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America’s Drug Problem: Trafficking Effects

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America’s Drug Problem: Trafficking Effects
By Harry Jenkins
Eng 122
Dr. Nelson
August 29, 2011

Some things are simply not going to ever go anywhere because of the nature of them and the nature of people. Some harmful substances that people are addicted to will not be vanquished by the government as long as they have an illegal option to procure such substances. The issue at hand is drug trafficking in the United States and how to handle it. The government spends billions of dollars each year trying to fight the war on drugs and drug trafficking rings still come away with 321.6 billion dollars from sales. The DEA alone has an annual budget of two billion dollars, but they only cut the drug money profit by 17.7 billion over the past five years (Agency, 2004). While losing a war by such a wide margin, it is hard to believe anyone thinks things are getting any better. The government tried prohibition in the 1920’s and the crime rates spiked because people produced, smuggled, sold, and consumed the banned substance. The same goes for drugs. The argument about legalizing drugs has a push-pull correlation and always will. However, the reasons why drugs should be legalized have a stronger defense than why they shouldn’t be. The most heated argument out about drugs as of now is the legalization of marijuana. The financial benefits of legalizing marijuana alone are worth it in the eyes of the right person. The state of California would generate a tax revenue of 1.4 billion dollars off of the 14 billion dollars of currently untaxed marijuana sells.
If the production and distribution of drugs was regulated by the government, people will be less likely to turn to the streets to obtain drugs. The government will be able to control the production and sell of marijuana the same way they control the sell of alcohol and tobacco. The opposition to the

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