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. Ethan Nadelman first states that the “Global War on Drugs can be Won.” Needless to say, the “Drug-Free World” and “Alcohol-Free World” are viewed as completely different realistic goals in which one could achieve. Drug-Free World would be a lot harder task for one to accomplish due to the number of addicts who are incapable of stopping, even if it continues to kill their bodies. Drug use has been a bigger problem than alcohol use, mainly because it is harming the human bodies of all races with dangerous diseases. Alcohol, on the other hand, may cause a bit of damage to the body (in severe cases, alcohol poisoning), but not merely as the damage brought upon by the drug usage. Therefore, a Drug-Free World may be a harder goal to achieve than an Alcohol-Free World. Also, politician are on the verge of eliminating drugs from the Earth, despite the fact that majority of the people are spending their money on drugs rather than quitting. When the manufacturing of illegal drugs terminate, the percentage of people sent to jail may decrease substantially. In add... ... middle of paper ... ...ct. Works Cited Greenwald, Glenn. "Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies | Glenn Greenwald | Cato Institute: White Paper." Cato Institute. 02 Apr. 2009. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. . Kaufman, Stephen. "Obama Drug Strategy: Prevention to Reduce Demand." America - Engaging the World - America.gov. 12 May 2010. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. . Nadelmann, Ethan. "DRUGS: THINK AGAIN." European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies. Sept.-Oct. 2007. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. . "Reducing Demand for Drugs." UN General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem. May 1998. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. .
Drug use has been an ongoing problem in our country for decades. The use of drugs has been the topic of many political controversies throughout many years. There has been arguments that are for legalizing drugs and the benefits associated with legalization. Also, there are some who are opposed to legalizing drugs and fear that it will create more problems than solve them. Conservatives and liberals often have different opinions for controversial topics such as “the war on drugs,” but it is necessary to analyze both sides in order to gain a full understanding of their beliefs and to decide in a change in policy is in order.
A “drug-free society” has never existed, and probably will never exist, regardless of the many drug laws in place. Over the past 100 years, the government has made numerous efforts to control access to certain drugs that are too dangerous or too likely to produce dependence. Many refer to the development of drug laws as a “war on drugs,” because of the vast growth of expenditures and wide range of drugs now controlled. The concept of a “war on drugs” reflects the perspective that some drugs are evil and war must be conducted against the substances
So long as people continue to use illicit drugs, the drug trade and all the problems that go with it will continue. This fact has led to an enormous debate as to whether legalizing drug use will reduce the problem. Many think that, if drugs were legalized, this would take the profit out of the sales, and reduce the drug cartels’ ability to generate the revenues necessary to conduct their operations. Legalization of drugs also would enable the U.S. government to tax the sale of drugs, and to use those revenues for programs designed to help stop people from using them. That debate, however, is the subject of another civics presentation.
To this day, the debate on drugs is still an issue. How does one classify a drug as “good” or “bad”? The Article, “Attitudes Towards Drug Legalization Among Drug Users,” by Robert Trevino and Alan Richard discusses the support of drug legalization. Both also discuss the economic approaches of drug legalization. Trevino and Richard conducted a survey to ask drug users about their outlook on drugs.
Winkle, Bethany. "Effectiveness of War on Drugs Being Questioned." Treatment Solutions. N.p., 3 June 2011. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy (2011). War on Drugs Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy June 2011. Retrieved from http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/themes/gcdp_v1/pdf/Global_Commission_Report_English.pdf
Over the years, drug abuse has been a rising problem in almost every country in the world. Day by day more people are involved in this endless cycle of drug craving, money shortage, and drug related crimes. Congressmen and politicians of United States, seeing this unstoppable crime wave which is about to spread throughout the country, begin to address various kinds of possible solutions to end this crisis in the most efficient and effective way. As discussed in Alan M. Dershowitz's "The Case for Medicalizing Heroin" and Charles B. Rangel's "Legalize Drugs? Not on Your Life," the most popular proposition set forward by growing number of leaders now is to legalize the use of drugs; but will it help solving the problem or make it even worse? I agree with Rangel that in order to end drugs abuse completely, we have to find the root of the problem and use any forces necessary and retain the determination to keep on fighting because it will not be an easy battle.
