Legalizing drugs and prostitution

by Michelle Malsbury
February 25, 2009

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/181/legalizing-drugs-and-prostitution

In this article I hope to point out some of the benefits of legalizing drugs and prostitution, from a financial and criminal/legislative perspective. Other countries do and some of my findings may surprise you. Before the right gets carried away with the prospect of this plan and begins the dialogue against such, hear me out. America is in the midst of a full-blown recession, near depression. People across America are feeling the effects of this downturn. There are some things that the states can do to control or cut costs and bring their budgets back into the black.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) tried to reform California´s prison system back in 2005. (Segura, L., 2008) California´s prison system had become corrupt and filled with scandal. No doubt this is not an isolated incident. Governor Schwarzenegger proposed a name change and reform to how prisoners were to be rehabilitated; beginning with early release of those which were jailed for non-violent or low-risk crimes, including drugs and prostitution. Many taxpayers in California felt this was a step in the right direction and one that would save their state a lot of money too. Prison guards and the police were against this bold move because they said rehabilitation did not work and therefore should not be tried.

The PEW Center researched the number of persons behind bars and found that 1 out of every 100 people in 2008 were behind bars in the USA. (Segura, L., 2008) This sampling took into account only the adult population in prison and totaled over 2.3 million across our nation. Of that 2.3 million 1 out of every 9 persons jailed were black and between the ages of 20 to 34. In 2005 nearly half of the people behind bars were those who had parole violations. 1 million of those behind bars were jailed for non-violent or low-risk crimes, including drugs and prostitution. [comparatively China has 1.5 million persons behind bars, and Russia has 890,000 persons behind bars].

A guestimate of cost per prisoner is near $30,000 per prisoner per year. If 1 million of those persons behind bars are non-violent or low-risk crimes the cost for keeping them behind bars comes at a price tag of $3 Trillion dollars per year! Saving that kind of money would go a long way toward balancing our very lop-sided budget over time and is worth looking at in my esteem.

The burgeoning number of prisoners behind bars has further strapped our flagging economy and nearly devastated many state and local governments. To simply build more prisons to hold more prisoners that cost the taxpayer more defeats the purpose. My plan saves money, creates a new revenue stream, and creates jobs too. I propose that we legalize both, prostitution and drugs. We add a tax on each of them similar to that on alcohol or cigarettes to counteract the deficiencies created by foreclosure and/or unemployment on our tax rolls. We use this tax to pay down the national deficit, subsidize shortfalls in state and local budgets, and get back on track. Fact, we can never stop the use of drugs or the business of prostitution, so why not reform our laws to allow them as viable business ventures?

Legalizing both would ensure a certain level of integrity or quality of goods and services, as well, as take the fight off the books saving us millions, if not billions or trillions, of dollars each year. Dramatic cost savings could be noted in prisons and law enforcement. For example, we could ensure that the drugs are of a good quality which would cut down on drug related deaths and AIDS transmittal from needle use. Doing so would cut back severely on violent drug related crimes creating a safer society as well as a continuous revenue stream from taxation for state and local governments. We could have our prostitutes submit to regular AIDS testing and ensure that they are in good health to conduct this business. Cards could be issued for those in good health standing for employment purposes. This plan would take out the pimp and ensure that these men or women engaged in prostitution work in good, clean conditions like escort services do. Regulating/licensing them through each states department of business regulation would ensure that they are treated as professionals, elevating their quality and standard of life.

Don't balk just yet. They have legal drugs and prostitution in Amsterdam and their violent crimes for 2003 were a mere 24. (www.cityrating.com) The 24 violent crimes in 2003 included 0 murders, 2 rapes, 3 robberies, etc.. Amsterdam spends an average of $27 per capita on law enforcement and enjoys a 52% job approval rating for their law enforcement officials compared to the United States which spends something like $81 per capita on law enforcement and has a controversial relationship, at best, with law enforcement.

If we took the people we released from prison from non-violent crimes or low-risk crimes and allowed them to pursue the businesses of drugs or prostitution in a controlled atmosphere, instead of in the back streets and on the black market, it might even lower drug use by taking out the risk/fun factor. Think about it this way---young people are attracted to drugs as much for the illegal aspect of "getting away with something" as they are for the highs associated with such use. If there was nothing to get away with the mystique may be removed and the number of people who use these drugs might decrease too. Since the drugs would be made available in a controlled environment there would be no need to steal, or rape, or kill. Like alcohol, or tobacco, we could impose a set age limit to curtail abuse by our youth, as well as, set specific limits for who would, or would not be, partaking in an illegal purpose.

What I have just proposed is food for thought, but it could work too!

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