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CONTENTSThe Legalization Lobby claims that the fight against drugs cannot be won. However, overall drug use is down by more than a third in the last twenty years, while cocaine use has dropped by an astounding 70 percent. Ninety-five percent of Americans do not use drugs. This is success by any standards. A successful drug policy must apply a balanced approach of prevention, enforcement and treatment. All three aspects are crucial. For those who end up hooked on drugs, there are innovative programs, like Drug Treatment Courts, that offer non-violent users the option of seeking treatment. Drug Treatment Courts provide court supervision, unlike voluntary treatment centers. Fact 3: Illegal drugs are illegal because they are harmful. There is a growing misconception that some illegal drugs can be taken safely. For example, savvy drug dealers have learned how to market drugs like Ecstasy to youth. Some in the Legalization Lobby even claim such drugs have medical value, despite the lack of conclusive scientific evidence. According to the Institute of Medicine, there is no future in smoked marijuana as medicine. However, the prescription drug Marinola legal and safe version of medical marijuana which isolates the active ingredient of THChas been studied and approved by the Food & Drug Administration as safe medicine. The difference is that you have to get a prescription for Marinol from a licensed physician. You cant buy it on a street corner, and you dont smoke it. The Legalization Lobby claims that the United States has wasted billions of dollars in its anti-drug efforts. But for those kids saved from drug addiction, this is hardly wasted dollars. Moreover, our fight against drug abuse and addiction is an ongoing struggle that should be treated like any other social problem. Would we give up on education or poverty simply because we havent eliminated all problems? Compared to the social costs of drug abuse and addictionwhether in taxpayer dollars or in pain and sufferinggovernment spending on drug control is minimal. Legalization has been tried beforeand failed miserably. Alaskas experiment with Legalization in the 1970s led to the states teens using marijuana at more than twice the rate of other youths nationally. This led Alaskas residents to vote to re-criminalize marijuana in 1990. Fact 7: Crime, violence, and drug use go hand-in-hand. Crime, violence and drug use go hand in hand. Six times as many homicides are committed by people under the influence of drugs, as by those who are looking for money to buy drugs. Most drug crimes arent committed by people trying to pay for drugs; theyre committed by people on drugs. The Legalization Lobby claims drugs are no more dangerous than alcohol. But drunk driving is one of the primary killers of Americans. Do we want our bus drivers, nurses, and airline pilots to be able to take drugs one evening, and operate freely at work the next day? Do we want to add to the destruction by making drugged driving another primary killer? Fact 9: Europes more liberal drug policies are not the right model for America. The Legalization Lobby claims that the European Model of the drug problem is successful. However, since legalization of marijuana in Holland, heroin addiction levels have tripled. And Needle Park seems like a poor model for America. Fact 10: Most non-violent drug users get treatment, not jail time. The Legalization Lobby claims that Americas prisons are filling up with users. Truth is, only about 5 percent of inmates in federal prison are there because of simple possession. Most drug criminals are in jaileven on possession chargesbecause they have plea-bargained down from major trafficking offences or more violent drug crimes.
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