François-Marie Arouet or Voltaire or was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit. One of his most famous quotes is “It is better to risk saving the guilty than condemning the innocent. " This quote applies to one of the most disastrous campaigns of the 20th century and still today, namely the war on drugs and drug policies. These campaigns and acts have cost billions of dollars of Canadian taxpayers. Furthermore, the act of prohibiting drugs have only worsened violent crime and created black markets and a drug trade worth over $300 billion. Furthermore, instead of protecting the public, they have caused public health crises such as the opioid epidemic and has increased the spread of infectious diseases such as HIV. Furthermore, the war on drugs has targeted people, causing them the most harm and ruining lives. Instead of treating people for addiction and mental illnesses, the government has locked them up instead of helping them become part of society. Ironically, one of the ways to solve the drug problem is to legalize drugs. In short, Canada must reform its drug laws and end the disastrous war on drugs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Cost of Money For starters, drug trafficking is currently worth more than $300 billion, or more than $283. 7 billion dollars of Pakistan's GDP. Canada has spent millions of dollars on a war started by the United States in 1971, when President Nixon declared drug abuse the "public enemy." From 2013 to 2014, the Harper government spent $7 million on a 12-week anti-drug advertising campaign. Additionally, the $7 million spent on anti-pot advertising surpassed $5 million. 2 million that Health Canada spent on advertising the previous year. Health Canada had advertised on a wide range of issues, including food safety, immunization, adverse drug reactions, and the health and safety of Canadian citizens. In Canada, illicit drug sales amount to $7-10 billion per year and to combat this, the government spends approximately $2 billion per year on broken law enforcement. Much like the United States, Canada's war on drugs also extends to South America in an effort to dismantle drug cartels. In 2012, the Harper government announced CISCA or Canada Initiative for Security in Central America, a $25 million program designed to provide aid and train troops in South America to fight these cartels. Currently, Canada has a presence in Brazil, Columbia, Belize and Central American states. Furthermore, the Canadian government spends $50 billion every year to control the drug habits of Canadian citizens, a figure equal to approximately 3 times the expenditure on prisoners compared to that on students. The overall spending is more than the total amount spent on First Nations health services, veterans' health care, health research and public health programs combined. In short, Canada has wasted billions of dollars every year fighting drugs, while the Canadian government could have spent the money elsewhere, such as on the education system, fixing the healthcare system, or even modernizing obsolete military equipment used by our men and women who serve. . As a matter of fact, the reason the war on drugs is costing Canada billions of dollars is because of prohibition. Prohibition Doesn't Work Another reason why theCanada needs to reform its drug laws and end the war on drugs is that prohibition doesn't work. In 1920, when the national alcohol ban went into effect, a black market in alcohol was created and organized crime increased. In a study of more than 30 large U.S. cities during the Prohibition years of 1920-1921, crime increased by 24 percent. Additionally, thefts and burglaries increased 9%, homicides increased 12.7%, assaults and battery increased 13%, drug addiction increased 44.6%, and the cost of the police department increased by 11.4%. This has largely contributed to the rise of “black market violence” and diffusion of law enforcement resources elsewhere. Although prohibition movements hoped that banning alcohol would reduce crime, the reality was that it led to higher crime rates than those experienced before prohibition. One of the most famous incidents during Prohibition was the Valentine's Day Massacre, which resulted in seven deaths and is considered one of the deadliest days in Mafia history and was committed by one of the most infamous Mafia bosses in history, Al Capone . Since the war on drugs began in 1971, drug trafficking has grown to an estimated $300 billion and increased violence. Furthermore, black markets motivate criminals to protect their secrecy. For many dealers, the most effective way to do this is to “weed out” potential leaks from their organizations. Furthermore, black markets require that disputes be resolved with violence. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said, “You can't sue someone for drug debt; the only way to get your money is through strong arm tactics, and violence tends to follow. '”Furthermore, without the black markets created by drug policies resulting from the war on drugs, nations like the United States or Canada would most likely not have drug traffickers, black markets, drug importers and the infamous drug cartels. Even if criminal gangs would survive, it would be just as after the roll call of Prohibition, organized gangs would wield less power and maim or kill fewer people. Furthermore, the opioid crisis began even though the Canadian government had drug policy laws in place. According to the CDC, the opioid crisis claimed nearly 30,000 lives out of 72,000 overdose deaths in the United States last year and in Canada, opioids caused a record 4,000 deaths last year. The opioid crisis began in the 1990s, when big pharmaceutical companies began aggressively marketing these painkillers to doctors and patients. As a result, patients became addicted and if they were unable to legally obtain their prescription painkillers, they sadly took them off the streets. This has led patients to try different medications for pain relief, and one of the most infamous drugs for pain relief is heroin. Heroin is three times more potent than morphine and has always been a problem. However, recently, the main culprit in opioid-related deaths is Fentanyl. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Additionally, fentanyl is illegally produced in China and trafficked through Mexican cartels into the United States and ends up making its way into Canada. Fentanyl is often added to heroin or replaced with it completely. Additionally, it is used in counterfeit pills labeled as other substances, such as Xanax or Vicodin (which isanother painkiller). For this reason, fentanyl users are often unaware of its presence, increasing the risk of overdose. Furthermore, fentanyl is easier and less expensive to produce than heroin, which translates into popularity among drug dealers to maximize their profits. Overall, prohibition has produced more harm than good, such as an increase in violent crime and public health crises such as the opioid epidemic. However, there could be a solution if we changed our drug policies and helped people who are addicted. Reforming our possession laws. We should help these people instead of locking them up. Exploring the matter further, Dr. Gabor Maté, an addiction expert, “stated that 'There is no war on drugs because you cannot wage war on inanimate objects. There is a war against drug addicts, who are often the most abused and traumatized people in society. In other words, our culture punishes people for suffering and using substances to relieve pain. '” The war on drugs has not only targeted people, it has also targeted the most vulnerable people in our society who use drugs, such as war veterans, inner-city minorities, the homeless, people who are mentally ill and young males. Furthermore, these groups are marginalized in society and tend to experience a general condition of anxiety and desperation, so in return they turn to medications to cope with their pain. Furthermore, once they turn to drugs, they become addicted and end up in one of two ways; they lie dead in a ditch somewhere from their weed or heroin laced with fentanyl or end up in prison for 5 years for drug possession despite not being a danger to society. However, there is one country that leads the world in drug policy reform and that country is Portugal. In 2001, Portugal decriminalized drug possession and it worked wonders. First, drug use has not increased, but has actually decreased. For example, the number of people using heroin before decriminalization was approximately 100,000 people. Today the population is 25,000 inhabitants, which is a decrease of 75%. Second, drug overdoses and HIV infection rates are declining. In 2001, 80 people died in Portugal from causes that doctors determined were drug-related. Additionally, in 2012, that number dropped to 16 drug-related deaths. Meanwhile, HIV cases among injection drug users have also fallen dramatically. There were 1,016 cases registered in 2001 and this number dropped to 56 cases registered in 2012. Most importantly, with fewer drug addicts in prison, there has also been a measurable reduction in the pressure on the Portuguese justice system which , if Canada and the United States If you went this route, you would get less money spent on housing prisoners. Furthermore, experts generally agree that Portugal's anti-drug policy has kept more people alive and prevented many more from contracting blood-borne infections such as HIV. Third, in Portugal drug use continues to be treated in the same way as in other countries. However, instead of going to court and ultimately being convicted, the user appears before a committee known as the "Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addicts". The panel is made up of two medical experts and one person with legal experience to determine the extent of that person's addiction and to determine treatment. Studies have long suggested that there is a link between disease.