War On Drugs Thesis

The Enlightenment was a period of time during the second half of the 18th century of new concepts and ideas aimed to advance European society by using rational thinking and logic. The ideas presented during this period focused on changing the way we view our world and the people who live in it. The two scholars who formed the foundations of the Enlightenment, Isaac Newton and John Locke, concentrated on two different subjects, but they both greatly influenced our way of thinking. Another leader in the enlightenment who introduced another facet into our way of thinking is Pierre Bayle. Bayle mainly focused on religion and whether religious intolerance is justified. Adam Smith applied another way of thinking to the science of economics. All

In another sense, we see how addicts, who are treated as criminals, never get the help they need. not only due in part to our private prison system requiring inmates in order to make money, but also because

The continued, growing supply, and demand for powerful psychoactives proves this. To lie to the populace in order to fulfill a personal view of what society should be is unjustifiable, as the U.S. is a democratic republic, and one man’s views are theoretically never allowed to become law. Both of these realities pale in comparison with the actions taken by the government to attempt to rehabilitate the addict. To illustrate this point some facts must be stated. In 2013, 98,200 people were currently imprisoned for drug related crimes. This is 51% of the total federal prison population. Of the nearly 4 million people on probation at the end of 2012, 25% had a drug charge as their most serious offense. The amount of money that would be saved, and the number of people who would still be living upstanding productive lives if drug charges had never been criminalized is almost incalculable (People Sentenced For Drug Offenses In The US Correctional System). Additionally, according to the NCADD, 8% of the U.S. population used an illicit drug in the past 30 days. 20% has used a prescription for nonmedical purposes (NCADD). In effect, this means that between 20 and 30% of the population could be imprisoned for potentially years at a time on a monthly basis. The draconian laws set up by the government

One of the biggest problems with the criminal justice system ever sense the war on drugs is that their only goal is to get as many users and dealers off the street as possible. Not focusing on if that person is addicted to that substance, that they need help to get clean. Rates of people who clinically meet all the criteria to be considered medically addicted to a substance is shocking, 65 percent of inmates meet that standard. Of that 65 percent of inmates only about 11 percent of them receive actual treatment while in prison (New CASA* Report Finds). This is shocking because for a system that is trying to get people off the street, one would think they would want to keep them

The fact that the United States treats drug use as a terrible crime instead of treating it as a physical problem or illness, and the drug problem is still not going away, shows that the United States is going about drug abuse all wrong. The United States has over 25% of the world's incarcerated population and over half of those are in prison for drug abuse/distribution. Other countries have decriminalized drugs and have seen an extremely positive difference in the drug abuse problem. Therapeutic drug treatments can be offered as an option to drug abusers so they feel safe and not afraid or angry of what is happening. The United States needs to find a new policy on drug abuse because the current policy has failed.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs. This war was commenced to repel the wave of drugs rushing throughout the world. The U.S. has taken plenty of measures to fight back against drugs; whether it’s criminalizing the use of these drugs, hunting those who sell them, or making anti-drug propaganda to sway citizens and users away from them, not all of it has been beneficial to the world. Some of the tactics used have wasted money, imprisoned innocent people, and has gotten people killed. The war on drugs has been taken too far and needs to end before more lives in the world are ruined.

There are groups of people in the criminal justice system who considers drug addiction a personal issue, not a criminal one. This could not be further from the truth; drug abuse is illegal and should be treated as such. It is a catalyst for many crimes seen today from mugging to murder. If the numbers of those who abuse drugs are reduced, the amount of crimes associated with the addiction are also reduced. Not only will crime levels be reduced, most of those who undergo treatment tend to be better prepared to do more with their lives and not re-offend.

Starting in 1914 the U.S introduced the first probation acts that prohibited the consumption of Opiates and Cocaine with the Harrison Narcotics act of 1914 Later this act was amended to include marijuana. This Act was the first use of federal criminal law in the United Sates to attempt to deal with the nonmedical use of drugs (wisegeek). The war of drugs started primarily in the 1971 when Nixon declared the war on drugs. He dramatically increased the size and presence of federal drug control agencies (Drug Policy). With the first major organized drug imports from Columbia from the Black Tuna Gang based in Miami, Florida Columbia was quickly growing into a drug superpower able to feed America’s growing addictions.

Research Question: To what extent has the United States’ “War on Drugs” been successful in reducing illicit drug abuse in the country?

Drug addiction is stigmatized throughout society. Stigma is seen in all types of situations; race, religion, disease, mental health, addiction, what a person’s social and economic standing is. All those examples can be stigmatized, and we, ourselves, do this every day and may not know we are. Because society and especially the media has engrained these moral judgments in our minds about what is right or what is normal. But we should take a second to think about these things a little more in depth before defaulting to what we think we know about these problems. In the case of drug addiction, we see stigma in all types of shapes and sizes. Whether in the media or walking to class with a group of friends, we see it more often than not. That feeling you get when you see a person on the street walking through the rows of cars at a stoplight. Some people (myself included) roll up their windows and avoid eye contact hoping they will just walk by. Chances are that person is in that situation because of a serious addiction and really needs help, but isn’t afforded that chance because we the normal people avoid them at all cost. Maybe we can change that. Maybe we can break through these common stigmas and begin to make a change in the way addiction is viewed in society.

The United States is not immune to the worldwide drug addiction epidemic. Drugs pour in from Mexico daily, then distributed to throughout the country. The economic crisis in America is creating an excuse for drug use (e.g., depression, hopelessness). This chemical fix not only creates problems for the addict, but the family and community as well. Every addict has an enabler, a person who makes the addiction possible through various venues of support (e.g., financial, denial). Addicts are only concerned with their next fix and will resort to any means to obtain it (e.g., theft, prostitution, pan-handling). Some have even resorted to extremely desperate measures; for example, murder for inheritance or life insurance proceeds.

Being a surgeon takes a tremendous amount of time, but there are a lot of benefits to go with it. A surgeon operates on patients to treat injuries. They can operate on anything from tumors to bones. This career is good for me because I love the chance to help people and to have a positive outcome.

Of course, there are many people who would agree with this proposition, but most of them are drug users or spreaders. Supporters of this act say that legalised drugs would reduce criminality as drug addicts are forced to do crimes to get money for drugs. Also, they are using freedom of choice to convince that drugs should be legalised. But I think, that since a minute you first taste drugs , you do not belong to

Many people believe that drug addicts should be treated as criminals. When it comes to the topic of drug addicts, most of us will readily agree that they should be put in jail because some of them might go to far and try to harm someone while being on drugs. Where this agreement usually ends however, people don’t look at the fact that the drug addicts probably have a lot of problems, and just need help. Whereas some are convicted that they could go to a rehab center and get the help they need, others maintain that going to jail would take them off the streets so that they won 't harm anything or anyone. Although, I 've always believed that drug addicts should not be treated as criminals, but as having a medical problem.

The “War on Drugs” is the name given to the battle of prohibition that the United States has been fighting for over forty years. And it has been America’s longest war. The “war” was officially declared by President Richard Nixon in the 1970’s due to the abuse of illegitimate drugs. Nixon claimed it as “public enemy number one” and enacted laws to fight the importation of narcotics. The United States’ War on Drugs began in response to cocaine trafficking in the late 1980’s. As the war continues to go on, winning it hardly seems feasible. As stated by NewsHour, the National Office of Drug Control Policy spends approximately nineteen billion dollars a year trying to stop the drug trade. The expenses shoot up, indirectly, through crime,