<p>In the United States, there has been a deviation from the traditional approach to drugs in our society.  ;Gone are the days when the government actively combated the use and distributions of narcotics to our nation&rsquo;s citizens.  ;</p>
<p>Presidents such as President Nixon proclaimed the fight against narcotics the &ldquo;War on Drugs&rdquo;, a war we have waged since 1971.  ;First Lady Nancy Reagan took the fight a step further and adopted the &ldquo;Just Say No&rdquo; Campaign in order to educate the youth of America and discourage them from using narcotics by understanding the negative effects of these dangerous products.  ;</p>
<p>However, these days the prevalent political winds are blowing in the direction of legalization.  ;Detractors claim that by criminalizing narcotics, we have done more harm than good.  ;They point to incarceration numbers, economic, and social factors to proclaim that the war is lost.  ;</p>
<p>As a result, states have begun the process of deregulation by legalizing marijuana at various levels of access.  ;Though there is data to show that marijuana, from a strictly health perspective, is less dangerous than other drugs; it disregards the honest truth that marijuana is a stepping stone to other narcotic exploration.  ;</p>
<p>There is plenty of room for debate regarding the method in which we respond to this issue, but <strong>we cannot and should not legalize narcotics in this country</strong>.  ;To throw up our hands and proclaim defeat is not an option when we are referring to the well-being of this country and its people.</p>
<p>To begin, narcotics are a danger in and of themselves.  ;Heavier narcotics such as heroin and cocaine can lead to death from overuse or overdose.  ;According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, over 10,000 people died from heroin overdose in 2014 alone.  ;This is a 6-fold increase from 2001 statistics.  ;</p>
<p>It is not just heroin, there has been marked increases in the number of overdose victims of prescription drugs, cocaine, and other narcotics.  ;</p>
<p>Marijuana is often considered the &ldquo;softer&rdquo; drug because there is no data that supports the claim that one can die simply by using it.  ;However, there continues to be increases in DUI death rates where the driver is high on marijuana or has combined weed with alcohol.  ;That is a death, regardless of how soft one may believe it to be.  ;We are losing the war on these hard drugs because we have made them more readily available, we have a society that glorifies their use, and a general lack of moral fiber among the American citizen.</p>
<p>This leads me to the next argument; we are deteriorating the morality of this once great country.  ;The Roman Empire can attest to the dangers of the moral decay of a society away from values of self-respect, self-reliance, and propriety in business and education.  ;</p>
<p>Instead, we have a society that believes they can do whatever they wish and get away with it because it is the fault of society that they are doing poorly in life.  ;For example, the youth of this generation blames the &ldquo;Evil 1%&rdquo; for their problem; you know those who do the right thing, work hard, and mostly avoid the attraction of narcotics.  ;</p>
<p>These youths, however, believe it perfectly permissible to do narcotics, to dress unprofessionally, to have a &ldquo;work-shy&rdquo; attitude, and that wealth and happiness should be handed to them like a joint being passed around the bongo drum line.</p>
<p>It doesn&rsquo;t work that way.  ;</p>
<p>As a result, we have had a negative impact on the economic and moral foundation of the country.  ;According to Gil Kerlikowske, director of the US ONDCP, this country loses around $180 billion per year in health care costs, crime, and lost productivity.  ;That is economic hemorrhaging that must be plugged up.  ;</p>
<p>This can juxtaposed onto our education system where every year science, mathematics, and other data of measurement continue to report American children falling behind the rest of the world.  ;This decay is at the heart of America&rsquo;s problems currently in the world: a clear lack of knowledge of international affairs, an apathy towards mechanism of further decay, a cowering attitude towards national security threats, and, most importantly, a lack of work ethic coupled with an entitlement attitude.  ;</p>
<p>Drug legalization will exacerbate the situation as it is and lead to continued moral and ethical decay.</p>
<p>Next, one should be aware that, regardless of the naysayers, drug restrictions work.  ;According to a research done in Australia by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 2007, about 80-90% of the world&rsquo;s citizens indulge in the consumption of alcohol and about 60% consumption of tobacco products.  ;However, there was only a 15% use of marijuana and less than 1% use of harder drugs.  ;</p>
<p>Drug Restrictions keep people from making a terrible mistake and tumbling down the rabbit hole to addiction and other socio-economic issues.  ;Imagine for a second 80-90% of America was using heroin.  ;Such a thought is an image of the End of Days.</p>
<p>None of this takes into account the terrible effects it has on the lives of users.  ;First, they begin to use drugs recreationally and attempt to maintain a normal life in society.  ;However, as the addiction becomes more and more a part of their lives, important things begin to fall by the way side.  ;</p>
<p>They often lose their job from poor performance or constant no-shows.  ;Without a source of income, they begin to take actions to provide their basic necessities while still maintaining their habit.  ;They eat less and engage in nefarious behaviors in order to maintain the addictions.  ;Some may resort to crime while young women subject themselves to sexual exploitation in exchange for access to their drug of choice.  ;</p>
<p>Eventually these people hit rock bottom and end up in jail.  ;This in and of itself is devastating as they experience withdrawal systems while also a prisoner of the state.  ;When they are released, their job opportunities have been severely decreased and often times, they return to their hold habits.  ;Thus does the cycle of degeneration continues.  ;</p>
<p>The last part leaves the door open for a honest discussion regarding narcotics: is our approach towards drug enforcement the best way forward.  ;There is no argument against the fact that it drives people away from using drugs and prevents our youth from entering the &ldquo;Gateway&rdquo;.  ;However, are we doing a service to the users and their salvation from these demons?  ;</p>
<p>Would it not be better that, instead of spending millions a year in law enforcement and incarceration, we dedicate our funds to a more permanent solution of drug rehabilitation centers?  ;This would allow the afflicted to have an opportunity to break their habits while simultaneously not condemning these individuals from an opportunity for future employment?  ;</p>
<p>As Christians, it is not our responsibility to lead people back to the light from darkness instead of condemning them to a life a debauchery, crime, and Pain?</p>
<p><strong>Editor&#8217;s Note:</strong>  ;We can thank our drug dealer in chief Barack Obama and his &#8220;choom gang&#8221; for his fine example.</p>