1
Andrew Mendez-Hernandez
Professor, David Owens
ECON-101-200 Principle of Macroeconomics
December 1, 2024,
We should Not Legalize Drugs
This matter about the legalization of drugs should be properly educated to people across
the country, especially to our new generations, because of how impactful this crucial subject
could pronounce if decisions were made. I would like to make a stance on the meaning of my
topic, I am defending against the legalization of drugs, unless it is for medical use. Though drugs
have such a broad variety of categories, I would like to first educate the readers on which drugs
are legalized, and which drugs are illegal to obtain in the United States. Then I will break down
whether those drugs should remain legal or should instead be criminalized. The first drug I
would like to mention is Marijuana, or in other words Cannabis. This drug is one of the most
controversial drugs in the United States, evidence for this being that the states within our
country often disagree on cannabis being legal or illegal for both recreational and/or medical use.
As of December 2024, Thirty-eight States in the United States have legalized medical cannabis
and only twenty-four states have legalized recreational cannabis. Furthermore, there are four
states where cannabis is completely illegal, that being Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, and
Wyoming. Idaho in Particular, maintains strict prohibition, with possession of more than three
ounces being a felony. Its worth noting that several states have varying degrees of prohibition. At
some point the regulations of weed across the country can be complicated, so it’s crucial to know
what the regulation of cannabis is in your state. There are compelling arguments on both sides of
the legalization of cannabis debate, but public opinion and policy trends are increasingly
favoring legalization. Whether the public favors legalization or not, we need to review the
negatives it could potentially cause. It’s argued that the legalization of weed would bring an end
to criminalization of users and reduce incarceration rates, also freeing up law enforcement
2
Andrew Mendez-Hernandez
Professor, David Owens
ECON-101-200 Principle of Macroeconomics
December 1, 2024,
resources to instead focus on more serious crimes. This argument is shown to be beneficial but
has also been proven to cause much more serious concerns. For example, this would mean the
increased use of cannabis, especially among adolescents and could lead to dependence and
addiction. The argument of the freeing up law enforcement resources to instead focus on more
serious crimes, is in my opinion, ironic and mostly wrong, because of the fact that the increased
use of cannabis will lead to impaired driving and workplace accidents, so instead of receiving
misdemeanors, there could be life-threatening accidents. I would like to further add that the
legalization of cannabis would have negative public health effects, including panic attacks,
psychotic disorders, hallucinations, depression, negatively impacting learning/thinking
(particularly in adolescents and young adults), inflammatory lung diseases, increased risk of
lung cancer, increased chance of heart attacks/strokes, and potential long-term health effects that
we are still not aware of. Not to mention, cannabis being a potential gateway to other drug use. I
believe do believe cannabis should be prohibited, but as of currently I do not think that is
possible. If we would make cannabis illegal today, it would turn out like the Prohibition, because
of how much consumption there is for cannabis each day, there would instead have to be a longterm plan to end the use of marijuana for recreational use. Now that I have the extreme
complicated topic of legalizing cannabis out of the way, I would like to get into the wide range of
drugs that are prohibited by the United States. The United States has an official categorization of
these drugs ranging from its potential of abuse and whether its used for medical purposes. The
first category is called “Schedule 1” Drugs, which are substances with the highest potential for
abuse and no accepted medical use. Schedule 1 drugs include: Heroin, Lysergic acid diethylamide
(commonly known as LSD), Ecstasy (Meth), Peyote (Mescaline), Psilocybin (Magic Mushrooms),
GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid), Methaqualone, Bath salts, Khat, and includes cannabis.
The second category is called “Schedule 2” drugs. The substances that classify in the Schedule 2
3
Andrew Mendez-Hernandez
Professor, David Owens
ECON-101-200 Principle of Macroeconomics
December 1, 2024,
category are drugs that have a high potential for abuse but may have some accepted medical uses.
