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|Decriminalisation, Legalisation and Drugs |
|It is clear that most South American countries believe that the war on drugs has failed and that drugs should|
|now be decriminalized. To what extent do you agree with that statement? |

|11/12/2009 |

Most of the South American countries believe that the war on drugs has failed and that drugs should now be decriminalized. Indeed, after years and billions spent solving the drug problem, criminality is still increasing. Most of the people strongly believe that the decriminalisation of drugs will benefits for the overall society and that it is a first step to eliminate criminality. In the first part, we will explain why drugs should be decriminalised. In the second part, we will show why decriminalisation is not enough and that drugs have to be legalised.

Cartels are due to criminalisation which is encouraged by drugs. Indeed, a large criminal market such as terrorism, gun-running, prostitution and trafficking has been developed, using corruption, violence and targeting children becoming addicted to make huge profits (Llyod, 2009). Crimes destabilise society; for instance more than a third of Mexican residents have thought to leave the city because of the increasing presence of cartels (Upi, 2008). Consequently, the government tried to eliminate criminalisation by entering in a war against drugs. However, Lloyd (2009) points out that this “war on drugs” has failed. Truly, it is expensive, counterproductive and harmful as problems due to drugs have not been eradicated. For instance, an operation held in East Anglian city in order to decrease the criminality rate has been unsuccessful. Many dealers have