РефератыИностранный языкDrDrugs Essay Research Paper Legalization of Drugs

Drugs Essay Research Paper Legalization of Drugs

Drugs Essay, Research Paper


Legalization of Drugs Such an issue stirs up moral and religious beliefs; beliefs that


are contrary to what America should “believe”. However, such a debate has been apparent


in the American marketplace of ideas before with the prohibition of alcohol in the


1920’s. With the illegality of alcohol the Mafia could produce liquor and therefore had


considerable control over those who wanted their substance and service. The role that the


Mafia played in the 1920’s has transformed into the corner drug dealers and


drug cartel of the 1990’s. The justification that legalized alcohol under Amendment 21 in


1933 should also legalize drugs in 1999. With the legalization of drugs a decrease in


deaths related to drug deals would occur and also the price would lessen because


bigger businesses could produce drugs at a cheaper price. Thus, reducing crimes that are


committed to support a drug habit.


Another drug that has played a major role in American society is nicotine. For


hundreds of years, cigarettes have been a popular legal drug within the United States.


Only through legalization and education has the popularity and the use of cigarettes


declined within the past ten years. Physically, the actual consequences of using illicit drugs


is much less than of using drugs like alcohol or cigarettes and the consequences will be


diminished. Illicit drugs can and will be made safer than they are in the present system. In


making comparisons, the best is to look at how countries are functioning that have less


enforcement on drugs and what the statistics were after drugs were decriminalized. Within


the last thirty years many groups have their attempts. The use of drugs is a victimless


crime much like homosexuality. Homosexuals have fought for a great deal of freedom that


is based on their basic human rights; the right to make decisions and act freely based on


what is protected under the Constitution, so long as anyone else is not affected.


Economically, the production of drugs in the United States would benefit the financial well


being of the American government and people. Taxes should immediately be placed on


drugs thus resulting in a significant increase in government income. The more money that


government receives is more money that they can put towards the education of how drugs


effect the human mind and body.


Prohibition breeds disrespect for law enforcement; the agency that “should” hold


the highest respect of the American society. Money spent on prohibition is an


overwhelming figure that is not needed and is obviously accomplishing


little. Those who want to be controlled by a substance should have every right to do so,


because this right has equal jurisdiction as any other human right that has emerged from


the sea of oppression and persecuted freedoms. The deaths resulting in the acquiring


of alcohol have all but disappeared. When all non medical dealings in alcohol were


prohibited in the United States in 1919, the results were very similar to today’s drug trade.


Alcohol quality was brewed illicitly; importers were considered criminals and


behaved as such; protection rackets, bribes and gang warfare organized crime in the


United States. (Boaz, p.118) The enforcement budget rose from $7 million in 1921 to $15


million in 1930, $108 million in 1988 dollars. In 1926, the Senate


Judiciary Committee produced a 1,650-page report evaluating enforcement efforts and


proposing reforms. In 1927, the Bureau of Prohibition was created to streamline


enforcement efforts, and agents were brought under civil service protection to eliminate


corruption and improve professionalism. In that same year, President Hoover appointed a


blue-ribbon commission to evaluate enforcement efforts and recommend reforms. Three


years later Prohibition was over and alcohol was legalized. Immediately, the bootlegger


stopped running around the streets supplying illicit contraband. People stopped worrying


about drunks mugging them in the streets or breaking into their apartments to get funds to


buy a pint of wine. We now


deal with alcohol abuse as a medical problem. Let us deal with the drug problem in the


same way. Let us try not to repeat the mistakes of the past by continuing to escalate a war


that is totally unnecessary. The repeal of alcohol prohibition


provides the perfect analogy. Repeal did not end alcoholism as indeed Prohibition did


not–but it did solve many of the problems created by Prohibition, such as corruption,


murder, and poisoned alcohol.


We can expect no more and no less from drug legalization today. United States


has not tried to ban the use of tobacco on cigarette smoking is one of America’s most


dangerous drug habits. Nicotine, the active ingredient in tobacco, is exceedingly


poisonous. When isolated and taken orally, it can bring death in a matter of minutes.


