Persuasive Essay On The War On Drugs

According to Kristof (2009), the legalization of drugs is another solution to drug trafficking. With drugs more readily available, at lower prices and higher levels of potency many law enforcement personal and politicians favor legalization of drugs. While other experts favor keeping drug production and sell illegal, but decriminalizing possession. Either way if it is legalize it must be regulated. According to Kristof (2009), the United States have inquired three consequences due to the failure of “The War on Drugs”, increased population in jails, empowered criminals and terrorists, and squandered resources that cannot be replaced. With that said, why continue down a road were the drug problem is not getting resolved. Before drugs were prohibited, usage levels were lower among cocaine and heroin users, and states with legalized marijuana have not seen an increase in consumption, according to Kristof

For many people, the thought of making drugs easily accessible for consumption by the masses may be frightening. After all, we have drug laws in place because they have the potential to be harmful. It also may not be difficult to imagine that it could very well be subject to failure due to a numerous amount negative externalities that may occur. Our nation has been engaged in a war on drugs for several decades now. The effectiveness of this war, however, is a topic that has continuously been debated. Some argue that universal legalization of drugs, an alternative that has never been tried, may have a greater benefits when compared to the present state of the war on drugs. On the other hand, the opposition believes that legalization would only pave the way for a vast amount of crime and many wasted resources.

As a nation we face a serious enemy that is not on foreign soil but here at home. The drug problem in this country has truly affected many lives and families. This enemy has no limits and affects our domestic tranquility. All drugs should not be legalized because they have the ability to impair judgment and do much bodily harm. Drugs have been a dark shadow lingering over our country for many years. In recent years, the heroine epidemic has spread throughout the nation; it has taken many lives and hurt many families along the way.

We should decriminalize drugs in the U.S. instead of legalizing them. Decriminalization refers to the lessening of criminal penalties of certain acts. According to De Marneffe, “… the legalization of drugs … [is] the removal of criminal penalties for the manufacture, sale, and possession of large quantities of recretational drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine” (346).

A controversial subject many Americans are constantly at battle over is legalizing drugs. Some experts have the opinion that drugs should be legalized for medical treatment, and for help with severe illness. Other experts argue that this will have a bad effect due to overdosing and addiction, and also the adverse affect on teens. I do not think that drugs should be legalized but they should allow people with serious medical conditions to use these illegal drugs. Legalizing drugs would only create and even bigger drug abuse situation, and especially for juveniles. Legalizing drugs would also create the question of what to do with criminals who are already incarcerated for this offense. There are surveys, which give statistics on crime, and how crime rates are affected by the use of drugs. For example, there is one survey called the “National

Throughout time, United States drug policy has shifted dramatically. From all drugs being legal to Prohibition and the War on Drugs, the US has had conflicting ideas about what is best for society and American citizens when it comes to drugs. The current War on Drugs has resulted in countless arrests and years served in prison, and has disproportionately hurt minority communities, only to result in largely unchanged use and death rates for illicit substances. Marijuana, Heroin, and Cocaine have all become cheaper and more pure

The United States of American is a society built upon principles and laws. These laws and principles were decided to keep Americans safe and help one another co-exist. In the beginning as laws came into being law makers would play it by ear as they decided what could remain legal for the public to take part in and what would be illegal and frowned upon by society. One of the many issues American government has come face to face with issues about making legal or illegal is drugs. Drugs since their first discovery has made a major impact in American history. Some might say that drugs have been destructive to our country, but even so legal or otherwise, one can say that they have contributed to the growth of our nation’s economy. The government

The current policy in use by the United States concerning illegal drugs is both outdated and unfair. This so-called war on drugs is a deeply rooted campaign of prohibition and unfair sentencing that is very controversial and has been debated for many years. The war on drugs is designed so that it will never end. This current drug was has very little impact on the overall supply of prohibited drugs and its impact on demand seems non-existent. United States’ taxpayers are spending billions of dollars on this failure of policy. They are spending billions to incarcerate drug users instead offering drug treatment which could help lower demand. Legalizing illicit would lower abuse and deaths from use and could have a positive economic impact on the United States. Certain industries are making massive sums of money by capitalizing on the drug war.

