Contrary to the argument of the sovereign freedom of the individual to do what he wants with his health. And to enjoy the right to drug use, those who believe that ensuring the well-being of citizens is also the job of governments argue that their individual choices have an impact on society as a whole. Ultimately, abstainers are those who have to bear the economic burden of restoring the physical and mental health of addicts. One of the advantages of drugs is that they are used to treat conditions, so we can say that a certain eligibility criterion must be maintained in particular circumstances so that they can be used by patients. Some of these are opioids used to relieve pain caused by certain diseases or treatments. A landmark report by the Truth Commission, an interdisciplinary body tasked with investigating more than 50 years of civil war in Colombia, found that drug trafficking helped prolong the conflict despite nearly $8 billion in U.S. military aid to Colombia. At least 260,000 Colombians, the vast majority civilians, were killed in the violence. We have already talked about the pros and cons of drugs in another article, which you also wrote in connection with this other article on Why do people take drugs? can read. Those who believe that legalizing drugs would only exacerbate the problem are the majority in our society. And you need to be aware of the negativity of most substances.

Not only in terms of disorders and addictions, but also in terms of what they produce in a person when they are abused. Drug prohibition had catastrophic consequences very similar to those of alcohol in the 20s in the United States. However, instead of acknowledging the failure of such policies, most governments around the world have insisted on spending more resources and further violating the freedoms of their citizens to stop the illegal drug trade: 1 Legalization would end the lucrative part of drug trafficking. by bringing to the surface the existing black market. And with the disappearance of the clandestine nature of drug trafficking, the social problems associated with this activity diminish considerably. The current drug prohibition does not stop the market, it has simply overwhelmed it under the guise of illegality, and if a business is a crime, criminals will participate. 6 Governments would stop wasting billions of dollars on the war on drugs, resources designed to fight the real criminals: those who violate the rights of others. Legalization would relieve prisons, which are now flooded with people whose only crime was the use of substances prohibited by law. Calculating numbers on an illicit market is never an exact science, but a 2016 study by the Colombian government estimated that drug trafficking, the flow of illicit drugs, mainly cocaine, produced in Colombia and sold in international markets from Europe to North America via Asia, accounted for up to 3.8% of Colombia`s GDP at the time. Those who oppose legalization come from the conservative right and believe that change would only facilitate drug abuse. Former President Álvaro Uribe, a political mentor to Petro`s predecessor, Iván Duque, and the country`s leading supporter of conservatism, tweeted in 2020 that «recreational marijuana adapts to other drugs, affects neurons, the user reaches states of alienation, loses control of his decisions, which is the loss of his freedom,» after celebrating the stalemate of an earlier marijuana legalization project in Congress.

«It`s time to accept that the war on drugs has been a complete failure,» Colombian President Gustavo Petro said at his inauguration earlier this month, commenting on a bill his administration recently submitted to Congress to legalize recreational marijuana. The politician envisions a network of state-regulated pharmacies where cocaine could be sold on prescription and regional agreements in other drug-producing countries. The world`s three largest cocaine producers (Bolivia, Colombia and Peru) are currently led by ideologically aligned left-wing leaders. Bolivia has a thriving legal market for coca derivatives, mainly dried leaves chewed by indigenous peoples, and as early as 2012, the governments of Bolivia and Colombia held multilateral meetings to lobby for a regional overhaul of drug policy. In 2015 alone, a survey of middle school students was conducted in Argentina, where 66% of the population reported using legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco, and 23% confirmed using illicit substances such as marijuana. In addition, thanks to the work of the Colombian Drug Observatory, it has been established that 52 1/2% have used marijuana in the past year. In Guatemala, 11.31% of respondents said they had used marijuana «at some point in their lives.» Based on this information, we can conclude that the situation in other Latin American countries is quite similar. Wiretapping, raids, file registration, censorship and gun control are acts that threaten our freedom and autonomy as individuals. If drugs are now accessible even in the maximum security zones of prisons, even by turning our countries into prisons, we will not be able to keep drugs out of the reach of those who want to use them. It is believed that the most viable option for setbacks and conflicts arising from the drug trafficking industry and its derivatives, like most of the difficulties that drug use brings to today`s society, is for drug use and sale to be completely legal and regulated. To date, the Colombian state faces challenges regarding the control of its territory by various criminal actors, from former leftist guerrillas and paramilitaries to drug cartels and organized crime syndicates. Drug trafficking is a powerful source of income for these criminals, and over the past 50 years, authorities have put forward a prohibitionist agenda that restricts drug trafficking and use to hit criminals in their pockets.

But the flow of illegal drugs never stopped. The Colombian constitution explicitly prohibits the consumption of narcotics without a prescription. 5 The legalization of drugs would put an end to a major hotbed of corruption, which is growing at all levels of government, as a significant number of police, customs officers, judges and all kinds of authorities have been bought, bribed or blackmailed by drug traffickers, creating a great atmosphere of mistrust of the population towards the public sector in general. 9 In a society where drugs are legal, the number of innocent victims resulting from the use and sale of narcotics would be significantly reduced. The current policy affects both drug users and third parties. In this way, large numbers of people who have never used these substances or who are not associated with the activity are injured or even lose their lives due to the «externalities» of the war on drugs. One of the immediate consequences of legalization would be increased consumption. Although guinea pig experiments show that drug use increases or decreases in proportion to the ease or difficulty of obtaining it, we know that other factors affect people. Home » 9 arguments against legalizing drugs Since minors would not have access to drugs that would become illegal for them, they would be trying to break the laws by going to the black market. According to the U.S. Department of Justice`s Bureau of Justice Statistics, the U.S.

prison population has been increasing since September 31. December 1995 increased by an average of 43,266 detainees per year. About 25% are convicted of drug law violations. Reproduction – from the Internet – of the arguments in favor of the article «Ten reasons for the legalization of drugs», by Juan Carlos Hidalgo, collaborator of the Project for Global Economic Freedom of the Cato Institute, who presents a counter-argument in response to each element. Drug prohibition had catastrophic consequences very similar to those of alcohol in the 20s in the United States. However, instead of acknowledging the failure of such policies, most governments around the world have insisted on spending more resources and violating the freedoms of their citizens to stop the illegal drug trade:1 «Legalization would end the lucrative part of drug trafficking. by bringing to the surface the existing black market.