Aff

AT- Social Contract

1. The social contract is based in consequentialism; the need for the social contract comes from preventing a return to the state of nature, where death, war, and poverty reign. If that need goes away, then there is no justification for the social contract.

2. The social contract has been shown to be empirically not needed, as nations such as Portugal, the Netherlands, and Germany have not fallen to ruin as the social contract would prescribe. In reality, the social contract is just a construct of intellectuals sitting in an ivory tower.

AT-Drug courts

DRUG COURTS DON’T WORK-STUDIES ON DRUG COURTS HAVE BEEN USING FAULTY METHODOLOGY

Boyd, Susan C. From Witches to Crack Moms: Women, Drug Law, and Policy. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic, 2004. Print. pg 186

Drug court participant spend a minimum of one year in community drug treatment programs; those unable to complete the program are sent to prison. The percentage of those unable to complete the program is high. Even though drug court participants are screened before being accepted to the program, about half of all participants in drug courts are sent to prison, and some programs have even higher rates of failure. The clams of success, then, are overstated- a 50 percent failure rate is significant.

Boyd, Susan C. From Witches to Crack Moms: Women, Drug Law, and Policy. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic, 2004. Print. pg 186

One of the selling points of drug courts is that they are cheaper than traditional criminal justice responses to drug offenders. However, this overly optimistic claim does not hold up under scrutiny. Drug courts cost more per participant than traditional probation although drug court advocates state there are savings to be

made due to reduced recidivism, job creation, and earnings. Critics note that access to employment has not been a central feature of the majority of drug courts.

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IS TOO OVERBURDENED TO PROPERLY REHABILITATE PRISONERS.

NIDA "Drugs of Abuse Information - NIDA." Web. 09 Dec. 2010.<http://www.nida.nih.gov/drugpages/>.

Yet only 7% to 17% of these prisoners receive treatment in jail or prison, so that most of the over 650,000 inmates released back into the community each year have not received needed treatment services. Left untreated, drug-abusing offenders can relapse to drug use and return to criminal behavior. This jeopardizes public health and public safety, leads to re-arrest and re-incarceration, and further taxes an already over-burdened criminal justice system.

AT No rational thought

1. This same logic can be applied to incarcerating those legally classified as insane; those without rational thought do not deserve incarceration.

2. Even then, at the point that this incarceration is actually harmful to both the abuser and society, there is no way to actually justify such an action.

AT- Social duties

THE ECONOMIC BENEFIT OF

DPA. "Treatment vs. Incarceration." Drug Policy Alliance. Drug Policy Alliance, 2010. Web. <http://www.drugpolicy.org/reducingharm/treatmentvsi/>.

A study by the RAND Corporation found that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.46 in societal costs (crime violence, loss of productivity, etc.) The study also found that additional domestic law enforcement efforts cost 15 times as much as treatment to achieve the same reduction in societal costs.

AT- DA to CP that still keeps illegality

Patrick Basham 1, http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11667

The record of drug prohibition is a record of failure. All the arrests and all the incarcerations haven't stopped either the use or the abuse of drugs, or the drug trade, or the crime associated with black-market transactions. In prisons, drugs are plentiful and their use is widespread. No matter what they try, prisons can't keep drugs out. 80 percent of drug-related deaths are the result of drug prohibition. Drug-related AIDS is almost exclusively the result of prohibition. Fifty percent of new HIV patients are intravenous drug users. Prohibition's drain on the public purse prevents the necessary rehabilitation, detox, and other treatment facilities from being funded adequately. Filling prisons with substance abusers doesn't make any public policy sense. I f we ended the war on drugs, drug addicts could be treated as patients, not as pestilence. The most tangible cost of the war on drugs is criminal behavior. Most drug-related crime is prohibition-related crime. Ninety percent of drug-related crime results, not from drug use, but from the illegality of drugs.

Neg

AT Voluntary Rehabilitation good

VOLUNTARY REHABILITATION IS INEFFECTIVE.