One of the most detrimental factors that brings a modern society down is the abuse of drugs. Drugs whether it’s illegal or over the counter has always remained a factor in the incarceration of citizens in the United States. The use of drugs has exponentially grown in the past decades due to many factors which includes the creation of new synthetic drugs, easier to obtain, and the drugs are more powerful than what it used to be. The use of drugs has drastically changed the criminal justice system because an enormous percentage of U.S. citizens are convicted for a drug offense. Drug offenses should not ultimately place an individual in jail or prison if the individual has in their possession a small of amount of marijuana or any small quantity of a drug. In the YouTube video

Legalizing drugs in the United States would lead to great trouble for the country affecting all citizens. Legalizing drugs will cause chaos among Americans. Edmund Harnett a deputy chief and executive officer wrote an article, “Drug legalization: why it wouldn’t work in the United States.” Harnett is also involved in the narcotics division of the New York police department. William J. Bennett the director of the national drug control policy wrote a heavy article, “Drug Policy and the Intellectuals.” James Q. Wilson has a political science degree and is the author of many crime articles including, “Against the Legalization of Drugs.” Disorder is the last thing this country needs from legalizing drugs. The legalization of drugs is undesirable because it would ruin relationships, would harm the safety of everyone, and would promote violence.

Drugs have been used throughout the world for thousands of years, whereas drug use has existed here in the U.S for a little over a hundred years. Regardless of the time of existance or when and why they were created, drug use is and has always been a major problem throughout our society. From the opium addicts of the late 1800s (The Drug Policy Alliance, 2016), the Rock and Roll heroine addicts of the 1960s and 70s, to the creation of a more affordable cocaine-like drug called "crack" in the 1980 's, drugs have consistently been proven to contribute to criminal behavior, signifancantly change individuals, warp relationships, ruin lives, and even end them. Since this realization, the justice system of our country has taken many different approches to combating drugs and the problems that they create.

The so-called “War on Drugs,” as declared by the Nixon administration in the signing of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, marked the beginning of the current era of mandatory minimum sentencing, racism, privatized prisons, and a powerful constituency that profits as a result of the prohibition of drugs. Psychoactive substances have been apart of the human experience as long as humans have walked the earth. There is little hope that drug production will ever be curtailed, so long as there is a demand; a demand that has remained steady even though it has been forty years since the beginning of said war. As Judge James P. Gray from the Superior Court of Orange County has so plainly put it: “Where did this policy

The War on Drugs is a current conflict that has been going on for many decades. It is a movement organized by the United States Government in attempts to reduce the amount of illegal drug trafficking in the country. The War on Drugs enforced strict drug policies that are intended to reduce both the production, distribution, and consumption of illegal drugs. The term was first used by President Richard Nixon, during a press conference concerning the nationwide drug abuse issue, in which Nixon announces to the Congress that drug abuse was, “public enemy number one”. Illegal drugs are certainly dangerous; addiction and death are two but many factors as a result of drugs. However, even though the War on Drugs might sounds justifiable, in truth, it is actually making the drug issue worst in the country.

The year is 1989, President George H. W. Bush hoists a bag of crack cocaine in front of the cameras and proclaims, “the gravest domestic threat facing our nation today is drugs.” After this, Bush gave a set of nine goals for the American people to achieve within a decade for the War on Drugs effort. By 2000, only two of the goals were met. The War on Drugs was declared in 1971 by Richard Nixon. Since then, it has been a topic of debate on whether it should be carried forward or be nullified. The majority of what the program has done is putting small time offenders away, creating a cycle of jail, getting out, inability to find a job, back on drugs, and eventually back in jail. This cycle needs to be stopped. The war on drugs has failed society by being an unsuccessful program, ruining people’s lives, and fueling crime. The War on Drugs is a failed program that needs to be reformed to better suit the needs of people today.

Since drugs are considered the demon here in America, citizens use as a method of rebelling as well as out of curiosity of 4 what the big deal is. Contrary to popular belief, using a drug for its euphoric effect is not a bad thing and dates back historically to the beginning of time. Hundreds of tests have been conducted on addicts and the result is that the setting and mind set are the reasons for addiction. What should be done is to build a cultural setting of more tolerance and less guilt. Legalizing drugs is a viable alternative to the current policy on drugs in America. If the government would legalize and regulate drugs a substantial industry and tax income would result. The jail overcrowding problem would be reduced by fifty percent in some estimates and violent crime would decline. Of course there are those who believe that legalization will turn our whole country into drug addicts. There is no evidence to support this. Making something illegal only creates a taboo, which people challenge and break because they know it’s wrong.