This is an expansion on a comment I left on the blog "I am ashamed of my universiy" by KrisanMD. Here is the link to said blog: http://www.progressiveu.org/231122-i-am-ashamed-my-university#comment-26...
Most of the time, people have to risk smuggling drugs into the country and across state lines, & because of the fact that they might be on the drugs themselves and the profit greatly outweighs the cost and risk, people are willing to harm others for said profit.
I said people live and die for these drugs. What I meant is that right now, at this very moment, while you are reading this, there is a prostitute doing some unheard of sexual act, why you might wonder? Possibly for drug money. Right now as you are reading this some unlucky shmuck is overdosing on badly cut herion. This very instant, as I type these words, some passed out young girl is being raped, hell, it might even be just from booze.
Why do people go to such great lengths to acquire these drugs? It is my opinion, that the very nature of this great country, to say "eff you, Government, I'll do what I want, and there is nothing you can do about it!" Especially as laid down by our founding forefather's and their Declaration of Independence sent to King... George was it? I don't know, they all sound the same to me. King Howard, or was it Henry? King Jim, or was it John? I don't care for the specifics of it.
Anyway. back to the matter at hand, drugs. If drugs were legal, then the government would have to regulate, standardize, and tax all the drugs on the market. The DEA would then become a regulatory faction as opposed to a drug enforcement faction. They would remain law enforcers but wouldn't work solely on just busting people.
In Europe, it is legal for teens to drink alcohol in small proportions, UNDER PARENTAL supervision. In some European countries a lot of drugs are semi-legal. While I do not know the specific numbers I am sure that their drugcrime rate is lower than ours. By making something illegal, the government defines the crimebase. A majority of all prison inmates are in for alcohol or drug related crime. In Alaska, it costs the state around 250$ a day, per inmate, to keep the jail running. It might cost more or less, in your respective states, but that is a daunting amount of funding to provide for, especially when we, the law abiding citizens, are paying for it. & who truly reaps the benefits of the jail? Not the jail, or the taxpayers, the state does.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Here's my issue. You said that people live and die for legal drugs, too. This simply isn't the case. People don't get shot because they beat someone for a 30 of beer or a carton of Marlboros. It just doesn't happen. This is because people can go to reputable businesses that have these commodities in stock and ready for non-discriminatory purchase (price discrimination means charging different prices to different consumers and has nothing to do with discrimination as defined in the context of things like affirmative action). People don't run in gangs that sell liquor. They sell illegal drugs because there is no regulation and therefore no competition (since legitimate businesses aren't allowed to sell them) except for street competition. This leads to turf wars, shootouts, all that jazz. None of that happens for alcohol or cigarettes (or coffee for that matter).
--Mike
Check out the Topic of the Week
http://www.progressiveu.org/weeklytopic