Postion: Pro
Definitions:
Drug:A chemical substance, such as a narcotic or hallucinogen, that affects the central nervous system, causing changes in behavior and often addiction.
Illegal: Prohibited from use.
Punishable: Inflict a penalty or sanction on (someone) as retribution for an offense, esp. a transgression of a legal or moral code.
Source:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com
Secondly, I am for the opinion that drug use should be punishable by law mostly due to the fact that it has affected my life because my elder brother was a drug addict. My brother can be the most generous/kindest/nicest person on earth however when it comes to drugs he no longer cares if he sees me, he no longer cares if he has to steal from me, as long as he can get the money to buy drugs from people to help his addiction. It was never like as if he was a psycho nor was it that he tried it for a test. It was the people around him who got him into it, rather, his friend tricked him into getting addicted to drugs.(long story). In the end, he no longer lives.
The sad part is, that I don't want my brother to be punished as he just got addicted to it indirectly so I do not believe that he should be punished and he wasn't punished by law, never the less, he did undergo rehab but he went for it once again(I'm not so sure when,but the result was seen).
If there was any thing as drug use punishable law, at-least he would have feared from doing so again.
But I'm not going to write a whole story about my loved brother, instead I'm going to state why I initially and completely believe that drug users should be punishable by law(IMO):
- It is bad for health.
- It affects the surroundings(ie, second hand smoke, forced to use drugs(some), violence(by definition, drugs cause it's user to have a violent behavior)honestly, keep your bad smoke for yourself).
- Unemployment rate will increase.
- More money will be spent by the government(ie, lawsuit).
- More money will be wasted by the drug users on drugs and for rehab.
- The black market cannot be stopped even if they are legalized or illegalized(yet again, prevention is the solution).
- If drugs are legalized, there should be no such as legal as it will logically be unfair to legalized other crimes.(So again, this implies that there is a double standard IMO).
- More crimes.(Drugs can cause violent behavior).
- More drug users/more at risk(the next generation).(Less fear/no punishment,yes?).
- We have no right to use illegal drugs.
- I also believe that the drug users are punishing themselves by using drugs, but the difference is, punishing them by using drugs does effect the surroundings while by law, it does not effect the surrounding, so it's best to go for the latter.
This means that drug use should be punishable by law because it's logically an ASSAULT and more fear= less crimes!
All in all, the law has the complete right to take what ever steps that is necessary to maintain the society as that is the exact reason why there is such a thing.
That's probably all I could think of, anyway, I'm looking forward for the debate and good luck everyone.
Prevention is better than cure.
Prevention saves money, at least from rehab.
Prevention = Fear = Punishable by law.
Drug use also includes people who use drugs to make money even though they don't use it for themselves(body).