NIDA, "Drugs of Abuse Information - NIDA." Web. 09 Dec. 2010.<http://www.nida.nih.gov/drugpages/>.

23.2 million persons (9.4 percent of the U.S. population) aged 12 or older needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol use problem in 2007. Of these individuals, 2.4 million ( 10.4 percent of those who needed treatment) received treatment at a specialty facility (i.e., hospital, drug or alcohol rehabilitation or mental health center). Thus, 20.8 million persons (8.4 percent of the population aged 12 or older) needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol use problem but did not receive it.

AT Cost effective

1. Costs are relative to rehabilitation, rehabilitation is negative ground, thus the impacts are nonunique.

2. IT IS ACTUALLY MOST COST EFFECTIVE TO COMBINE BOTH PUBLIC HEALTH AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

NIDA, "Drugs of Abuse Information - NIDA." Web. 09 Dec. 2010.<http://www.nida.nih.gov/drugpages/>.

Combining prison-based treatment with community-based treatment upon release reduces an offender's risk of recidivism, decreases substance abuse, improves prospects for employment, and increases pro-social behavior. Case management and referral to other medical, psychological, and social services are crucial

components of treatment for many offenders. Treatment for adults and adolescents is cost-effective because it reduces costs related to drug use, health care, and crime, including incarceration costs. Adding an aftercare component to in- and out-of-prison treatment programs reaps the greatest cost savings.

AT- Self regarding action

1. Look to the precedent set by speeding; even though a direct harm from the action can’t be seen, the potential harms of crashing into a small child or property justify punishment. Applying this logic to drug abuse, we can see that the great potential for harm while under the influence justifies punishment.

2. As drug abuse supports the harms of the international drug trade around the world, such as in Mexico, Columbia, or narcoterror in Afghanistan, the action of purchasing or imbibing is no longer self regarding. The abuse of illegal drugs is the sole reason for the continued existence of the drug trade.

AT- Crack Babies

DRUG COURTS SOLVE FOR IFANTS BORN TO DRUG ABUSING MOTHERS.

Douglas B. Marlowe, J.D., Ph.D. Rachel Casebolt – 2008. “Painting the Current Picture: A National Report Card on Drug Courts and Other Problem-Solving Court Programs in the United States.” May 2008.

Huddleston, C. West, Douglas B. Marlowe, and Rachel Casebolt. "Painting the Current Picture: A National Report Card on Drug Courts and Other Problem-Solving Court Programs in the United States." NDCI Home | NDCI. Web. 09 Dec. 2010. <http://www.ndci.org/publications/publication-resources/painting-current-picture>.

In the Painting the Picture survey, 65 % of respondents (34 states and territories) provided usable data on confirmed births of drug-free babies

to their drug court participants. During the preceding 12 months, a total of 844 drug free babies were reported to have been born to active female drug court clients. Respondents were instructed that this number should refer only to

births from active female participants in their programs; therefore it does not include drug free children born to male participants or to previous graduates of the programs. As such, it could substantially underestimate the impact of drug courts and other problem-solving courts on all drug free deliveries. Especially given a 65% response rate, the actual number of drug free deliveries can be expected to be appreciably higher.

AT- Needle Exchange

NEEDLE EXCHANGE HASN’T MADE A DIFFERENCE.

David Noffs, Founder and Executive Director of the Life Education Center. "Should needle exchange be publicly funded?". PBS

Although promoters claim that needle exchange programs do not encourage drug use, there has been a major increase in heroin use since needle exchange programs have become widespread. Heroin use by

American teens has doubled in the past 5 years. Dr. Lucy Sullivan of the Australian Centre for Independent Studies states that hepatitis prevalence among intravenous drug users is 65%, suggesting that free needles are not having their intended effect of preventing exchange of body fluids. Sullivan also states that 'There is no sign of an impact on the rate of decline (of HIV incidence rates) with the introduction of needle distribution in 1992.' (Sullivan, 1997)

NEEDLE EXCHANGE DOESN’T SAVE LIVES; IT CAUSES DRUG RELATED DEATHS.

