Drug Trafficking in the United States
Bethany Chrisco
ENG 122: English Composition II
Mary Harmon
December 10, 2012

Drug Trafficking in the United States “The war on drugs has become the longest most deadly war the United States has ever faced.”(Wright, 2011) The United States has been fighting drug trafficking since the 1900’s and the main dilemma is how to exactly stop it. Some people believe that making drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, and methamphetamine legal in the United States would put a stop to drug trafficking, but this is just going to do nothing but make things worse for the people of the United States and cause the drug war to begin in our own country. It is believed by some that making drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, and methamphetamine legal in the United States will stop drug trafficking from other countries and help the United States in other ways. People believe that making drugs legal in the United States that it would reduce the prison population which will save the government money, it will make money for our country because the government can tax the drugs, reduce the chances of drug overdoses because the drugs will be more pure and the amount sold will not be deathly, help cancer and glaucoma patients, and stop trafficking and smuggling from other countries. This all may be true in some ways but making these drugs legal would just cause more problems within the United States and for our people. These problems vary from more crime within the United States to more jobless people in the United States. Also it is not going to make the drug traffickers disappears they will find ways to stay in the drug trade. So if people would research the effects of these drugs and what legalizing them would do to the United States they might think twice about this and find other ways to prevent or stop drug trafficking in the United States. Marijuana is one of the top drugs that is trafficked into the United States. Marijuana is the most abused and available drug in the United States. Currently 11.5 million people use marijuana. Marijuana is mostly trafficked into the United States from Mexico and Canada. Crime groups from Mexico have been smuggling marijuana into the United States since the early 1970’s. Marijuana is trafficked from Mexico using ships, vehicles, and back packers that cross the border in remote locations. The marijuana that is being trafficked from Canada is the marijuana that is grown indoors and is the highest potency; this marijuana is destined for the United States. Some people believe that making marijuana legal in the United States will reduce trafficking from Mexico and Canada and cut down on the crime associated with drug trafficking. This may be true and it may help this issue but it will hurt us as Americans and our country. Legalizing marijuana will cause economic strain, increase the strain on medical, police, fire, and ambulance services, and it will be hard for employers to find drug free workers. More people will turn to Government assistance because they can’t function properly at work or just do not want to work due to effects of marijuana to the mind and body. This will cause the economic strain because it will be taking more money from our Government. The Government will not bring in enough money off the sales of marijuana to cover all the costs of the people that are seeking Government assistance because they have lost their jobs or just do not feel the need to work. Also civil liability risks will increase due to the high levels of drug related accidents in places of work. What employer would want to have workers that are working “high” on marijuana? Also people will turn to forgery, burglary, robbery, shoplifting and other crimes to support their habit of using the drug. This will cause the strain on medical, police, fire, and ambulance services and will cause the prisons and jails to be even more over flowed due to