Synthesis Essay About Drugs

752 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Against decriminalization of drugs essay

Drugs. Along with prostitution, drugs have existed since the beginning of time. Romans would use heroin and cocaine as medicine while Indians would use Marijuana. Even today, they are everywhere. However the perception and the role of drugs has changed and evolved throughout society. What was once viewed as an item useful for medicinal and recreational use, now is viewed as a very appalling and dangerous thing in our society. In this paper, it will be argued that the current role and approach to drugs is inefficient, ineffective and far more dangerous than the drugs themselves. Drugs need to not only be decriminalized but legalized completely. There are many prominent issues in our society but none as quite as big as "the war on drugs". A term coined by Richard Nixon when he officially declared all drugs a threat to society. Everything today from crime, healthcare to …show more content…

Have drugs always been viewed as bad in our society? When and why were drugs outlawed? Have the effects of that been positive or negative? If they've been negative what needs to change in order solve the problem of drugs? These are all questions that will be addressed in this essay. Furthermore this essay will highlight the legal status and constitutionality of outlawing drugs. This essay will use four key arguments to establish that drugs should be legalized. The first; The lesson from drug prohibition was learned in 1920 when Alcohol was made illegal. Regulating human behaviour failed then and has failed now. The second; drugs are a medical and social issue, not a legal one. The third; Outlawing drugs has not prevented the usage or convenience of getting drugs. The fourth; Legalizing drugs will free up the legal system to pursue crimes that truly harm society. Furthermore, legalizing and regulating drugs will bring in tax dollars which can be used to educate people about the dangers of drugs, along with more funding for the legal

Show More
Related

  • Douglas Husak: Why We Should Decriminalized Drug Use

    2036 Words  | 5 Pages

    We live in a “recreational drug culture”, with the current criminalization of illicit drugs being driven by the common but not entirely universally accepted assumption that negative externalities will instead be placed in on society. Addressing the seemingly ever-infinite "war on drugs", in "Why We Should Decriminalize Drug Use", Douglas Husak argues in favour of the decriminalization of drugs in terms of not criminalizing the use of such recreational drugs. In this paper, I will dispute that Kusak 's argument succeeds because of the lack of justification for prohibition, and the counterproductiveness and how numerically evident the ineffectiveness of these contemporary punitive policies are.

    Read More

  • Politics of Prohibition: Helpful Or Harmful To American Society?

    1407 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the duration of this paper, I will discuss an issue that has been controversial for over a century; prohibition and how it has effected, currently effects, and will, most likey, continue to effect American society. The aspects that I choose to address from this issue are political, historical, they make you wonder, and they should effect anyone who reads this paper. For decades, the American government has had a restriction or ban on drugs and alcohol. Also for decades, these restrictions have been met with resistance from our society. In the early twentieth century, from 1920 through 1933, it was the prohibition of alcohol. A corrupt time, in which, so called, "criminals" and law makers both manufactured and sold bootlegged alcohol. There was high demand then and everyone was in it for the money, everyone. A time which proved to be a failed attempt by the government to take away what is now one of the United States' top commodities. During the 1970's President Richard Nixon started an ongoing "war on drugs" and every president since Nixon has continued this fight to, somehow, rid the entire country of illicit drugs. Today, a few states have taken a new approach to one of these drugs and eyebrows are being raised to the war on drugs all together. States, such as, California, Washington, and Calorado have loosened their tight grip on prohibiting marijuana and even have medical marijuana dispenseries. This idea has been proven to have boosted those economies, and it has allowed people with cancer to use a medication that actually gives them comfort. However, marijuana is still illegal. Why would we restrict the nation from something that beneficial...

    Read More

  • America's War on Drugs: Policy and Problems

    4902 Words  | 10 Pages

    In this paper I will evaluate America's War on Drugs. More specifically, I will outline our nation's general drug history and look critically at how Congress has influenced our current ineffective drug policy. Through this analysis I hope to show that drug prohibition policies in the United States, for the most part, have failed. Additionally, I will highlight and evaluate the influences acting on individual legislators' decisions to continue support for these ineffective policies as a more general demonstration of Congress' role in the formation of our nation's drug policy strategy. Finally, I will conclude this analysis by outlining the changes I feel necessary for future progress to be made. Primary among these changes are a general promotion of drug education and the elimination of our current system's many de-legitimating hypocrisies.

    Read More

  • I Support the Decriminalization of All Drugs

    1134 Words  | 3 Pages

    When societies finally become comfortable with reality, they begin to abandon the murderous laws that impede their growth. Currently, the social stigma and legislated morality regarding the use of illicit drugs yield perhaps the most destructive effects on American society. Drug laws have led to the removal of non-violent citizens from society- either directly by incarceration or indirectly by death - which is genocidal in quantity and essence. I base my support of the decriminalization of all drugs on a principle of human rights, but the horror and frustration with which I voice this support is based on practicality. The most tangible effect of the unfortunately labeled "Drug War" in the United States is a prison population larger than Russia's and China's, and an inestimable death toll that rivals the number of American casualties from any given war, disease or catastrophe.