Cigarette tobacco contains about 1.5 percent nicotine; an average cigarette yields six to


eight milligrams of the drug. Cigar tobacco is potentially more lethal; a standard size cigar


contains about 120 milligrams of nicotine, twice the amount of a lethal dose. What


apparently irony is that tobacco which can be seen as just of a danger if not more so than


many illicit drugs of today is considered a “good” and perfectly legal drug among the


American society. A terrible, controlling substance that alters the mind and kills. This is a


true statement; however lead to more deaths in the United States than do illicit drugs. The


National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that the official 1988 toll of drug-caused deaths


in 27 US cities, the best available measure of the nation’s “drug problems” was, for


cocaine products, 3,308; for heroin and morphine, 2,480; course, for marijuana, zero.


“Emergency-room mentions” for cocaine in the same cities totaled only 62,141. For


comparison, smoking killed 390,000 last year and alcohol killed at least 100,000. Alcohol


is responsible for more fetal damage than crack and remains the major menace on our


highways. States that approximately 57 million people in this country are addicted to


cigarettes, 18 million are addicted to alcohol and 10 million are abusing psychotherapeutic


drugs. By comparison, crack, heroin and hallucinogens each accounts for one million


addicts. Further, the report states that every day in this country 1,000 people die of


smoking-related illnesses, 550 die of alcohol-related accidents and diseases, while 20 die


of drug overdoses and drug related homicides.


The war on drugs might as well be non existent; supporters argue that the


government’s needs to be focused on more abused drugs that do more harm to the


American people, such as alcohol. Therefore drug decriminalization, gives his views on


governmental involvement in drug related issues. Nadelmann believes that the government


should use the tax system to discourage consumption among kids, and even among adults


to some extent. Nadelmann states, “I think it’s legitimate for government to play a role in


trying to discourage people from using cigarettes. If they want to put the information out


there, that sounds fine. But I find incredibly distasteful is the way that they’re demonizing


cigarette users now.


What’s happening now, with [FDA Commissioner David] Kessler, is they’re


heading in a prohibitionist direction, which is something I would regard as


very bad on both policy grounds and ethical grounds.” Nadelmann continues to point out


that, “Progress in the rights of technology sophisticated environment, may redound to the


benefit of the drug issue. I think also that the war on cigarette users if you want to call it


that–is raising the issue of individual autonomy vis- -vis drug use in a context to which


tens of millions of Americans still relate. And the more that cigarettes get tarred as a drug,


the more the connection is going to be prominent. You’re going to have tens of millions of


Americans beginning to identify more and more with the heroin, cocaine and marijuana


users. At the same time, you’re going to have these arguments about individual rights and


the freedom to use drugs in your own home. The personal rights and freedoms issue is a


pressing point that supporters of prohibition must


look towards and decide on what their beliefs are on how deeply government should


interact and limit the actions of people. Call for a crusade or an exterminatory witch hunt.


In the Netherlands, the focus is pragmatically centered on minimizing the harm that


addict population does to itself and the rest of society. The record speaks for itself:


American adolescents use marijuana at about twice the rate of their counterparts in


Holland, where marijuana and hashish have been freely available for more than 17 years.


The only drug that causes traffic fatalities and violence in Holland is the same one that


causes these problems here–alcohol. Over a 17-year period in Holland, during which


possession and use of hard drugs have been treated under 22 years of age who use


heroin or cocaine has dropped from 15 percent to less than three percent. In Holland, a


Dutch reformed parish operate a methadone dispensary and a needle exchange. There are


designated areas where drugs can be used, and permitting


such areas is controversial, even in tolerant Holland. Drug legalization in England and


Holland has had mixed results. While there has been a slight increase in drug use in those


countries, the number of crimes associated with drugs has decreased. However


disagreeable, the visible presence of junkies in countries like England and Holland plays its


part. Dutch adolescents have no problem seeing that this is hardly a glamorous and


exciting life-style and that it does not even provide much pleasure. Reality, even


disagreeable reality, is remarkably educational; and the attempt to legislate reality out of


existence is remarkably counterproductive.


In the US there were eleven states that decriminalized the personal use of


marijuana. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse(1992), there was no


increase in its use in those states. Anti drug supporters argue that corollations cannot be


made between the United States and other countries; however, the way in which people


conduct themselves and how society responds to this is very similar around the world.


Heightened awareness of the destructiveness of drugs, and in self-pride programs for


society’s “have knots.” The United States has cut back drasti

cally on its alcohol and


tobacco consumption are dangerous. The same thing must be done for other drugs.


