Articles that address and dismantle common prohibitionist views.
“If we legalize or decriminalize drugs, addiction will skyrocket, society will collapse, and chaos will reign.” You’ve heard the script a thousand times. It’s the prohibitionist’s favorite bedtime story: people are fragile, drugs are monsters, and only cops, cages, and criminal records can keep us safe. It sounds serious, it sounds moral, and it sounds……
Walk into any political hearing, police press conference, or scaremongering TV segment and you’ll hear some variation of the same tired script: “If we legalize or decriminalize drugs, addiction will skyrocket, crime will explode, and society will collapse.” This is the prohibitionist anthem — a century-old greatest hit that refuses to die, no matter how…
“If we legalize or decriminalize drugs, addiction will explode, crime will skyrocket, and society will collapse.” That’s the flagship claim of drug prohibition. It’s been used for decades to justify mass incarceration, violent policing, and a global black market that kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. It sounds serious, moral, even “protective.” It’s…
“If we legalize drugs, addiction will explode, crime will rise, and society will fall apart.” That’s the prohibitionist greatest hit. You’ve heard it from politicians, police unions, certain pundits, and that one uncle who still thinks “Reefer Madness” was a documentary. It sounds serious, moral, and responsible — right up until you compare it to…
Every drug war sermon has the same greatest hit: “Drugs destroy society.” The script is predictable—if we decriminalize or legalize, addiction will explode, crime will soar, kids will be ruined, and civilization will collapse by Tuesday. That’s the fearmongering. Now let’s talk facts. In reality, it’s prohibition—not drugs themselves—that has done the most damage to…
“If we legalize drugs, addiction will explode, crime will skyrocket, and society will collapse.” That’s the prohibitionist greatest hit. You’ve heard it in campaign ads, police press conferences, and every time a politician needs a distraction from corporate corruption or a failing healthcare system. Drugs, we’re told, are the existential threat — not inequality, not…
“If we legalize drugs, society will collapse. Addiction will skyrocket. Crime will explode. Think of the children.” This is the greatest hits album of prohibitionist arguments — emotionally charged, politically convenient, and factually weak. It’s been used for a century to justify criminalizing people for what they put in their own bodies, while governments and…
“If we legalize drugs, addiction will skyrocket, crime will explode, and society will collapse.” If you’ve ever sat through a lazy TV debate or a politician’s stump speech, you’ve heard some version of that line. It’s the prohibitionist greatest hit: drugs are the problem, not poverty, not trauma, not inequality, not decades of failed policy….
“If we legalize drugs, society will collapse. Addiction will skyrocket. Crime will explode. Our kids will be doomed.” That’s the greatest hit of prohibitionist talking points — a moral panic on repeat since the days of alcohol prohibition and reefer madness. It sounds grave, serious, responsible. It’s also flatly contradicted by history, public health data,…
“If we legalize drugs, addiction will explode, crime will skyrocket, and society will collapse.” That’s the go-to prohibitionist script. You’ve heard versions of it from politicians, police unions, some doctors’ groups, and every moral panic pundit who still thinks it’s 1986 and Nancy Reagan is running science policy. There’s just one problem: when you look…