A year after the stock market crashed, 1930, and president Hoover is in office, America is in a state of existential crisis and people are looking for answers and distractions. The Treasury Department created the Federal Bureau of Narcotics under Harry J. Anslinger who directed the agency until 1962 “and molded America’s drug policy” (The United States War on Drugs). Anslinger who was also a prohibitionist, who believed progress could only be achieved by controlling each individual’s impulses and thought that if enough people were put in jail that America would rid itself of drugs. Nonetheless, with these same beliefs, Anslinger, used these to fight the war on drugs. Armed with a Depression snug budget, and an uphill battle Anslinger tried and failed to get state governments involved with the war effort.…
In the article entitled “Would Legalized Drugs Produce a Zombie Nation?”(Cederblorn and Paulsen, 332 - 334) written by Stephen Chapman. The author (Stephen Chapman) provides a clear details and analogy of the drug use and abuse in the American society. The article gave a picture of a theoretical view where the use of banned drugs is legitimized by the United States government. The unbelievable situation of having a legitimate way of circulating the proscribed drugs would create a lot of chaos in the communities and society in general.…
"Failed States and Failed Policies: How to Stop the Drug Wars." The Economist 5 Mar. 2009: n. pag. Web.…
To what extent did US intervention in 1941 change the nature of the conflict in the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945?…
The Great Depression was one of the most traumatic times of American history. When the stock market crashed in 1929, countless banks were forced to shut down resulting in the loss of investments, business production, and millions of jobs. During the early years of the Great Depression the government did not intervene because they believed that the responsibility lied within the industries. The country was in a dire need of change that they elected a president that promised government intervention. When Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed the New Deal, it introduced diverse programs that focused on relieving the current economic status.…
The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs, he takes a different approach to regarding the War on Drugs. While he feels that current drug policies have failed, his book focuses on the injustice of punitive drug laws and believes we should stop punishing people for using illicit drugs. “A law whose purpose is deterrence must always be backed by a demonstration that the law is just.” (ix) His book is presented in three chapters. Chapter one describes our present drug policies and laws and raises questions to answer whether these are just or unjust and offers his position of decriminalization as a more ethical approach to drug use. Chapter two reviews the most frequent arguments used in favor of punishing drug users and Husak believes that none of these are convincing enough to warrant enacting laws on a person’s behavior. Chapter three declares that punishing drug users is counterproductive and damaging to us…
Many governments may struggle with whether to just decriminalize or legalize a drug entirely. Which is better for the government financially and more importantly the people? First we must understand the difference between decriminalization and legalization and the advantages and disadvantages. “Decriminalization does not mean that people can use drugs with impunity. But, possessing small amounts no longer lands the perpetrator with a criminal record or a jail sentence.” (Define Decriminalization) Before…
Gaylord and Harold H. Traver provide descriptions of different drug policies in various countries. By doing this they are able to broaden the readers knowledge of how the world views the use and distribution of drugs and other substances.…
Yahoo News’ Senior Political Reporter Holly Bailey wrote an article after the first presidential debate about Mitt Romney. Unlike most articles about Romney’s lopsided win over President Obama Bailey’s article is about how Mitt Romney is showing a different side to voters. Mitt Romney has always been given the unfair classification of a aloof rich guy who enjoys politics as a side hobby. But in this article Bailey references how Romney is trying to show a softer side to himself. Ann Romney speaks about how her husband does not show the “real” Mitt and is trying to change this so that voters can relate more with him and see that he cares. With the election about a month away, Mitt Romney is doing all he can to show voters through personal stories and his demeanor that he cares about the American people. (Bailey, 2012). Through this article we can see a small view of how the candidates have a purpose for everything they do and in response to this we must be immune to emotional voting and instead vote on values.…
In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, and his acceptance speech was his pledge to the American people to find a new deal about the depression. He began working on this deal soon after his inauguration in 1933 by passing banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, and agricultural programs. A second form of the New Deal was created which included union protection programs, the Social Security Act, and programs to aid farmers and migrant workers. This whole process had ran its course by 1939, and they were seen as helping to improve the peoples way of life from the effects of the depression. The programs involved in this deal helped the federal government’s ability…
Ultimately the new “war on drugs” had a negative impact on American life during the mid 1980s-early 2000s due to the economic costs, the strain put on our justice system, and the civil liberty violations that occurred. As with any other war or bureaucratic endeavor, money must be heavily drawn upon and invested. When discussing the overall cost of this “war” through this time, congressman Lee Hamilton stated that, “Federal and local governments spend over $3 billion each year to fight drugs.” (cite) In his quote it becomes apparent that the United States had become highly invested and arguably obsessed in a seemingly impossible “war.”…
The unconventional political action is unnecessary on numerous grounds, including taking away freedom of choice and it denigrates the foundation of democratic societies. Many societies experience unconventional political action, since it is a cycle of two way politics (conventional and unconventional). For example, the unconventional political actions after World War I in Germany resulted in many revolts and instabilities in German government. Not only different factions of Communists and Democrats fought for power using boycotts and illegal occupations of buildings, they also created extreme conditions in what was then a fragile Germany. During the Nazi regime in Germany, Adolph Hitler and his henchmen allowed German masses to vandalize and…
Close your eyes and envision a utopian society that has created great advancements in all aspects they’ve set out for themselves. Now, imagine that one of those very advancements has corrupted that society, sending it plunging into chaos; this is prescription drug abuse. Prescription drug abuse has affected and scrutinized the very lives of millions of Americans, escalating it from the crisis it has become, into the sovereign epidemic that will reap the well-being and structure of our society that we live in. How has this come to be?…
In this paper I will evaluate America's War on Drugs. More specifically, I will outline our nation's general drug history and look critically at how Congress has influenced our current ineffective drug policy. Through this analysis I hope to show that drug prohibition policies in the United States, for the most part, have failed. Additionally, I will highlight and evaluate the influences acting on individual legislators' decisions to continue support for these ineffective policies as a more general demonstration of Congress' role in the formation of our nation's drug policy strategy. Finally, I will conclude this analysis by outlining the changes I feel necessary for future progress to be made. Primary among these changes are a general promotion of drug education and the elimination of our current system's many de-legitimating hypocrisies.…
The U.S. Department of the United States regularly charges increase of illegal drug market, its tendencies and improvements. Knowing whether people of the United States consume exact amount of illegal substances is important for measuring the effect of current legislation. In addition, having information about relative amount of drug users contributes to strategic planning of state bodies in development of policies aimed to limit distribution of drugs. According to recent estimations of “RAND”, the national consumption of drugs in the United States has decreased but 50 percent since 2006 to 2010. Besides, the experts observe rise of the interest among nationals to consumption of marijuana. This interests rate has reflected in 30 percent increase in consumption rates. With that, heroin consumption has relatively stable rates with no sharp fluctuations in needs of the ordinary Americans. The illegal drug use and distribution remains one of the main social challenges of the United States. It is hard to state when the beginning of the illegal drug trade was started. In twentieth century the government of the United…