Pragmatically, the legal and controlled sale of drugs would not only reduce crime but


channel valuable resources into treatment.


With the treatment of drugs as a medical problem, we can then and only then


focus on the real problem: people and adulteration of supplies of drugs.


Without some system of control, it is argued, that there is no way to guarantee the purity


or strength of any given cannabis preparation. Wide variations in


THC(delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol) concentration could have deleterious effects on users.


Inexperienced smokers, accustomed to low grade domestic pot, could be adversely


affected by the unexpected introduction of high potency Colombian or Jamaican supplies.


Today’s drug consumer literally does not know what he is


buying. The drugs are so valuable that the sellers have an incentive to “cut” or dilute the


product with foreign substances that look like the real thing. Most street heroin is only


three to six percent pure; street cocaine ten to fifteen percent. Since purity varies


greatly, consumers can produce the desired effects. If a person percent heroin and take a


five percent dose, suddenly he has nearly doubled his open market would face different


incentives than pushers. They rely on name brand recognition to build market


share, and on incentive to provide a product of uniform quality; killing customers or losing


them to competitors is not a proven way to success.


With major how drugs should be made and what they should be cut with


dangerous approach may be taken. As well be the schism that has been created in the


American society. Prohibition has set generation against generation, law enforcement


officials against users, and the system of criminal justice against millions of otherwise


law-abiding citizens. The effect of prohibition has not been a decreased marijuana


consumption–statistics show that the opposite is true. Rather, prohibition has bred


disrespect for the law and the institutions of government, and many have argued that is


too high a price to pay for even a successful program. A loss of respect for governmental


agencies can be seen as one terrible event that has occurred within America. Plans that


would breed and boost respect for these agencies should be desired and sought after. As


the prohibition of drugs yearly is an unnecessary and overwhelming figure. The total


annual cost of the drug war, are about $100 billion dollars annually.


For instance, the Air Force spent $3.3 million on drug interdiction, using


sophisticated AWACS surveillance planes, over a 15 month period ending in 1987. The


grand total of drug seizures from that of the Coast Guard and Navy, sailing for 2,500 ship


days at a cost of $40 million, resulted in the seizure of a mere 20 drug-carrying


vessels.


They were not enough, domestic production of marijuana continues to increase. It


is the largest cash crop in ten states and second largest in the nation, second only to corn.


Revenues from drug trafficking in Miami, Florida, are greater than


those from tourism, exports, health care, and all other legitimate businesses combined.


They have a lower cost than throwing people in prison. It costs $52,000 a year to detain


someone at Riker’s Island. However, a years stay at Phoenix House in New York, for


example, costs $15,000. If it is not already obvious, the way in which the government


goes about it’s drug war is inoperative. Money that is spent is a waste; education and


treatment. If politicians cannot see this, than we are


losing the drug war in our policies and in the minds of our “greatest” law makers, not on


the streets. As I concluded that the prohibition of drugs criminalised users, forced them


into contact with professional criminals, tempted entrepreneurial young people


from impoverished backgrounds into a lucrative criminal life, encouraged gang warfare,


resulted in people taking impure mixtures in often dangerous methods, and created heavy


policing costs. It is, in short, not drug abuse itself which creates the most havoc,


but the crime resulting from other Western governments, to contemplate some form of


licensed sale of drugs which would deprive the pushers of their market while obliging


registered addicts to take treatment. The key to beating the traffic is to remove its


prodigious profitability and to deglamorise drug abuse by a heavy program of public


education.


The government can continue harassing, humiliating and jailing drug users in the


name of helping them stay away from evil. It can continue fostering


violence and corruption in the name of protecting our society. Or, America can begin


fighting drugs through peaceful means, taking the problem away from police and jailers


doctors and educators. Legalizing drug use with certain restrictions would


eliminate the terrible collateral damage wreaked by the war on drugs. It would respect the


right of individuals to make personal choices about what they consume, while still holding


them responsible for the harm they cause others. It would free up real money


for prevention and treatment programs that currently enjoy more lip service than funding.


