The illegal drug problems in the United States are very bad although seem to remain in the shadows; out of sight out of mind and thus are not discussed openly. This makes solving the real problems with illegal drug use and abuse much harder. It is hard to educate kids and teens on the dangers of drug use when they are considered illegal substances.

The concept of Just Saying No! is not working as well as it once did and the illegal drugs, many of them are getting worse and worse. It is for this reason that this issue came up in an online think tank and one of the fellow think tankers stated during a long drawn out and often heated debate;

Additionally, legalizing drugs would make an educational campaign possible, to teach people about the effects and risks of drug use and abuse. Many people try drugs for the first time when they realize they've been lied to about what happens to people who try drugs. If their friend tries a drug and doesn't become addicted or turn into a different person, etc, they may disregard all warnings they've ever heard about drugs and assume drugs are safe. Education would make a huge difference also for the families and friends of drug users and abusers so that they could help the person in need.

As good as this comment sounds, it was met with chaos and controversy and immediately challenged by another fellow think tanker, who completely disagrees with the legalization of illegal drugs; in fact in his rebuttal comments which he shot back, he stated:

You do not need to legalize drugs to have an educational campaign. You state: Many people try drugs for the first time when they realize they've been lied to about what happens to people who try drugs. Is that what happened to you when you became a Drug Addict? And now you as a drug addict want to have the world release you from your criminal activity? Tell you what, what if we just shoot the drug abusers and teach kids what happens when a bullet rips thru your body and causes you to die? You know educate them?

Well certainly that particular part of the argument got out of hand and although simply shooting all the drug addicts would take care of the problem that is just not the way we do things in the United States. Although they do in fact do this in some of the countries and they actually do have a lower recidivism rate and lower drug use in doing so. Self-preservation seems to be a very high reason not to do drugs. But I bring this to your attention so that perhaps you can share your ideas to fix the illegal drug problems in the United States once and for all. So consider this in 2006.