the decriminalizing the use of drugs and instead make it into a criminal offence.

Many advocates argue that using recreational drugs is an individual’s own free choice and the government has no right to forbid this behavior. While this may be true that the government doesn’t have the right to tell anyone what he or she can ingest in themselves, the government has the right to protect their people. They have the right to fight against anything that is making their country weaker. People who use drugs recreationally only endanger the common public and themselves. They do not benefit from this act but instead ruin their own lives. Therefore, the government can ban recreational drugs because all they do is create nuisance which is not needed in the world.

Drugs should be banned from the U.S. is because it encourages other people to use them. If drugs were legalized, people who have never used them would think that they aren’t as bad as people say they are since it is not banned. They will think that it is safe because it is not restricted. According to the article from Vittana, “Allowing these people to have open access to whatever drug they wish to use could create an atmosphere where experimentation is encouraged. If there are no laws in place that would prevent them from acquiring whatever drugs they wish to have, it could create more health problems.” This means that a lot people are going to try and experiment drugs if legalization happens. If there is no law to enforce this, more and more people are going to think that narcotics are not that bad and end up trying it out. This matters because soon a lot of people are going to get addicted to these drugs and it will be difficult to stop them. In addition, the article “Opposing Viewpoints: Drug Legalization” states, “Many believe that legalization sends a dangerous message that encourages people to try drugs.” Like the other evidence, this one also says that if you legalize drugs, it will encourage people to try them. This is important because they will be attached to it and wouldn’t want to give up the addiction. Therefore, this slight change is going to make our future generations healthier and clean of drugs.

The citizens of the United States should vote that all recreational narcotics be banned because it makes users more vulnerable to lethal illnesses, increases theft, criminal activity, and encourages people to use them. This change in the country is going to dramatically decrease the amount of deaths by drugs because then they won’t be easily available to people. This is also going to impact criminal activity by reducing it immediately after these dangerous substances are banned. This transformation is going to encourage people not to try out these narcotics, which is going to result in the decline in the usage of drugs. Help our country be the best that it can be. Help us be as healthy as we can be. Make the wise choice to ban all recreational drugs from the United States.

Works Cited

Ayres, Crystal. "16 Decriminalization of Drugs Pros and Cons." Vittana, 3 Feb. 2017, vittana.org/16-decriminalization-of-drugs-pros-and-cons. Accessed 18 Mar. 2019.

"Death Rates." National Institute on Drug Abuse, Jan. 2019, www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates. Accessed 19 Mar. 2019.

"Drug Legalization." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2016. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/PC3010999286/OVIC?u=lenape_unamims&sid=OVIC&xid=dcd4ead8. Accessed 8 Mar. 2019.

Lone, Wa. "The Legalization of Recreational Drugs." Bartleby Writing, 18 Nov. 2014, www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Legalization-Of-Recreational-Drugs-F33CG5T36Y3W. Accessed 18 Mar. 2019.

Newton, David E. "Arguments against Legalizing Marijuana." Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society, ABC-CLIO, 2019, issues.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1769266. Accessed 18 Mar. 2019.

Rather, Dan. "It's Time for the U.S. to Decriminalize Drug Use and Possession." Drug Policy Alliance, July 2017, www.drugpolicy.org/resource/its-time-us-decriminalize-drug-use-and-possession. Accessed 19 Mar. 2019.