Drug Addiction: The War On Drugs

In the essay “America’s Unjust Drug War” by Michael Huemer, Huemer discusses the facts and opinions around the subject on whether or not the recreational use of drugs should be banned by law. Huemer believes that the American government should not prohibit the use of drugs. He brings up the point on drugs and how they harm the users and the people in the user’s life; he proves that the prohibition on drugs in unjust. Huemer believes that drug prohibition is an injustice to Americans’ natural rights and questions why people can persucute those who do drugs.

Today the number are in the war on drug is a huge failure with devastated unintended consequences, it lead to mass incarceration in the us, to corruption, to political destabilization, and violence in latin america, asia, and africa. To systemic human right abuse across the world.”-Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

For many years, a real push has been looming on the idea of legalizing now illegal drugs. This has become a hot debate throughout nations all over the world, from all walks of life. The dispute over the idea of decriminalizing illegal drugs is and will continue on as an ongoing conflict. In 2001, Drug decriminalization in all drugs, including cocaine and heroin, became a nationwide law in Portugal (Greenwald). Ethan Nadelman, essayist of “Think again: Drugs,” states his side of the story on the continuing criminalization of hard drugs, in which he stand to oppose. Whether it is for the good of human rights or not, decriminalizing drugs may be a good head start for a new beginning.

In the past forty years, the United States has spent over $2.5 trillion dollars funding enforcement and prevention in the fight against drug use in America (Suddath). Despite the efforts made towards cracking down on drug smugglers, growers, and suppliers, statistics show that addiction rates have remained unchanged and the number of people using illegal drugs is increasing daily (Sledge). Regardless of attempts to stem the supply of drugs, the measure and quality of drugs goes up while the price goes down (Koebler). Now with the world’s highest incarceration rates and greatest illegal drug consumption (Sledge), the United States proves that the “war on drugs” is a war that is not being won.

Today the number are in the war on drug is a huge failure with devastated unintended consequences, it lead to mass incarceration in the us, to corruption, to political destabilization, and violence in latin america, asia, and africa. To systemic human right abuse across the world.”-Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

The history of addiction goes back centuries, and unfortunately, there is still a long way to go for people to realize the effects of chemical substances do more harm than good. The difference between drug use and abuse relies heavily on a person’s dependence on the substance. The line between the differences is often very fine. Depending on other factors involved, such as morals, values, environment, and genetic predisposition, the line will most likely be crossed without regard to the consequences until treatment and recovery are the only options left. This is essay compares two theoretical explanations

There are many differing viewpoints in the United States when dealing with drug policy. Within the political arena, drug policy is a platform that many politicians base their entire campaigns upon, thus showing its importance to our society in general. Some of these modes within which drug policy is studied are in terms of harm reduction, and supply reduction. When studying the harmful effects of drugs, we must first to attempt to determine if drug abuse harms on an individual level of if it is a major cause of many societal problems that we face today. In drawing a preliminary conclusion to this question we are then able to outline the avenues of approach in dealing

In today’s session, group members learned about how thoughts and emotions contribute to behavior, and how to observe, analyze and responses to those thoughts and emotions in different ways. The common behavior traits that related to substance use were discussed, as well.

As a major policy issue in the United States, the War on Drugs has been one of the most monumental failures on modern record. At a cost of billions of taxpayer dollars, thousands of lives lost and many thousands of others ruined by untreated addiction or incarceration, America's policy orientation concerning drug laws is due for reconsideration. Indeed, the very philosophical orientation of the War on Drugs and of the current drug policy in the United States has been one of prosecution and imprisonment rather than one of decriminalization, treatment and rehabilitation. As our medical and scientific communities characterize addiction as a disease, the United States government continues to characterize this disease as a crime. And in doing so, it has created an unnecessary criminal class in the United States. The research, supplemental political cartoons and proposed research will set out to prove that stiffer drug laws will only have the impact of criminalizing countless drug addicts who might otherwise benefit substantially from rehabilitation and other treatment-based strategies. With a specific focus on the prohibition of marijuana even for medical use, and using the Toulmin model for putting forth and completing the argument, the research will set out to demonstrate the irrational

With the development of science and technology and the raising of human awareness, the demand of drugs is also rising. However, in no case can people deny the terrible side effects of drugs when they are used to emphasize the burden or just have fun. The adverse effects of illicit drugs, including the terrible imagination and addiction to drugs, are a complex problem. This is a horrible brain disease that forces people to cling to use what they know to pose negative impact to them. Conquering addiction is a challenge that often requires group support in an environment such as rehabilitation.

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.

Alexander claims that addiction is rooted in a persons childhood experiences and socialization. Through a series of experiments recording the willingness of rats to ingest morphine-infused water, Alexander found that the rats that were in isolation were more likely to take the drug than those rats that were in a social setting, even when previously exposed to the drug (Hari 2015: 172-173). Alexander concludes “chronic isolation causes people to look for relief. They find temporary relief in addiction”; Hari continues with his line of reasoning when he says, “[drug addiction is] the product of social circumstances – and it can change as social circumstances change” (Hari 2015: 174).

Drug legalization is an enduring question that presently faces our scholars. This issue embraces two positions: drugs should not be legalized and drugs should be legalized. These two positions contain an array of angles that supports each issue. This brief of the issues enables one to consider the strengths and weakness of each argument, become aware of the grounds of disagreement and agreement and ultimately form an opinion based upon the positions stated within the articles. In the article “Against the Legalization of Drugs”, by James Q. Wilson, the current status of drugs is supported. Wilson believes if a drug such as heroin were legalized there would be no financial or medical reason to avoid heroin usage;

In pre-modern times, drugs took on a role of medicinal use. As they were distributed in a free market without any constraints, Opium was recommended for sleepless nights, Cocaine for anesthesia, Hashish for relaxation (Hart, Ksir & Ray). These drugs were not dubbed as harmful, therefore, under the appropriate circumstances, provided beneficial effects to its users. More recently, individuals are more inclined to use drugs as an ‘escape’. Stimulants provide a sort of alternate existence which tends to reduce mental tension, increase energy, or induce euphoria (Hart, Ksir & Ray). Argumentatively speaking, drug use only affects the user, so there is no valid reasoning for impairing the freedom of citizens by prohibiting them. Individuals benefit by having the freedom to use

The use of drugs has been an issue for decades, but in 2001 Portugal decided to take the lead and decriminalize the use of drugs. By doing so they have been able thus far to drop down the drug overdose rate, prevent the spread of drug related diseases and have been able to steer the money more to helping people with treatments rather than incarcerations. It is now treated as a health issue rather than a criminal one. Although drugs are still illegal in Portugal if caught with them you are offered treatment rather than incarceration because it’s drugs are now the least common cause of death in Portugal. By decriminalizing all drugs, governments can minimize overdose rates, stop the spread of drug-related diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C, and spend less money by offering drug offenders treatment versus incarceration.