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.…
“Just say no.” (Reagan Declares War on Drugs, 1982). This was one of the many scare tactics used in America’s new war on drugs. The president needed to construct a plan to detract the public eye from drugs’ fame. Nancy Reagan was equally as adamant about keeping America safe and clean. She traveled to and spoke at many schools, enforcing the idea of simply refusing the temptation of drugs. Before the Reagan’s began their wartime, Richard Nixon introduced his own ‘war’ on drugs, stating, “America’s public enemy number one is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.” (Remarks About an Intensified Program for Drug Abuse Prevention, 1971). This mindset was yet another strategy used to make America energized and willing to fight this war. Nixon passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act in the 1970’s as a way to keep a constant eye on the drug industry. This act required the pharmaceutical industry to…
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…
Today’s society is known as the “Era of Color Blindness.” The war on drugs from the past to the future has not changed according to Michelle Alexander. The previous Jim Crowe law may be eradicated, but the law was brought back into effect by former president Ronald Reagan, known as the “War on Drugs.” The war on drugs that was put into effect by Ronald Reagan was targeted to lower class communities that had a violent crime rate. Focusing on the “Drug War” took light off a pressing issue known as racial caste in America by making harsher punishments for people who used or sold drugs. Even though the focus was in lower class communities it was also just as common in the middle to upper class communities. The “War on Drugs”…
The War on Drugs was proclaimed by the Nixon Administration in the signing of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. It evoked the current era of mandatory minimum sentencing, systematic racism, and mass incarceration of colored people. While the War on Drugs has certainly sought to eradicate controlled substances and destroy the networks established for their distribution, State efforts to control drugs are also a way for dominant groups to express racial power. Despite the socioeconomic factors that contribute to drug use, it is evident that drug legislation is inherently biased and fuels racially motivated mass incarceration.…
The history associated with drug criminalization in America contains more political motivators than concerns for public health and safety. The biggest politically motivated aspect to drug deterrence comes from Richard Nixon’s s war on drugs in 1971 which has created a system that discriminates against minority groups and has had little effect on deterring drug use. The war on drugs has thus far been notoriously noted for discriminating against people of color by pumping drugs into their communities and then imposing severe criminal consequences for drug possession, use, or distribution. In fact, one of Nixon’s aides John Ehrlichmen stated that the war on drugs was intended for the following:…
Martin Bright Home, A. E. (2005, July 3). Secret report says war on drugs has failed. The Observer. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/250306073?accountid=27203…
Many have said that the war on drugs is a failure and needs reform. Others have lamented that the war on drugs is a war that cannot be won and valuable resources and money has been used up. Drugs are cheaper, purer, and more easily obtained than ever before. The war on drugs is futile. This paper will discuss why the United States should end the war on drugs.…
Politically, the issue of drugs is extremely significant. The War on Drugs has been a long and expensive fight to decrease the usage and sales of drugs. Although politics have struggled to end the large usage, it seems as if the war is a waste of time. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being poured into this Drug War and it seems to be very ineffective.…
On June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon committed what is arguably one of his most significant and lasting executive acts when he issued a special message to Congress regarding the growing drug abuse problem within the United States. Although this message was significant in many ways because of the public acknowledgment that the Federal Government was not doing enough to combat drugs and their associated ills, this message is mostly remembered as the origin of the term the War on Drugs. We are now over forty years removed from that “declaration of war,” and not only has the United States ' drug problem remained, it has grown to unthinkable proportions,…
Schaffer, C.A. (n.d.) Basic Facts About the War on Drugs. Retrieved on April 22, 2006 from:…
In the early 1980’s the Regan-Bush administration declared their war on drugs. During this particular time there was an existing notion that drug use was at an all time high and the administration went out to put an end to the problem. Recreational drug use during the prohibition was historically aimed at an increasing number of people stop using drugs because it was seen as immoral and destructive to the body. In reality the use of drugs was on the decline. The war was a failure, “The street price of cocaine, the war’s signature drug, should have risen if dealing were becoming riskier and drugs less available; prices fell”(Tonry p.81). The outcomes during the War on Drugs came at high costs with low rewards and failures that were associated with the war significantly outweighed the resulting outcome of people taking part in drug use. During this time it was already seen that the black population was at the origin of drug users and that they were the ones creating this problem, furthermore, effecting any and all…
It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result; this statement fairly sums up the War on Drugs. Let us imagine a scenario of two men, one of them has killed 4 young women in cold blood, for ‘sport’ as he likes to say; the other man was caught with a large amount of an illegal drug. In prison it would not be unlikely for these two to share a cell, but my question is why? Why are these drastically different crimes seen as being worthy of the same punishment? According to a pro-marijuana web site, studies show that in Dallas, Texas “Possession of two ounces or less of marijuana is punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine up to $2,000. Possession of greater than two ounces is punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine up to $4,000” (“We Be High”). It seems to defy logic, and upon observation of the facts, it does. The War on Drugs, specifically the prohibition of marijuana, is an unnecessary drain on our country’s tax dollars and law enforcement agencies. Some would even say that these agencies have no right to tell us what we as US Citizens can put into our bodies in the first place. Not only that, but the skepticism and prohibition of marijuana is keeping people from exploring the amazing potential that it has in the medicinal field. If marijuana were legalized properly, not only would these problems begin to work themselves out, but the illegal market and the problems and dangers caused by the prohibition of marijuana would cease to exist.…
Yet people in law enforcement and local communities are not convinced for good reasons. Although casual illegal drugs use appears to fluctuate and may have declined in recent years, the regular usage of these drugs has not. The government warning about how dangerous these are, such as; heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine only confuse matter further. Actually, such warning are an indication that these drugs are unwinnable. Production sources , smuggling techniques, purity price and use patterns have changed through the years in dynamic drugs markets as governments has made claims of progress, but the war on drugs that began in 1914 has no end in…
Gray, James P, (2001) Why our drug laws have failed and what we can do about it: A…