Реферат: Drugs Should Not Be Legalized Essay Research 2

a result of their heavy use for medical problems, many individuals

became addicted to the narcotics contained in these potent medicines.

In fact, in 1900, there were more narcotics addicts, proportionate to

the population, than there are today. At that time, most of the users

who became addicts were medical addicts. Very few abusers took drugs

for “recreational” purposes. In 1914, in an effort to curb the

indiscriminate use of narcotics, the federal government passed the

Harrison Act, making it illegal to obtain a narcotic drug without a

prescription. During the 1920 s the Supreme Court ruled that

maintaining addicts on narcotic drugs, even by prescription, was in

violation of the Harrison Act. Some 30,000 physicians were arrested

during this period for dispensing narcotics, and some 3,000 actually

served prison sentences. Consequently, doctors all but abandoned the

treatment of addicts for nearly half a century in the United States”

(Grolier).

The only resulting effect will be a negative one. There are no

positive aspects of putting drugs on the streets with a label reading

“legal.” There are plenty of people in society that find enough

trouble on their own without the help of their country. Legalizing

drugs would have a devastating result that would affect society as a

whole.

“Audiences need to understand that 70% of drug users are

employed, and that the school bus driver who drives your children

to school could smoke marijuana, that the surgeon who operates on you

may have cocaine in his system, and that the driver in back of you may

be on speed. The debate needs to demonstrate graphically how the

common man will be impacted by drug legalization” (Internet).

There is an idea that the “drug user” is a low class,

unemployed junkie. This is untrue. The drug user is often a white