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Effects of Drug Legalization

Over the last decade, drug addiction has been a significant and complex social issue facing Canadian society. In Canada, as well as other Western nations, the lawmakers are considering changing or have already changed the legal policies in their nations regarding drug use. Most of the countries, including Canada, have taken a stand of legalizing some of the recreational drugs, or even all the drugs or reoriented policy regarding drug users away from the legal punishment towards the medical treatment. Canada should not legalize all the drugs because they can sometimes result in violence and enforcement of drug prohibition, increased infectious diseases, and deaths from overdose.

Violence and Enforcement of Drug Prohibition

The World Health Organization published its first report indicating the different forms of violence that are brought about in a nation due to drug use. The report indicated that the Western countries are among the most affected by these forms of violence, where it recorded more deaths as a result of this violence (Mc Evoy and Hideg 11). An enormous deal of the violence that is related to the drug use in most cases is linked with the effort of a particular criminal group protecting their illegal marketers, often against the paramilitary forces or even the military police. It has been proofed that the crackdowns by the police officers can result in increased violence when they disrupt a particular criminal system. Drug trafficking has resulted in many deaths in most western countries hence meaning that legalizing drug use would increase such violence.

Sexual violence is another form of violence that has been evident in most of the countries that have taken the initiative of legalizing drug use. Experts have asserted that most of the criminal systems that are dominating drug trafficking in most of the western countries, in most cases, use rape with impunity as they try to protect their territory as well as their routes. Most of the women and girls who are hired by such groups as drug smugglers usually go through sexual assaults (Menard et al. 34). Drug-related violence has resulted in an increase in femicide in most of the western countries as brutal raping and killing of the women in those regions have increased, especially in the nations that have already authorized the use of all drugs.

The levels of violence in some countries have increased to such an extent that they can no longer be tolerated leading to an increase in insecurity and corruption, which consequently have resulted in the displacement of most of the citizens in the western nations that have legalized the use of all drugs. Most of the individuals that have suffered from this kind of displacements are the children that are characterized by uncertain legal status (Mc Evoy and Hideg 44). The displacement that is experienced in most of the countries has had a significant impact on the economic condition of such countries as most of the people that are displaced in most cases move to lower salaries, or even sometimes they end up not getting new jobs. Drug-related violence is one of the reasons that Canada should not consider legalizing all the drugs because it would put the nation at a higher risk of being affected by such a phenomenon.

Infectious Diseases

The gains in reducing the spread of the sexual transmission of HIV has been evident all across the globe. The HIV transmission that is connected to the injection of drugs has continued to drive most of the western nations that have already authorized the use of all drugs. In some of the nations that have legalized the use of all drugs, the HIV prevalence is higher than even the general population. The drug injection is the primary determinant of HIV transmission than any other form of transmission in most of the nations that have legalized the use of all drugs. “Maté’s subjects are the living, breathing embodiment of the nation’s grimmest statistics for HIV/AIDS.” (Mate 4 par7) While the overall HIV incidences decline in the world, such incidences have been seen to increase in such countries where the drug injection accounts for a higher percentage of the transmission. The increase in the HIV prevalence can as well have an economic impact since the funds that are allocated to the epidemic could have been used in other developmental projects of the country. As a way of fighting against the spread of HIV, Canada should not take the initiative of legalizing the use of illicit drugs.

Death from Overdose

The deaths that can be caused by drug overdose should be the priority of Canada when deciding whether to legalize all the drugs in the nation. An overdose can be directly lethal and might as well leave individuals with debilitating injury and morbidity. The drug overdose in one of the leading causes of deaths in most of the western nations that have legalized the used of all drugs. Data on overdose has not been systematically captured in most of the western countries, but a survey data indicate that the deaths as a result of the overdose are not rare cases in the countries that have legalized all illicit drugs. Overdone is the second higher cause of death in such countries right after the HIV that is usually spread through injection. The World Health Organization issued guidance on community management towards the drug overdose in most of the nations that have legalized the use of all drugs. Heroin has been linked with lethal overdose in most of the nations. Nations that pursue the objective of prohibiting drug use may object to heroin-assisted therapy (Sullum 7). As a way of reducing the total deaths that are resulted in drug overdose, Canada should not legalize all illicit drugs.

Conclusion

Canada should not legalize all drugs because it’s evident that they have a negative impact on the economy as well as the health care of the country. Most of the countries that have already taken the initiative of legalizing drug use are suffering from the increase in the HIV epidemic in the country, increased deaths, and violence that have even resulted in the displacement of most of the people in those respective countries. To avoid all those problems, Canada should not legalize all drugs.

Work Cited

Mate, Gabor. "The Keys of Paradise: Addiction as a Flight from Distress." In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction., Vintage Canada, 2009.

Mc Evoy, C., & Hideg, G. (2017). Global violent deaths 2017: time to decide: report. Small Arms Survey.

Sullum, Jacob. “The Surprising Truth About Heroin and Addiction.” Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2003.