    Read More

  • The War on Drugs: Failures of the Drug Law Part 1

    4153 Words  | 9 Pages

    “[The war on drugs] has created a multibillion-dollar black market, enriched organized crime groups and promoted the corruption of government officials throughout the world,” noted Eric Schlosser in his essay, “A People’s Democratic Platform”, which presents a case for decriminalizing controlled substances. Government policies regarding drugs are more focused towards illegalization rather than revitalization. Schlosser identifies a few of the crippling side effects of the current drug policy put in place by the Richard Nixon administration in the 1970s to prohibit drug use and the violence and destruction that ensue from it (Schlosser 3). Ironically, not only is drug use as prevalent as ever, drug-related crime has also become a staple of our society. In fact, the policy of the criminalization of drugs has fostered a steady increase in crime over the past several decades. This research will aim to critically analyze the impact of government statutes regarding drugs on the society as a whole.

    Read More

  • Decriminalization of Drugs

    1331 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Alcoholics Anonymous

    1641 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Legalizing Marijuana Will Decreased Crime

    1426 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many feel today we are loosing the war on drugs. People consider legalization unnecessary. They feel that it will increase the amount of drug use throughout the world. They state that in many cases, drug users who have quit quit because of trouble with the law. Legalization would eliminate the legal forces that discourage the users from using or selling drugs. They also say that by making drugs legal, the people who have never tried drugs for fear of getting caught by the law will have no reason to be afraid anymore and will become users (Potter 1998).

    Read More

  • Functionalist and Interactionalist Perspective on Illegal Drugs

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    The war on drugs in our culture is a continuous action that is swiftly lessening our society. This has been going on for roughly 10-15 years and has yet to slow down in any way. Drugs continue to be a problem for the obvious reason that certain people abuse them in a way that can lead to ultimate harm on such a person. These drugs do not just consist of street drugs (marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy), but prescription medications as well. Although there are some instances where drugs are being used by subjects excessively, there has been medical research to prove that some of these drugs have made a successful impact on certain disorders and diseases.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Liberal And Liberal Views On The War On Drugs

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • What Is The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    In many countries, drugs are becoming more common. In the history of the US, drug abuse and drugs have a long history. Nowadays, people are so much into drugs. Most drugs affect the brain and drug use is harmful. Every society and every family has been touched by the devastating effects of drug addiction.

    Read More

  • Drugs in American Society, by Erich Goode

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    Drug in the American Society is a book written by Eric Goode. This book, as the title indicates, is about drugs in the American Society. It is especially about the misuse of most drugs, licit or illicit, such us alcohol, marijuana and more. The author wrote this book to give an explanation of the use of different drugs. He wrote a first edition and decided to write this second edition due to critic and also as he mentioned in the preface “there are several reason for these changes. First, the reality of the drug scene has changed substantially in the past dozen or so years. Second much more information has been accumulated about drug use. And third, I’m not the same person I was in 1972.”(vii). The main idea of this book is to inform readers about drugs and their reality. In the book, Goode argued that the effect of a drug is dependent on the societal context in which it is taken. Thus, in one society a particular drug may be a depressant, and in another it may be a stimulant.

    Read More

  • Should Drugs Be Decriminalized?

    1650 Words  | 4 Pages

    Recreational drug use has been controversial for years. Government has deemed the use of certain drugs to be dangerous, addictive, costly, and fatal. Governmental agencies have passed laws to make drugs illegal and then have focused a great deal of attention and money trying to prohibit the use of these drugs, and many people support these sanctions because they view the illegality of drugs to be the main protection against the destruction of our society (Trebach, n.d.). Restricting behavior doesn’t generally stop people from engaging in that behavior; prohibition tends to result in people finding more creative ways to obtain and use drugs. However, just knowing that trying to control people’s behavior by criminalizing drug use does not work still leaves us looking for a solution, so what other options exist? This paper will discuss the pros and cons about one option: decriminalizing drugs.

    Read More

  • Anti-legalization of Drugs

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    65-92 Riga, Peter J. " Legalization Would Help Solve The Nation's Drug Problem. " Greenhaven Press. 52-54 Rosenthal, A.M. " The Case For Slavery." Kennedy, Kennedy, and Aaron 370-372 " Two Crucial Issues in the Argument for Drug Legalization."

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay Drugs

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the very beginning of human history, drugs have been used for medicine and recreation, some of these recreational uses have been good while others have been lethal. The first known uses drugs comes from the time of the Sumerians around the year 5000 BC. Thousands of years went by before the next recording of drug use with people in Switzerland eating poppy

    Read More

More about Synthesis Essay About Drugs

Open Document