Drugs What Argument Can You Make for Essay

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Drugs

What argument can you make for either the prohibition of or the continued legalization of caffeine and nicotine? What are some of the implications of either move?

Both caffeine and nicotine are legal drugs, and they should remain legal just as all drugs of all types should be legal. Caffeine is a "psychoactive stimulant drug," and it can be found in common foods and beverages such as coffee and soft drinks (p. 274). Nicotine is described as a "toxic, dependence-producing psychoactive drug found exclusively in tobacco," (p. 254). Although caffeine and especially nicotine are not necessarily healthy substances, using these drugs is a matter of personal choice. Similarly, using alcohol, cannabis, and doctor-prescribed medications is also a matter of personal choice and should be so. The implications of keeping caffeine and nicotine legal include allowing people to enjoy delicious beverages like coffee, which has a long and entrenched cultural history. Caffeine also "relatively benign" even if signs of dependency can be shown in clinical trials and in case study (p. 274). There is no reason to ban caffeine, any more than there is a reason to ban alcohol.
Nicotine might be more harmful than caffeine due to the fact that the most common intake method for nicotine is cigarettes, which also contain tar, carbon monoxide, and other toxins. Banning nicotine is not the best method to create a healthier society; awareness and the trend towards making smoking socially unacceptable is a far more effective means of promoting public health. Prohibition of drugs and alcohol has proven to be ineffective, and until all drugs are legalized, there will continue to be contradictory politics and programs related to addictions. Addiction is treated both as a mental health issue and a criminal justice issue, and if caffeine and nicotine were added to the list of controlled substances, most of the American population would be in prison.

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