"Illegal Drugs vs. Legal Drugs"

I keep reading about how terrible our country would be if, we were to legalize drug usage. Most recently in the Philadelphia Trumpet Magazine "How not to win the War on Drugs" by Mahailo S. Zekic (pg. 26, Oct. 2023).

Mr. Zekic tries to hold the narrative that in both, States and Countries, where some drug laws have been suspended, that rampant death has followed. He sites that, "since 2016 over 11,000 of the 5.3 million British Columbians have died from overdose. The vast majority of these involve fentanyl". I think it is fair to ask the question he left unanswered: How many folks would have overdosed under normal, illegal drug use. How many would have overdosed if they hadn't passed these DE-CRIMINALIZTION" laws. He neglected to ask this question.

I will add that Mr. Zekic, in my opinion, killed his own argument when on the very next page he states, I quote, "The casualties of the illegal drug trade are far worse. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 932,000 Americans have died from drug overdoses since 1999. Tens of thousands more have died in Mexico from the various drug cartel's' turf wars. The Council for Foreign Relations estimates that as many as 360,000 people have been murdered in Mexico since 2006" ibid, pg.. 27. I will add that most of the inner-city murders in our country are the result of "Turf Wars" as well, and these numbers are not reflected in the 932,000 spoken of by Mr. Zekic.

So for all of Mr. Zekics argument, I think it is abundantly clear that more people are dying from the violence created by the underground economy of ILLEGAL drugs than are dying from legal drug use. More actually, than those dying of accidental overdose under relaxed drug laws.

Once again, I repeat. I do not do drugs, any. So I'm not trying to justify a drug habit, I'm only trying to point out the facts that the VIOLENCE we all hate, is not the result of drug users, but of the profit made from ILLEGAL drugs.

Peace be with you.

 

1-10-23