I affirm Resolved: The abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health, not of criminal justice.

necessary

terms

Public Health: is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals." C.-E. A. Winslow, The Untilled Fields of Public Health, Science, n.s. 51 (1920), p. 23. Illegal drug: The illegal vs. legal binary implies government institution. This means we should only use drugs illegal in the U.S. Firstly, it is Predictable. Drug legalization is a current and controversial issue in the United States. Secondly, We do not have time to discuss 192 different drug legalization laws and standards so we should only use the U.S. because we all live here and have equal access to all of the information. Observation One: As the resolution specifically states that the affirmative advocates that drugs be treated as a matter of public health not criminal justice it implies that the affirmative debater will be advocated the the legalization of currently illeagal drugs in the us and instead moving towards a broad public health based sytem, treating the abuse of illegal drugs simmarly to the abuse of alcohol or tabcoo, two currently leagal drugs. This case will outline the benefits or decriminalizations drugs and switching to a purely public health based system Observation Two: In order to gage the morality or lack thereof of adopting the affirmative position we must look at this debate from a real world stand point. A real world framework with real world impacts is the only way to view because if viewed from a primarily philosophical and theoretical stand the debate is essential pointless and no education can be gained from this round My Value is societal welfare defied as Total well being of the entire society As this resolution takes place in the context of a society, it is imperative to uphold the welfare of that society and thus society welfare should be preferred in this My Value criterion is Cost Benefit analysis: In order to best uphold social welfare we must look to this cost benefit analysis as it will best facilitate giving the most benefits our society. Also it severs as an effective weighing mechanism because it will evaluate the benefits of legalizing drugs by treating it as a public health concern versus treating as a Criminal justice issue.

Contention One: The Negative Effects of the War on Drugs/Prohibition Sub Point A: Failure to decrease addition

Despite as costly efforts to decrease drug use the war on drugs, by attempting to treat drug use and abuse as a criminal justice issue, the problem has been exasperated. The Drug policy alliance states U.S. federal, state and local governments have spent hundreds of billions of dollars trying to make America drug-free. Yet heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other illicit drugs are cheaper, purer and easier to get than ever before. Nearly half a million people are behind bars on drug charges The war on drugs has become a war on families, a war on public health and a war on our constitutional rights. Many of the problems the drug war purports to resolve are in fact caused by the drug war itself. So-called drug-related crime is a direct result of drug prohibition's distortion of immutable laws of supply and demand. Public health problems like HIV and Hepatitis C are all exacerbated by zero tolerance laws that restrict access to clean needles. The drug war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency. Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse.

Subpoint B: Stigmatization If we legalize druga we will also ensure people are not stigamatized and there afraid to seek treatment and help when needed. Firstly on a moral level, Heatherton states To be stigmatized is to have a social identity or membership in some social category, that raises doubts about ones full humanity When we stigmatize people who use drugs for any reason as drug abusers we dehumanize them. Secondly on a pracractical level current drug laws by perpetuating this negative stigma are turning people away from seeking help for fear of being procecuted by the criminal justice system The Public Agenda 2010 states The drug laws turn users -- who need treatment -- into criminals. We'd be far better off if drug use were regarded as a health problem. We should legalize at least some drugs and reduce the harm they cause by regulating their sale and treating their victims Subpoint C: Racism The War on Drugs also perpetuates negative sterotypes of minorities and in some cases prevents them from a achieving their full potential. Joseph D. McNamara of the hoover institute states The fact that minorities are arrested and incarcerated at vastly disproportionate rates for drug offenses contributes to false stereotypes and permits the continuation of one of the most irrational public policies in the history of the United States. Blacks make up approximately 15 percent of Americas drug users, but more than one-third of adults arrested for drug violations are black. Similar distortions in drug arrests and incarcerations apply to Hispanics. Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and police offier futhers The War on Drugs targets the poorly educated, low-income, and people of color, and deprives them of opportunities for advancement, thus throwing them back into the only place they are welcome, the drug culture. It's a self-perpetuating, dysfunctional dance that yields street crime, needle-spread diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis, and encourages kids to drop out of school to chase the remote possibility of the big score in "the dope

game." The problem will not be solved at the margins. The problem is prohibition itself, a policy that should be replaced with strict, legalized regulation.

