Decriminalization Vs. Prohibition :: essays research papers

Decriminalization vs. Prohibition     The idea of Drug Prohibition do sense lower the availability of drugsby the use of law enforcement. Unfortunately, Drug Prohibition means heavycosts while proving to be ineffective and counterproductive.     I was thirteen when I saw drugs for the first time. I was with some ofmy friends that live down the road from me. They asked me if I wanted to gethigh with them. At the time, I didnt know what getting high meant, so I askedthem. One of them pulled ut a long slender object, similar to a cigarette, buttwisted on either end. They told me it was something special. I was stillbewildered. They said "Its pot, you know, marijuana?" Immediately I said no.I had seen several anti-dug commercials, all with the same motto, "Just label No".I felt so good about myself. I had done the right thing. I said no to myfriends, which is a very vexed decision to make at that age. I was not going tobe one of those sad cases, where my life is wasted away. I was not going to bea crazed addict, who would stop at nothing to get a hit. I was not going to bedodging the law my whole life. I was going to be everything I wanted to be, anddrugs were definitely not going to get in the way. I promised myself I wouldnot end up deal Jimi Hendrix, or Janis Joplin, both found dead by and by overdoses,because I had the power to say no. I had read stories and seen news flashesabout the side make of some drugs. I had read newspaper articles about populate in Rome, which is just a few minutes away, dying of heroin overdoses. Ihad seen people on TV that were alive, but were not conscious of theirsurroundings, because of drug use. Their lives were basically over. I hadlistened to speakers preach that drugs were one of the Devils tools. There wasno way I would stock-still consider ever trying them, because once a person starts,they cant stop.     It was a few years later that I heard the other side of the story. Ilearned that not only were we losing the war on drugs, but that the war had beencorrupted. The government was wasting money on something without a cause, orhope. It wasnt long after that when I tried marijuana for the first time. Iremember it well. I was with my sister, who was the only person that I couldnt