I have to argue that because a society vice is currently illegal and is a money maker for organized crime, that it be legalized, regulated and taxed for the benefit of the government just ain’t right. The thought process being that it will take the money out of the hands of criminals and by regulating the activity it will become safe and respectable to participate. There is a stigma attached to both drug use and prostitution and rightly so. They both destroy lives, families and marriages. And who becomes the government’s pusher? Do we start dealing with the South American drug cartels? Whether the US legalizes drugs or not, the drug cartels will continue to eliminate competition…the money is too great. Or does the US start growing its own or supporting pharmas by contracting them to produce a high quality heroin at a cheap price, so the government’s profit margin stays high? Suddenly, the US government appears to be a cartel and a powerful one at that. Along the lines of the gun-control arguments of a few weeks ago on this blog, the answer lies in family support by society, youth programs in the inner city where drug use and prostitution are prevalent, etc. Of course these are human vices and have been around for years and years, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to rid our society of them. I have to argue that legalization is not the way to rid ourselves of them, but a way to show we have surrendered to them.
JP