And it would encourage people with problems to seek help rather than take them


underground. Any new approach to drugs must begin by replacing hype and


demagoguery with information and analysis. It must discriminate between the uses and


misuses of drugs. It must also account for paternalistic moralizing for hypocritical double


standards. Legalizing drugs would not be a panacea. Many people


would continue to use them recklessly and join their ranks. But scare scenarios of a


prostrate, addicted nation have no basis. Clearly, there will be some increase in drug use if


drugs are made legal and accessible at a reasonable price. Yet the benefits of


legalization will outweigh the negatives: less crime, less available for greater rehabilitation


efforts, fewer jail cells and prisoners, better utilization of law enforcement personnel,


greater respect for the law, fewer corrupted policeman, and fewer deaths from


impure substances. Furthermore, taxes from these legalized substances will fund treatment


centers and educational outreach. If we can distribute condoms and clean needles to


control the spread of diseases, why can’t we bring ourselves to distribute drugs


cheaply and legally? The same arguments made about cause and effect ought to be made


here as well. Granted, America has a vast and terrible problem with the issue on drugs in


the 1990s, but as Robert Kennedy opined, “If the alternatives [are] disorder


or injustice, the rational choice is injustice. For when there is disorder, we cannot obtain or


maintain justice.”


Throughout history marijuana has been used to serve various purposes in many


different cultures. The purposes have changed over time to fit in with the current


lifestyles. This pattern is also true in American history. The use of marijuana has


adapted to the social climate of the time.


Marijuana, whose scientific name is cannabis sativa, was mentioned in


historical manuscripts as early as 2700 B. C. in China. (Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia,


1995). The cultivation of the marijuana plant began as far back as the Jamestown


settlers, around 1611, who used hemp produced from the marijuana plant’s fibers to


make rope and canvas. It was also used in making clothing because of it’s durability.


These uses fit in with the social climate of the time, because the main focus was on


survival rather than for psychoactive purposes.


In 1937 the government issued the Marijuana Tax Act, which levied a dollar an


ounce tax on marijuana, coupled with fines of $2,000 for drug possession and jail


sentences for evasion of the tax. For this reason marijuana use in the United States


appears to have gone into decline in the late 30’s (Grolier Wellness Encyclopedia,


pg. 54). Then marijuana was outlawed in 1937 as a repressive measure against


Mexican workers who crossed the border seeking jobs during the Depression. The


specific reason given for the outlawing of the hemp plant was it’s supposed violent


“effect on the degenerate races” (Schaffer, pg. 86).


Beginning in the 60’s marijuana use saw a resurgence which may be attributed to


many causes. One of the main causes was the rebellion of youth against the Vietnam


War. They used marijuana as an escape from war to peace. It was easy at this time


to depict marijuana as a beneficial and completely harmless substance whose effects


were far less harmful than those of legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine because


there was not enough scientific research done during the 60’s (Grolier Wellness


Encyclopedia, pg. 54).


Another cause may have been the discovery of the psychoactive component


marijuana- tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC. Users found the


relation between the doses and the effects (Grolier Electronic Publishing, 1995).


The current atmosphere provides for doctors to suggest synthetic marijuana


(THC) in a pure and standardized form by prescription (called Marinol) for the treatment


of nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy. Also, although there is no scientific


evidence that shows marijuana is beneficial in the treatment of glaucoma, it may


prevent the progression of visual loss. Marijuana, along with alcohol and a host of


other substances, can actually lower intraocular eye pressure. The medication


however, must be carefully tailored to the individual to prevent further eye damage.


The evidence has clearly shown that marijuana has been around for a great deal


of time and has served multiple purposes throughout history.


Sources


Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia, Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995


Grolier Wellness Encyclopedia, Drugs, Society & Behavior. Vol. 3, 1992.


Ethan A. Nadelmann, American Heritage Magazine, Feb-Mar, 1993.


Sam Robertson, High Times Magazine, Jan, 1997


Marco Garcia, Issue Bridge (Drug Addition), vol. 1,3,4


Mike Grossman, http://www.pot.com/


Rita Titori, http://www.drugs.com/


Medical Marijuana, http://www.lec.org/Drug_Watch/


Public/Documents/Med_Marijuana_Paper.htm, 1995


Tobacco Control Archives, http://www.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/


Alcohol Related Issues, http://www.miph.org/miph_alcohol.html


Norml, http://norml.org/

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