Causes Of Moral Panics

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the legalization of marijuana in Colorado as well as the Netherlands drug policy. It has been found that even though Colorado has legalized marijuana, there are provisions that must be followed. The Netherlands however have not legalized marijuana, but they do feel that seeing possession of marijuana is not a crime, so therefore marijuana is tolerated. Colorado’s society does not agree with this legalization due to adolescent use, however the Colorado Amendment 64 protects this. The Netherlands is seen as too liberal, but they are only doing what is in the best interest of the users.

“Drug policy regarding the control of the traditional illicit substances (opiates, cocaine, cannabis) is currently moving through upbeat times in almost all Western countries. Prohibition on the basis of repressive law enforcement not only seems to fail on a large scale, but also to create vast additional costs, problems, and harm for drug consumers, who often find themselves in extreme social, economic, and health conditions” (Fischer 1995: 389).

Drugs have had a noteworthy effect on American history since the establishing of the main English state at Jamestown in 1607. Indeed, even as drugs, lawful or not, have added to the development of the country 's economy, Americans have attempted to discover approaches that point of quarantine drugs’ negative impacts on society without producing negative reactions of their own. Also, if drugs have existed since the start, so have drug issues or addictions. Thus have undertakings to take care of those drug issues.

Since the late 19th century, the federal and states governments of the United States have enacted laws and policies to deter the use and distribution of illegal drugs. These laws and policies have not only deemed what drugs are legal and illegal, but have also established penalties for the possession and distribution of these substances and established federal agencies to control drug use and administer drug law enforcement. This essay will not only examine the landmark drug laws and policies established by the federal and state governments, but also the enforcement of drug laws.

The first dimension looks at drug availability and accessibility, without which Parker et al (2002) claim ‘normalisation’, could not take place. Over the past decade the availability of a variety of drugs has increased. With more and more drugs becoming available on the streets, prices are falling lower than ever. However purity levels are remaining the same, causing drug use to increase. Nowadays most youngsters obtain their drugs through social networks and friends of friends, who know the local dealers supplying on a small-scale level (Parker et al, 2002). Although this would therefore mean a huge population of young Britons have breached the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, this type of dealing is extremely common and also very difficult for the police to detect, as it is concealed between small networks of users buying usually ‘recreational’ drugs for personal use (Parker et al. 2002). Such behaviours between these groups of friends have become so ‘normalised’ that they do not see what they are doing as breaking the law, most of the users will otherwise live a fairly law-abiding lifestyle where drugs have a purely recreational purpose (Parker et al, 2002).

At first Chapman does not limit his perspective to one side of criticizing the use of illegal drugs in society. Instead, he deals with this subject in a broad way. He argues over the fact that the use of these prohibited drugs costs the government a lot of money, police time and prison space and how in spite of taking several administrative steps, the government has suffered from a colossal failure in stopping the drug abuse. He provides the data in support of his argument which is direct and precise. Through the example of Bennett, he tries to convey the message that people are not willing to have the spread of drug abuse in citizenry. A survey was conducted asking people to respond to the following question: if illegal

The Harrison Narcotic Act of 1914 was the first of many laws due to the laissez-faire attitude toward drug use in the United States. Brecher 1972 states (as cited in Powell & Redford, 2016) society’s view on drugs was not problematic until the end of the nineteenth century. After the Civil War, a widespread epidemic of drugs swept across the nation, which fuels the drug wars of today (Powell & Brecher, 2016).

According to Jewkes (2001: p.74), moral panic is referring to public and political reactions to minority or marginalized individual who appear to be threat to the social values and interest. Moral panic is mostly the consequences when by the media amplify the deviancy and public responses. The ‘bikie gangs’ is presented in a stylised and symbolic fashion by the mass media (Cohen, 2004: 1), fear against ‘bikie gangs is among the Australian society. General public concern about their safety on road and in other occasions because the media tells them that the ‘bikie gangs’ involve in other criminal activities. Moral panic now is not simply a social phenomenon of fear towards crime, but rather a social phenomenon of contemporary media structure,

Challenge: Select and describe a “moral panic” against a perceived deviance. Analyse the role of the “moral entrepreneur” and “folk devil” in your selected case. Finally, explicate what it demonstrates about individuals and their socialization. (Length: 2 000 words)

During the Roaring Twenties, the flapper girl’s outfit wasn’t complete without her hipflask. Flapper girls were rebellious and rejected society’s norms and laws. Similarly, though Prohibition in the 20’s outlawed alcohol in the US, it was often met with rebellious attitudes and illegal trades, allowing many to acquire alcohol even during the height of Prohibition. The US today struggle with similar problems as prohibition on marijuana is often ignored and many black market trades allow people to have access to marijuana in the US. In the article “Today’s War on Drugs:Prohibition then and now,” Christopher Bracey, senior associate dean for academic affairs at George Washington University Law School, reveals that Prohibition in the 20’s and today

Oftenly people within a culture create its own organizing principles and definitions when certain things occur that affect a community and/or society simultaneously, one of them being moral panics. Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda introduces us to the concept of moral panics and what they consists of in their article “Moral Panics: Culture, Politics, and Social Construction”. According to the author 's, moral panic is an exaggerated response or concern by the public to an issue that is seen as threatening the moral standards of society, however the harm exposed may be minimal to none, usually ignited by the media, higher officials, action groups and so forth . Moral panic has become a well-known word often used to categorize social problems that we are exposed to today. Here, we see some examples of the three theories: the grassroots model, the elite-engineered model, and the interest-group theory, and how they are present in our lives today.

Mind Over Mass Media by Steven Pinker The lack of consistency, clarity and organization in Steven Pinker's argument caused it to be ineffective. A man once said, “It's a lack of clarity that creates chaos and frustration.” One of the things that this article presents is his attention grapping paragraph, Moral Panics.

There was a great push for a non-judgmental approach that would ‘reduce physical, social and psychological risks to individuals who use drugs and to society as a whole’ (McCann & Temenos, 2015, p. 217). Never the less, this was a highly contested set of policy formulation across all levels of governance.

According to Michelle Alexander, why and how has the “war on drugs” developed over the last 40 years? What are the main political and economic factors that led to the war on drugs, and what are the main political and economic factors that shaped it as it developed over the last four decades? Draw on material from the Foner textbook chapters 25 through 28 to supplement Alexander’s discussion of the political and economic context.

Drugs have been a problem in society for a very long time and it is still an ongoing subject of debate. Different organisations work hard to keep people from using drugs, though a new issue has arisen. During the last few years there have been discussions in some countries to decriminalize soft drugs, including cannabis and ecstasy.