Write a 9 page essay on Pros and Cons of Legalizing Illicit Drugs.

Normally there arises the issue of feasibility of the exercise of legalization as there are pros and cons arising with this issue (Inciardi, 2007). This essay describes the effects related to either the illegalization or legalization of illicit drugs.

Many countries have taken the initiative to fight the illegal trade of illegal drugs. For instance, the DEA in the United States has taken the initiative to fight the trade of illegal drugs as a way to counter the illegal trade. Many laws that pertain to the illegalization of illegal drug trade were implemented about a hundred years ago. Due to this, there has been tremendous decline in the number of persons that engage in the use of illegal drugs. An example of this. since the 1912 (Faupel, 2007) international convention illegalizing the use of drugs such as heroin, opium and cocaine, the 50 year period that followed saw the users of these drugs drop to below 1%. Subsequently, the omission of cannabis use from the convention’s list saw the increase rise by about 2% in the following five years.

Sweden for example has very strict laws regarding drugs. Of the total GDP, Sweden spends the second highest in the European region on the implementation of illegalizing trade and use of drugs. In the 1990s, Sweden cut spending on these implementations to counter the problem of unemployment and a failing GDP. This saw the rise of illegal drug use and trade up until the 2000’s when the funding was reclaimed back to the drug use and trade. Evidently, laws that promote the illegalization of drugs have the effect of reducing the trade and use of illegal drugs.

The impact drug abuse and trade has on the overall economic status of any country leads to the loss of large sums of the total GDP. Further, the impact associated will also show that there are lots of untapped economic benefits in the society. It has pointed out that the total cost that illegalization would total between $150 and 210 billion