addiction. For example, a patient in a hospital may be given large doses of drugs over a long period of time but when he is released he suffers no withdrawal symptoms nor drug cravings. This is the result of the attitude that it is ok to take drugs in the hospital. However, taking the same drugs out of a hospital for recreation purposes causes a person to become "hooked" because this is what he has subconsciously learned. What should be done is to build a cultural setting of more tolerance and less guilt.Legalizing drugs is a viable alternative to the current policy on drugs in America. If the government would legalize and regulate drugs a substantial industry and tax income would result. The jail overcrowding problem would be reduced by fifty per-cent in some estimates and violent crime would decline. Of course there are those who believe that legalization will turn our whole country into drug addicts. There is no evidence to support this. In fact, the drugs that are legal in the United States such as alcohol and nicotine are used in the lower dosage form. The alcohol distribution method of choice is beer or wine which contain low doses of alcohol while cigarettes are the most popular form of nicotine distribution which also contains a very low dose. These Americans are not considered addicts although they may drink or smoke everyday and are damaging their bodies a great deal. Making something illegal only creates a taboo, which people challenge and break because they know its wrong. It is morally wrong to arrest and jail people for taking drugs. This is invasion of our right to privacy guaranteed us by the fourth amendment. 5Advocates of incarcerating people for using drugs say that this is a deterrent to drug use and an effective way of controlling drug usage. Studies show that this is not true...
