Is Legalization of Drugs a Solution to Deviance and Crime?

Is Legalization of Drugs a Solution to Deviance and Crime?

In the society in which we live in, we see drugs as a social problem; in other words a condition that is perceived as harmful to our society. Drugs have not always been seen as negative, this dates back to the early 1900's when the first laws against certain drugs took effect. Crime and drugs have been seen as eye to eye in our society, people commit crimes to support their habits, or commit crimes because of being under the influence of drugs. Drugs have also been seen to be apart of dysfunctional families, and can effect children or the partner in a relationship. Unlike most European countries, America has laws and punishments for those who are caught using drugs, legalizing drugs would be a great start to making crime come down to a minimal and also help families stay together.

Drugs have seen its time when they were completely legal to use and weren't seen as negative as people label them today. Opium was a popular pain killer for women of the upper class, and until 1914 doctors could prescribe it to anyone. America took on a prohibition of alcohol from 1919 until 1933, when the Great Depression was in full force. During this time of prohibition, bootlegging of alcohol was a common thing; in New York City, organized crime started speakeasy clubs to sell, manufacture, and transport alcohol. The government at this point didn't have the man power to slow or stop all the bootlegging of alcohol in and out of the United States. In 1933 President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Volstead Act allowing the sale of alcoholic beverages, and making the black market of bootlegging alcohol fall down hill.

As the years progressed drug laws increased in America; in 1924 Heroine Act, making it illegal to manufacture heroine, then in 1937 the Marijuana tax act, it applied controls over marijuana and similar narcotics (Drug Library). From these laws newer rules and regulations were passed making even more severe punishments available if caught with narcotics. This created the negative label and made society create a deviant way of thinking that drugs are a social problem based on the laws the government made. But laws didn't and haven't stopped people from using them, growing them or selling them. Laws have only increased the amount people who have tried drugs such as marijuana, one of the most common gateway drugs. In America drug use starts at the earliest age of 14, alcohol and marijuana being the drugs of choice. Cocaine has 5.6 million users who do it regularly and heroine is making a comeback especially in the Suffolk County part of Long Island.

In Europe many drugs are legal for use; such countries include Amsterdam, Great Britain, and Sweden. In the Netherlands drugs are categorized into two different groups, Soft Drugs and Hard Drugs. The hard drugs are consisted of cocaine, LCD, heroine,