Darian Riazzi
Eng-106
3/29/2015
Rebecca Foy
Legalizing Organ Sales Most people are aware that the black market is defined as the “illicit trade in goods or commodities in violation of official regulations,” (Merriam Webster, 2015). The black market kind of sounds like a place, but it is actually a form of the economy that lacking the normal regulations of government controlled markets. Government regulations are non-existent in the black market and the activities that are performed there are completely illegal. While many of the goods sold and obtained through the black market are actually legal, the way they are being obtained, sold and who they are being sold to is what makes the whole process of the black market illegal. There are so many different kinds of items and services that are being sold and purchased through the black market, some of those being weapons, prescription drugs that one must normally have a prescription for to get through a pharmacy, counterfeit money and even fake designer jewelry or clothes that people often convince others of being real. Probably the biggest and one of the most controversial topics concerning black market sales that has vastly increased over just a few years would be organ sales. Donating an organ for absolutely nothing in return is completely legal in the United States, it is actually the fact that kidneys and other organs are being sold in order for the donors to make a large form of money is what is making the process illegal. Waiting for an organ is a very long, painful and expensive process due to the already long and growing waiting list, however, if organ sales were legalized and regulated by the government, the process of someone in need actually obtaining an organ would be a lot less stressful. Selling organs is illegal in all countries around the world aside from Iran. People are willing to spend mass amounts of their money to purchase organs that are being sold through the black market. Of all the transplant needs, only about 10% are actually being done. Allowing people, who are of course willing, to sell their organs to people that are in need will only increase that percentage, and it would increase it a lot. The sale of organs through the black market is incredibly dangerous and often results in a bad outcome, depending of course on the situation. If the government created some sort of controlled corporation through which people are able to buy and sell these organs than there would be way less of a hazard. The prices would also be more regulated, making things fairer for people who are not able to pay for a $50,000 kidney. Not only that, but regulating it would ensure that people were not being deceived and that they truly would get the money they were promised for their contribution, instead of them risking losing a kidney and being ripped off in the end, or vice versa. There are many other organizations that offer profit for similar contributions, one example being companies that pay people to donate their plasma. People are allowed to go in two times a week and give plasma donations while afterwards they receive a specified amount of money for each visit. Obviously people are not able to sell more than one of their kidneys, but the price for donating a kidney would be a lot higher than the price of donating plasma. If the government was able to come up with a system to control the sale of organs as they have with the sale of plasma, the amount of people in need would of organs would drop a lot, and fast. It would drop even with the black market for organs still existing because most people would prefer to do things legally because of fear of getting caught and ending up in jail. Creating a legal option for these people would increase the amount of organs that are being sold by a lot, therefore decreasing the large amount of people who are stuck waiting to receive.
“The average waiting time for a kidney is three to five years, depending on blood type,”