These drugs include Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Methadone, Oxycodone, Fentanyl, Adderall,
and Ritalin. The next drug category are controlled substances, including Benzodiazepines
(Xanax and Valium), Opioids, Amphetamines, and Anabolic steroids. Controlled substances must
be strictly controlled. The last category I would like to include is the category of drugs that were
recently banned in the United States. These include Valdecoxib, Pemoline, Sibutramine, and
Troglitazone. I will proceed to break down the chosen position by going down the previously
mentioned categories and giving both evidence and reasoning to why we shouldn’t legalize drugs.
First, the Schedule 1drug category. It is more than agreed upon that we should not legalize
Schedule 1 drugs; this is because it causes more crucial consequences than benefits. Schedule 1
drugs are classified in such way because of the control it has over you and its exceptional
potential for abuse. The legalization of Schedule 1 drugs will likely lead to substantial increase
in drug consumption and the number of users, potentially resulting in more cases of addiction
and substance use disorder. The wider availability and accessibility of these drugs could lead to
more public health and safety issues, such as impaired driving and increased healthcare costs.
The high potential of drug abuse can destroy families and relationships and could further cause
users to engage in criminal activities to support their bad habits. To further add, most Schedule 1
drugs have severe negative impacts on physical and mental health, which could worsen with
increased use. It is important to mention that legalization of drugs may send the wrong message
to children and teenagers about the safety and acceptability of these substances. Ultimately, the
potential risks and societal costs associated with legalizing Schedule 1 drugs outweigh the
perceived benefits. Schedule 2 drugs have remarkably similar reasons as to why we shouldn’t
legalize schedule 1 drugs. Just like schedule 1 drugs, Schedule 2 drugs have high potential for
abuse and can lead to psychological or physical dependence. The combined forces of legalizing
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Andrew Mendez-Hernandez
Professor, David Owens
ECON-101-200 Principle of Macroeconomics
December 1, 2024,
both Schedule 1 and 2 drugs would further increase drug consumption and associated public
health harms as people use these substances. There are several arguments in favor of legalizing
these drugs. Proponents argue that legalization would restore the right of self-determination for
adults to make their own choices about drug use. This to me is troubling to say the least. Though
freedom is one thing, living a normal human life is another. The use of drugs could further an
addiction and ruin the person’s life, meaning they wouldn’t get to address their own choices of
drug use. One of the biggest arguments are that it causes economic benefits, because the
legalization of these drugs could generate significant tax revenues and reduce government
spending on drug enforcement and incarceration. It has been estimated that 50-150 billion
dollars per year could be saved through legalization. They also argue that there would be
improved control and regulation, meaning legal regulation would allow governments to control
drug production, quality, and distribution more effectively than under prohibition. I think its
important to remind people that legalization is a complex issue with potential drawbacks. This
includes the threat to humanity and people’s health that drugs will potentially impact through
the legalization of drugs. These benefits people are stating that will occur after the legalization of
drugs are benefits that assist more of the country’s government and economy, and less of its
people, meaning that the matter of the legalization of drugs is whether people choose to have a
better economy over people’s health and life or vice-versa, so what is a country without its
people?.. Nothing. This leaves me to back to the position of which I am standing with. We should
Not Legalize Drugs.
Thank you.
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Andrew Mendez-Hernandez
Professor, David Owens
ECON-101-200 Principle of Macroeconomics
December 1, 2024,
Works Cited
Buppert, Carolyn. "Nurse Practitioners and the Primary Care Shortage." The Journal for
Nurse Practitioners, vol. 17, no. 2, 2021, pp. 144
147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2020.11.012.
Kleiman, Mark A. R., and Ethan A. Nadelmann. "Drug Legalization?: Time for a Real
Debate." Brookings, 1 Mar. 1996, www.brookings.edu/articles/drug-legalization-time-for-a-realdebate/.
Knowles Wellness, "List of Banned Medicines in the United
States." https://knowleswellness.com/blog/list-of-banned-medicines-in-the-united-states/.
Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.
Murad, Prya. "Legalize Drugs Divert Addiction Out of Criminal Court." Yale
Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, Yale
University, https://bioethics.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/PryaMurad.pdf. Accessed 3 Dec.
2024.
Woodhouse, Leighton. "Legalizing Drugs is a Terrible Idea..." Substack, 2024,
leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/p/legalizing-drugs-is-a-terrible-idea.