Legalization is a hotly debated topic that until recent years has been less of an issue, at least for marijuana. In addition to marijuana, however, there are other Schedule I and Schedule II drugs that can be made legal under the right circumstances. The war on drugs has been a complete failure despite increased funding provided to our government. Even the drug policies themselves are wrong. However, since law enforcement and government are not giving up on the war on drugs entirely, it will take some time before they realize that the pros far outweigh the cons. Legalizing drugs for both recreational and medicinal use will provide the government with another source of revenue, reduce overcrowding in the justice system, erase the relationship between drugs and crime, and, ironically, could turn people away from drug use. Legalization will bring many benefits to the US government, one of which is a gigantic source of revenue. If the government began to enforce drug laws less and tax drugs that are legalized, the government could expect at least about ten billion dollars. This number could increase depending on the amount of sin tax sales and when the government decides to completely pull the plug on drug policy enforcement. There are two different views that people can consider on how this could come about. A libertarian model, which is very similar to the libertarian party, where the government is very limited except for a few cases which mainly concern the sale to a minor; the other model is that the government would manage how drugs are produced and sales. Between these two models lies an approach that will be successful (Nadelmann). It's one where the government... middle of paper... will have many benefits that not only the citizens of the United States will get see but also the government. The government will gain more revenue through the distribution of these drugs for both recreational and medicinal use. Jails and prisons will not be as crowded as they are now and the public will not have to pay as much money to the government to build more jails and prisons. Selling or consuming drugs will no longer be considered a crime unless, of course, someone sells them to a minor. Finally, even if drugs were made legal, there would be many people who would still not engage in risky behavior and others who would stop altogether because they would find that using drugs legally will be boring. Let's hope our government realizes that the pros far outweigh the cons and legalize it as soon as possible. (Nadelmann) (Schaffer Library of Drug Policy)