In 1936, "Reefer Madness" was released. This film was a piece of propaganda that aimed to convince the American public to believe that marijuana was dangerous and even deadly. Today, 80 percent of federal criminals are in prison for non-violent drug offenses, mostly involving, marijuana. Over the past few decades’ public opinion has changed. Many Americans today believe that weed users should not be treated as criminals. The science on marijuana seems to have a consensus. The drug is more harmless than all other mainstream drugs, including alcohol. The D.A.R.E program even removed it from its list of gateway drugs, and a few states have legalized it for medical use and some have even fully legalized it’s use for recreational purposes.

The fear of drugs is a legitimate fear. We should be concerned about drug use. Cocaine, heroin and meth are harmful drugs that can and eventually do ruin the lives of habitual users, but so do legal drugs. Around 20,000 people per year die from pharmaceuticals and 38,000 die from excessive alcohol use. Why make some dangerous drugs legal and make others illegal? I’d say it’s to maintain the prison industrial complex and to keep poor minority neighborhoods in poverty. But you can make up your own mind.

Prohibiting something does not take it off the market. It raises its cost by hurting its market, without lowering the demand. This causes the good to go on the black market. Here is when you will experience a lot of crime and violence. Other effects of prohibiting drugs is that it causes more health problems than it solves. Heroin for example is injected more because the user has to make it worth its price, as injecting it is a more potent way of experiencing the drug. Diseases like HIV also spread because of the need to share of needles.

The criminalization of drugs is also cruel. Drug use is caused by human curiosity. Experimenting with drugs has always been a part of our species. It’s immoral to ban drug use. Human beings have a natural right to make their own decisions with their own bodies. Habitual drug use and addiction should also not be something that is considered criminal. It is a disease and should be treated as a disease. Addicts should be treated and rehabilitated and given counseling. Not only would this be better for the user but it would be better for the state as well. When an addict goes to prison they are stuck with a criminal record for the rest of their lives. This does nothing but perpetuate a cycle of poverty which leads to more drug use and criminal behavior that the state must pay for one way or another.

Even though drug use may be a major health concern, it must be weighed against the problems that occur from prohibition. When it comes to drug use, I believe that people should not be treated as criminals, unless they commit a crime in which there is a victim involved besides themselves. In an actual free county, a person, not state lawmakers, must be able to decide what is in their own interest.