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Intelligence Squared
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Topic: Legalize Drugs
FOR:
Paul Butler, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief of Reason.tv and Reason.com
AGAINST:
Asa Hutchinson, Former Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration
Theodore Dalrymple, Dietrich Weismann Fellow, Manhattan Institute
It was 1971 when President Richard Nixon declared a "war on drugs." $2.5 trillion dollars later, drug use is half of what it was 30 years ago, and thousands of offenders are successfully diverted to treatment instead of jail. And yet, 22 million Americans-9% of the population-still uses illegal drugs, and with the highest incarceration rate in the world, we continue to fill our prisons with drug offenders. Decimated families and communities are left in the wake. Is it time to legalize drugs or is this a war that we're winning?
