Should All Drugs be Legalized?
Why That Idea Could Do More Harm Than Good
Krish Taneja
Introduction
Hundreds of thousands of senseless deaths occur each year due to accidental ingestion of Fentanyl by people using recreational drugs. In 2022, the US recorded over a hundred thousand drug overdose deaths, with synthetic opioids like fentanyl being a major contributor. (Drug Overdose Death in the United States, 2002-2022 – CDC).
In fact, 70% of illicit pills contain fentanyl (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration – [16]). As illicit drug use has become more affordable and accessible in the United States, our fentanyl problem has become more prevalent. This has sparked an intense debate on how best to solve this growing issue, with a leading proposal being government regulation and legalization as a safer alternative to current prohibition strategies…