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the pro and cons of Recreational Drugs
pros and cons of recreational drugs
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A recreational drug is defined as "any controlled substance used to alter one's mind state or for non-medical purposes, without the permission or supervision of a physician" (Recreational Drug). Recreational drugs include both illegal and legal substances, some of which are extremely prevalent in the United States. The most popular recreational drug in the world is caffeine. Nearly, "80 - 90% of adult Americans consume caffeine every day" (Caffeine addiction). Other popular recreational drugs include nicotine (found in cigarettes), alcohol (found in beer, cocktails, wine, etc.), and cannabis (a.k.a. marijuana or weed) (Recreational Drug Use). These three drugs are found throughout the world and are used by a wide variety of cultures. Some of the other recreational drugs used less often include amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy, barbituitates, heroin, LSD, opium, mushrooms, and solvents (Top 10 Most Popular). All recreational drugs cause alterations to one's mood but not all are considered by law to be powerful enough to outlaw.
Alcohol and nicotine are among the most popular recreational drugs in the world. These drugs both have addictive properties but are legalized. "Nicotine was first isolated from the tobacco plant in 1828 by German chemists Posselt & Reimann" (Nicotine). Today nicotine is most commonly found in cigarettes that can be bought at corner stores, gas stations, and supermarkets everywhere in the United States. Each year there are a significantly high number of deaths resulting from smoking and second hand smoke related causes. The laws currently state that in most states anyone 18 years or older can obtain cigarettes and other nicotine products. Nicotine users state that using gives them a sense of calmness and relie...
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...y Lexicon. Dictionary.com, LLC. 08 Aug. 2014. .
"Recreational Drug Use." Academic Kids. Web. 08 Aug. 2010. http://academickids.com/encyclopedia/r/re/recreational_drug_use.html#Popular Recreational Drugs.
"Short-term Effects of Alcohol." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 01 Aug. 2010. Web. 09 Aug. 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-term_effects_of_alcohol.
"The Pros and Cons of Drug Legalization." Freelance Writing - Internet Article Marketing - Publish Articles Online - EduBook. 06 June 2009. Web. 12 Aug. 2014. .
"Top 10 Most Popular Recreational Drugs - Top 10 Lists | Listverse." Top 10 Lists - Listverse. 12 Aug. 2009. Web. 07 Aug. 2014. http://listverse.com/2009/08/12/top-10-most-popular-recreational-drugs/.
Brecher, Edward M. (1972) Licit and Illicit Drugs; The Consumers Union Report on narcotics, stimulants, depressants, inhalants, Hallucinogens, and marijuana- including caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. New York, 291-390
the only way to make money. Minimum wage salaries can not compare to the huge
Ever since marijuana’s introduction to the United States of America in 1611, controversy of the use and legalization of the claimed-to-be Schedule I drug spread around the nation. While few selective states currently allow marijuana’s production and distribution, the remaining states still skepticize the harmlessness and usefulness of this particular drug; therefore, it remains illegal in the majority of the nation. The government officials and citizens of the opposing states believe the drug creates a threat to citizens due to its “overly-harmful” effects mentally and physically and offers no alternate purposes but creating troublesome addicts hazardous to society; however, they are rather misinformed about marijuana’s abilities. While marijuana has a small amount of negligible effects to its users, the herbal drug more importantly has remarkable health benefits, and legalizing one of the oldest and most commonly known drugs would redirect America’s future with the advantages outweighing the disadvantages.
Wilson, Clare “The Case for Marijuana by Prescription." Marijuana (Contemporary Issues Companion). Tardiff, Joseph, ed. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2008. 63-70. Print
be beneficial.” In: Scott Barbour (Ed.), Drug Legalization: Current Controversies. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000, pp. 102-108.
Marijuana is a shredded mix of dry flowers, stems and the seeds of a plant called cannabis and people usually smoke it in the form of cigarettes for relaxation. Ever since marijuana hit mainstream America over 30 years ago, government prohibition of it has been the subject of an ongoing debate. Should marijuana be legalized? Proponents of marijuana argue that there are numerous medical benefits and that the drug is not more harmful than tobacco or alcohol. Therefore, prohibiting it intrudes on personal freedom. On the other hand, opponents argue that marijuana is too dangerous; its legalization would increase the chances of the drug falling into the hands of kids and that marijuana use often progresses to the use of more dangerous drugs like heroin and cocaine. In the past decade, a number of movements to legalize the use of marijuana has been gaining momentum. According to the 2011 Gallup survey, a record high 50% of Americans say that marijuana should be legalized and this figure marks a 4% increase compared to the previous year. Support for legalizing marijuana was 30% in 2000, 40% in 2009 before reaching 50% last year. This shows that despite government efforts to eliminate its use, marijuana is becoming more popular. More and more people realize that legalizing marijuana brings a host of benefits. It not only offers medical benefits to the terminally ill but it could also be a source of tax revenues and could save the tax payers billions of dollars that is spent on enforcement costs.