Aaron Lawrence. "Why a Needle-Exchange Program is a Bad Idea". Record. August 26, 2005:

Addicts still are prone to death, perhaps not from HIV, but from overdose, collapsed veins, poisoned dope, or the violence and criminality that go along with the illicit drug trade.

NEEDLE EXCHANGE IS NOT A PANACEA AGAINS THE SPREAD OF DISEASE.

Toni Meyer. "Making the case for opposing needle exchange". New Jersey Family Policy Council. November 16, 2007

Disease Epidemics: Both scientific and anecdotal evidence indicates that NEPs have failed to provide a prevention panacea for drug abusers against the dangers of HIV, hepatitis, and other health risks, which continue to increase at alarming rates.

NEEDLE EXCHANGE INCREASES DISCARDED NEEDLES ON THE STREETS.

Toni Meyer. "Making the case for opposing needle exchange". New Jersey Family Policy Council.

November 16, 2007

Discarded Needles: Reports of discarded needles in public places outside of NEP sites abound from cities

with NEP’s. Here is just one example. In Cairns Australia, City Place has been revealed as Cairn’s biggest drug

shooting gallery with 1000 syringes discarded since January in toilets and streets surrounding the inner

city mall. Addicts are also dumping hundreds of used syringes at many of the city's other popular public

places, including the Esplanade near Muddy's playground, the city library, in gardens and in various other public places. The figures were

released by Cairns City Council after a recent audit of its sharps disposal bin program.

NEEDLE EXCHANGE INCREASES CRIME.

Toni Meyer. "Making the case for opposing needle exchange". New Jersey Family Policy Council.

November 16, 2007

Crime Increases in Area of Needle Exchanges: - Crimes Due to Drug Use: When a needle exchange program (NEP) moves in,

associated crime and violence follows, including prostitution which contributes to the spread of AIDS. A

spokesperson from the Coalition for a Better Community, a NY City based group opposed to NEPs, visited the Lower East Side Needle Exchange

with a NY Times reporter. Their conclusion: “Since the NEP began we’ve seen an increase in dirty syringes on our

streets, in schools yards, and in our parks…Brazen addicts shoplift, loot, and steal to buy drugs.

AT- Legalization

1. If there is regulation, then its negative ground2. As there can be no regulation of the drug trade on the affirmative, the affirmative is open to the harms

of unregulated drug trade3. The harm is narcoterror-as there is no way to see who the supplier of the opium needed for heroin is,

and the biggest supplier of opium and hashish is Afghanistan, legalization would allow for a vast boost in profits for those profiting from the drug trade in Afghanistan, specifically, terrorists.

CNN World writes. "U.N.: Afghanistan 'world's Biggest Producer of Hashish' – Afghanistan Crossroads - CNN.com Blogs." Afghanistan Crossroads - CNN.com Blogs. Web. 09 Dec. 2010. <http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/31/u-n-afghanistan-worlds-biggest-producer-of-hashish/>.

A U.N. report says Afghanistan, the world's biggest producer of opium, is a "major producer of cannabis" and "the world's biggest producer of hashish." The survey results reflect the significance of Afghanistan's illicit drug trade, exploited

by militants to fund their operations in unstable areas, such as the country's war-torn southern region. "All drugs in Afghanistan, whether opium or cannabis, are taxed by those who control the territory, providing an additional source of revenue for insurgents," Costa said. In the aggregate, however, because opium cultivation far exceeds cannabis cultivation, in 2009 the value of cannabis resin production in Afghanistan was estimated at between US$ 39-94 million, about 10-20 percent of the farm gate value of opium production.

SCHWEICH, THOMAS. "Is Afghanistan a Narco-State?" New York Times. New York Times, 27 July 2008. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/magazine/27AFGHAN-t.html?_r=1&ref=drug_trafficking>.