Riley, D. Drugs and Drug Policy in Canada: A Brief Review and Commentary. Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy and International Harm Reduction Association (Prepared for the House of Commons of Canada). November 1998
Bennett, William J. “Drug Policy and the Intellectuals.” Drug Policy 1989-90, A Guide. Ed. Arnold S Trebach and Kevin B. Zeese. Rpt. In Current Issues and Enduring Questions. Ed. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 1996. 358-64.
As human beings, we are naturally curious about different things in our society. We want to absorb as much knowledge as possible, whether it is in a classroom environment or by experiencing it ourselves. When it comes to illegal drugs, people want to experience it for themselves since it has a different effect on each individual. In the United States, the drug use is quite high. Different legislators and philosophers believe that legalizing drugs will have more benefits than harms to our society. I believe that it will be the opposite. In this paper, I will present several arguments about why certain drugs should not be legalized, but decriminalized instead.
Wolf, M. (2011, June 4). We should declare an end to our disastrous war on drugs. Financial Times. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.consortiumlibrary.org/docview/870200965?accountid=14473
Ventola MS, C. L. (2011, November 11). The Drug Shortage Crisis in the United States. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3278171/
There is a correlation between the illegal drug dealers and the strain on financing the war against drugs; there is the cost of imprisoning drug offenders; the cost of court fees; lawyer fees; the funding of police officers fighting the drug black market. Legalising cannabis in Australia opens up many opportunities, for example the legalisation of the production and sale of cannabis will remove the black market and generate tax for the government (Walters, 1993). Also based on the 2001 statistic of the decriminalisation of drugs in Portugal, there has been an increased uptake of treatment and reduction in drug related deaths (Hughes & Stevens, 2007). The legalisation of cannabis could save approximately $3 billion to $10 billion and focus could be shifted away from interdiction, enforcement, court, and prison costs (Dennis & White, 1999). Now emphasis has been shifted to drug addiction treatment, and increase in therapy has increased since legalisation (Loo, et al., 2002). The decriminalisation of drug possession has allowed addicts to seek for earlier involvement from medical professionals and allow more effective methods of intervening to drugs problems (Hughes & Stevens, 2007). This has removed the stigmatism behind drugs and professionals are able to seek out problematic drug users. In addition, since decriminalisation there is a more visible view of the amount of active drug users. Robson (1999, p. 22) maintains that “the great majority of people who use drugs never come to the attention of doctors, lawyers, or policemen.” Research is now more efficient, especially with the many that propose interest in the understanding of issues pertinent to drugs. Furthermore, now there are many that are reporting their use of drugs, statistics are therefore more accurate and measuring the rate of overall drug use is
The author expresses in the article, “that drug laws have been imposed to protect the moral culture of capitalism…” The illegality of drugs lies in their immorality not in their reality. The government cannot legalize drugs without surrendering the ability to control its Puritan agenda. The government demands freedoms remain forfeited to keep workers in engaged in the capitalist system. D’Angelo speculates, the “cultural turmoil of the 1960’s” prompted “Victorian renaissance” and “the rise of neo-conservatism.” The austerity of current legislation trusts “that the working class will always be enslaved by its desires” therefore sacrificing choices to those better suited to decide.
The legalization of drug use is the most absurd thing I have ever heard. That is what a friend said to me when I asked if legalizing drug use could have some benefits. We know that the issue of drugs seems to be a problem that most people reject, by the just fact that there are many negative things associated with them such as crime, addiction, and death. Society perception rejects the legalization of drug use, but like many things, ignorance plays an important role in creating prejudgments without concrete basics. Legalizing drug use is a controversial issue among the international society with high political costs for those who dare to suggest it, but there are some important aspects that make me suggest that drug use should be regulated by the government.