The arguments that I have just laid out are not perfect and they have some apparent flaws that some philosophers would strongly disagree with, while there are other arguments that some of the great philosophers would agree with. I will critique the arguments that I have just laid out using the perspective of three different philosophers who all have their own ideas of how the state should function and the role of the citizen. The three philosophers that I will use in this critique will be Karl Marx, John Stewart Mill, and John Locke. The reason why I picked these three philosophers is because they all agree with some aspects of my writing, while disagreeing with others. One will disagree with the role of the state and the citizens, but agree with legalizing recreational drug use, while the other two will agree with the role of the state and citizens, but disagree with legalizing drug use.
Marijuana, also known as Cannabis is the third most well-liked recreational drug, which only falls behind alcohol and tobacco, in the United States (The Whitehouse, n.d.). Marijuana is made up of dried leaves, plants, stalks, and pits from the hemp plant Cannabis Sativa, which comprises of the mind-altering compound delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), in addition to other associated compounds. This plant substance can correspondingly be converged in a resin called hashish or an adhesive black fluid called hash oil. Efforts to legalize marijuana for medication treatment and recreational use in the United States have grown in current years. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that marijuana may perhaps assist in a reduction of nausea, encourage hunger, and lessen pain (Food and Drug Administration, 2006). On the other hand, the American Medical Association (AMA) does not tolerate marijuana as a medication (1995-2013). So many answers are needed with such contradictory opinions around this exceedingly controversial drug to decide what measures need to be taken from the federal government for a final solution.
Legalization of marijuana has become an increasingly popular topic for debate in society with “sentiment in favor of legalization [increasing] by 20 [percentage] points in just over a decade,” bringing support for legalization to 52% (Dionne and Galston). The most common arguments for reforming current legislation are the following: enforcement wastes public resources, taxation can provide a new source of revenue, and enforcement of current laws is discriminatory (Dionne and Galston). It is necessary to look at the impact on the primary stakeholders by analyzing the various harms and benefits through application of the ethical theories of utilitarianism and deontology, in order to determine the solution that will result in the best possible outcome.
Cigarette addiction is responsible for over four million deaths every year. The question most people ask is why don’t people just put down their cigarettes? Well, the answer to that often asked question is nicotine. Nicotine is a neurotransmitter that targets certain receptors in the brain. It is a chemical messenger that induces feelings of pleasure. When someone takes a hit off of a cigarette, they ingest the harmful chemicals that can cause cancer and other serious health threats. They only inhale these chemicals to get one thing and one thing only, nicotine.
A- What is the most consumed drug in America? Caffeine. Caffeine as we know is very much present in what is thought to be the one of the most consumed beverages in America, coffee. In fact, Food Manufacturing, a Leading Source for Food Manufacturing writes in their article entitled ‘Consumer Trends: 83 percent of Americans Drink Coffee’ that “83% of American adults drink coffee”. I remember the first time I had a cup of coffee, I remember thinking that it was the best sugared-water anyone had ever given me, it gave me wings. That was when I was 7 years old, and coffee and I have been inseparable ever since.
The current situation of drug control in the United States is imperfect and inadequate. Millions of men and women, both young and old, are affected by illicit drug use. It costs the United States about $6,123 every second because of drug use and its consequences (Office). Moreover, 90 percent of all adults with a substance use disorder started using under the age of 18 and half under the age of 15. Children who first smoke marijuana under the age of 14 are five times more likely to abuse drugs as adults than those who first use marijuana at age 18. Finally, the children of alcoholics are four times more likely to develop problems with alcohol (Prevent). Current legislation that has to do with the United States’ drug control policy is the Controlled Substances Act, which regulates the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of certain substances (Shannon). In 1966, Congress passed the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act also known as the NARA. This legislati...
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.
6th ed. Boston: Bedford, 1997 "Legalizing Drugs." Greenhaven Press. San Diego: 1996 Olson, William J. " Drugs Should Not Be Legalized. " Greenhaven Press.
Smoking cigarettes is a very deadly addiction that, unfortunately, affects 42.1 million adults in the United States and 6.4 million children. The reason why so many people get addicted to cigarettes is because of nicotine. Medicinenet.com says that nicotine is “made by the tobacco plant or produced synthetically”. Nicotine has powerful pharmacologic effects (including increased heart rate, heart stroke volume, and oxygen consumption by the heart muscle), as well as powerful psychodynamic effects (such as euphoria, increased alertness, and a sense of relaxation). Nicotine is also powerfully addictive.”