Contention Two: Benefits of Legalization and Public Health System

Sub Point A: Drug addiction is best treated by Public Health System Drug addiction is has empirically proven to a desis, an ivolentary reaction. The National institute on drugs says The report emphasizes that addiction is a chronic brain disease: that repeated drug exposure in those who are vulnerable triggers brain changes that result in the compulsive drug use and loss of control over drug-related behaviors that characterize addiction. "Viewing addiction as a disease does not remove the responsibility of the individual," said Volkow. "It highlights the responsibility of the addicted person to get drug treatment and society's responsibility to make treatment available." So therefore this desiesis is best and most effiecently treated as a matter of public health.

Sub Point B: Prohabition and treating drugs as public health reduces crime By decriminalizing drugs and moving towards a public health based system. Police officer Neil Franklin reminds us Our grandparents had the wisdom to end alcohol prohibition, not because they decided booze was a harmless drug - far from it. They realized that police and judicial corruption, street violence, and unnecessary deaths from an unregulated drug were the inevitable result of a prohibition on consensual "crime." They realized that legalized regulation would sharply reduce the street violence and corruption that had reached historic highs, while cutting the cartels of their day think Al Capone - off at the knees. They were right. The only thing today's cartels really fear is a legalized, tightly regulated market. The only smart way to cut them off at the knees is to abandon the futile paramilitary approach that keeps them and their street thugs armed and dangerous. d

Sub Point D: Economy

Ending prohibition and moving to a public health based system benefits the economy in two ways. Firstly by taxing the drugs themselves, just looking to marijuana alone , Accord to a 2006 study done by Jon Gettman, PH.D states, Marijuana is the largest cash crop in the United States, more valuable than corn and wheat combined. Using conservative price estimates domestic marijuana production has a value of thirty-five pint eight billion dollars. The domestic marijuana crop consists of 56.4 million marijuana plants cultivated outdoors worth $31.7 billion and 11.7 million plants cultivated indoors worth $4.1 billion. And Despite intensive eradication efforts domestic marijuana production has increased tenfold As we can see The government is prohibiting the legal expansion of a new and lucrative market. As Marijuana generates a lot of money in our country legal or not we as well legalize it and tax it for the overall benefit of societal welfare. Numerous economist as well as three Nobel Laureates: Smith, Friedman, Akerlof state in an open letter to the government how beneficial it would be to the economy if marijuana was legalized We, the undersigned, call your attention to the attached report by Professor Jeffrey A. Miron, The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition. The report shows that marijuana legalization -- replacing prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation -- would save seven point seven billion dollars per year in state and federal expenditures on prohibition enforcement and produce tax revenues of at least two point four billion dollars annually if marijuana were taxed like most consumer goods. If, however, marijuana were taxed similarly to alcohol or tobacco, it might generate as much as six point two billion dollars. Annually, The fact that marijuana prohibition has these budgetary impacts does not by itself mean prohibition is bad policy. Existing evidence, however, suggests prohibition has minimal benefits and may itself cause substantial harm. Now keep in mind these are jst the stats for marijuana. All other drugs would likely follow suit in the an=mound of revenue generated. The second way is by saving money by switching to public health. Acording to the National Institute on drugs According to several conservative estimates, every $1 invested in addiction treatment programs yields a return of between $4 and $7 in reduced drug-related crime, criminal justice costs, and theft. When savings related to health care are included, total savings can exceed costs by a ratio of 12 to 1. Major savings to the individual and to society also stem from fewer interpersonal conicts; greater workplace productivity; and fewer drug-related accidents, including overdoses and deaths.
I Conclusion if you affirm this resolution you affirm the strict regulation of drugs that comes with legalization alsay as more effective treatment, lower crime rates, a better economy and the mitigation of racist and generally dehumanizing sterotypes.