Apparently it was a Speech Not an Essay

But either way I found it! It's a tad unpolished, I'm not above admitting that I'm the 'do it the night before and wing it if anything goes wrong' style of student, and some of my ideas were left out or changed a bit. This would be because I was presenting it in school for grading and there was a lovely plethora of rules it had to follow. I'll highlight the key areas as I do in my articles.

Enjoy:

"The war on drugs, seemingly a noble battle, but is it worth the cost? Is it even noble? At first glance it, much like communism, seems ideal; both systems work perfectly on paper. Unfortunately paper can’t account for all the variables. Ideally heavy sentencing and good police work would act as deterrence to most would be offenders, and then the few remaining nefarious drug abusers would easily be apprehended. So what’s the major hitch in the plan? It simply does. Not. Work. People continue to abuse illegal substances despite the heavy punishments; fines, imprisonment, and a permanent blemish on their legal record. Millions, if not billions, of Canadian tax dollars are being thrown away on a ‘war’ that simply generates a need to throw away more tax dollars (in 1997 the average cost per federal inmate per year was $48,468) I am here to suggest another method, I am here to suggest a more efficient way of keeping illegal substances in check… and what better way to do that, than to legalize them?

Sounds outrageous right? But think about it, those who truly want to consume these drugs often do regardless, and often, due to legality, take great risks to feed their desire, and their urge to experiment with the drug. I propose that in stead of throwing away tax dollars on a losing battle the government takes steps towards the regulation and sale of formerly illegal drugs. It is my belief that this could solve a number of drug related problems within society, such as; overdoses, theft, and the swelling Canadian prisons. By selling various ‘illicit’ drugs itself, similar to cigarettes only entirely controlled by the government, the government would be able to sell product cheaper than most drug dealers and, in turn, regulate that drug and control its purity. This would ensure that fewer people would start on one drug, and find themselves addicted to something else due to lacing, and, assuming somebody accidentally overdosed, there would be less concern about calling the paramedics, as the users would no longer be criminal offenders.

With the government creating and selling it’s own ‘product’ in stead of spending tax dollars, in a seemingly failed attempt to stop drug circulation, the government would have a new means of supplementing its income. Without a middle man, such as in cigarette companies, the government would receive 100% income on their product, which would be able to greatly benefit society, this money could go toward; a better equipped police force, education, general tax relief for society, the list goes on. Gang violence would likely be cut in half, as gangs would no longer fight over drugs, and, using the money from drug sales, the government would be able to better train and equip the various police forces.

Much like any change, my idea has some massive holes in it. Surely we don’t want to make all drugs legal; there are many that pose a great risk to the user and society. Drugs like methamphetamines, for example, pose a threat to both the user, and those around the drug in general (as methamphetamines tend to be highly toxic). There would have to be some restrictions for on the job as well, much like a politician, police officer, teacher, businessman –even a manager at McDonalds- can’t come to work drunk, neither should they be allowed to whilst ‘tripping’ or ‘stoned’; they should suffer a harsher penalty than had they been drinking.

In conclusion, my idea would help to; supplement tax dollars, remove two sources of heavy tax burden, help to end gang violence (and potentially general petty theft), help to minimize the number of ‘OD’ victims, and help to make the users of such drugs, and people in general, feel like they have a bit more of their promised freedom. Of course my idea isn’t perfect, but the system we have now doesn’t seem to be perfect either, and in many ways the system we have now doesn’t seem to work at all. Perhaps the legalization and regulation of what are, currently, illegal drugs, is a step in the right direction. I leave it to you, to decide for yourself."

Oh, and for anybody that's wondering, still no dice on the headaches... I'm not overly worried though, I've put up with the random headaches for a few years this is just the worst they've hit me.

Take it easy all,
-Wraith