The Drug Policy in the United States The Drug Policy in the United States is a very strict and well defined policy that, in this day and age, has very little room for change. Most people are well aware of the fact that there are a certain number of drugs that are illegal in the United States, but what many people do not realize is that every drug in the United States is considered and classified by the government. The Controlled Substance Act (CSA) is a new name for the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The laws haven’t changed too much since 1970; they still have the same basic foundation. The only differences that have been made are amendments added to strengthen the original laws on these drugs that are in our country, and make them even stricter. Even though there are many laws that control drugs in the United States, the U.S. Drug Policy is one that is easy to follow and obey. It is well known that in order to stay in the clear an individual should stay clear of drugs altogether, unless they are prescribed by a physician. There is, of course, a basic structure to the way the government classifies all the different drugs underneath the Controlled Substance Act, “the CSA places all substances that are regulated under existing federal law into one of five schedules. This placement is based upon the substance's medicinal value, harmfulness, and potential for abuse or addiction. Schedule 1 is reserved fo... ... middle of paper ... ...ld, as a country, continue to look for new ways to strengthen and enforce these laws because keeping these drugs out of our country is very important and it will help us to stay a stronger, smarter, healthier, and more alert country as a whole. Bibliography 1. Controlled Substance Act, The. No date. 5 March 2005. . 2. Edgmand, Michael R., Ronald L. Moomaw, Kent W. Olsen. Economics and Contemporary Issues. 6th ed. U.S.A.: South-Western, 2004. 3. Field, John, Ralph Pressel. Our Economy: Why It’s Not Working and How to Fix It. 2nd ed. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, Inc., 1993. 4. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. 4 March 2005. 5 March 2005. . 5. Weinman, Beth. “Drugs, Crime and Correction in 2002.” Corrections Today Aug. 2002: 8.
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
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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.
The argument over drug reform and the current prohibition has been going on for years. It seems to be an argument between a wise parent and a young teenager, but as generations change more and more of the parents seem to switch sides. While prohibitionists say the mainstream drugs like cocaine, heroin, LSD, and marijuana are harmful and immoral, legalizers argue the opposite (Rachels 223). While they are both valid and interesting arguments the drugs named above still remain illegal. Many organizations and respected citizens have come to America’s attention in their support for drug reform or complete legalization of certain drugs. These people range from normal citizens who support the recreational use of marijuana to judges and ex- law enforcement agents who say the war on drugs has been a failure. The drug issue in the United States of America has been going on for years with the counterculture of the sixties up until the more recent medicinal marijuana debates today, and it seems that it is not going to go away anytime soon.
My preconceived expectations prior to conducting this research was that the “war on drugs” is no...
Anti-drug legislation has had an extensive and fascinating record in the United States. The initial drug that showed prevalent use in the nation was Opium, which came primarily from China. Opium was utilized as a recommendation drug by doctors, but the growing cases of addiction led to laws alongside this drug. The greater part of the opium addicts were girls due to the doctors tend to recommend the drug for many women’s particular problems. In 1875, a law was approved in California barring individuals from smoking opium. While the law pertained generally to Chinese immigrants it was the first place in anti-drug provision is the Unites States. At the Federal stage, the prohibition of importation of opium by Chinese nationals happened in 1887 and in 1905 opium smoking was constrained in the Philippines (Harrison). While these regulations were the initial steps, they did not have any absolute provisions to decrease drug supply and use in the country. The laws beleaguered the lessening of delivery of drugs in the country and do not deal with the problem of treatment of a true illness.
Harmful drugs are an issue that creates controversy just by being mentioned, let alone acted upon by public policy. Despite this, policy actors must address drugs, through action or inaction, for the chance to make our society safer and healthier. Scientists and policy makers tend to agree that some drugs can be harmful to their users (Nordegren, 2002), but there are two broad camps of opinion on how best to protect users from these negative effects. This paper will discuss the ways that the policies of harm reduction and prohibition are formed, and identify the key actors in this policy space.
The war on drugs and the violence that comes with it has always brought around a hot debate about drug legalization. The amount of violence that is associated with drugs is a result from harsher drug laws and prohibition.
The following is a summary of the President’s policy emphasizing on the President’s stated objectives. Stopping drug use before it starts, providing drug treatment, and attacking the economic basis of the drug trade are the main positions the President stressed. The President’s policy was analyzed by the important tasks played by law enforcement, schools and the community. The apprehension of major drug organizations will be explained how they attribute to the policy. The effectiveness of the President’s drug policy will also be evaluated.
The current US drug control policy has a big concern for the drug abuse context and the general public health especially due to the fact that it is being to young Americans. According to Gaines $ Miller (2010 p.383), the drug prevention is incorporated in form of three elements and has been put under the White House Office, National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
Over the last decade, Southwest border violence has elevated into a national security concern. Much of the violence appears to stem from the competing growth and distribution networks that many powerful Mexican drug cartels exercise today. The unfortunate byproduct of this criminality reaches many citizens of the Mexican border communities in the form of indiscriminate street gang shootings, stabbings, and hangings which equated to approximately 6,500 deaths in 2009 alone (AllGov, 2012). That same danger which now extends across the border regions of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and California has the potential for alarming escalation. Yet, despite the violence, evermore-brazen behavior continues to grow, as does America’s appetite for drugs. Even though drug-related violence mandates that law enforcement agencies focus on supply reduction, the Office of National Drug Control Policy should shift its present policy formulation efforts to only drug demand reduction because treatment and prevention efforts are inadequate and strategy has evolved little over the last three decades.
Perhaps Americans take what they have for granted and forget that there are other countries with problems. Why does America care about what is happening in other countries like Columbia, when they have their own problems with drugs? The Untied States of America has a rather large drug trafficking problem but compared to Columbia it is fairly small. To help Columbia solve their problem the U.S. senate has decided to send troops over there and take control. This new involvement will have many consequences in and what can you make for instance the cost of a war, the loss and gain of jobs, and physical side effects.
In order to establish an effective and long-lasting drug policy, governments have to: tailor policy-making to the majority’s beliefs, clearly define the set of established laws, and strictly enforce it amongst the masses. A task that the federal government has failed to accomplish long-term, but states have strived
Today?s drug laws seem to do more harm than good. The so-called drug war hasn?t seemed to be as effective as it was intended to be. Its original intent lies in its name, to attack the drug problem in America. Nixon started the war on drugs in the late sixties to stop drug abuse at the source, the distributors. Another intention for the war on drugs was to show individuals taking part in this illegal activity that their participation would cause serious consequences. The government has taken drastic measures to keep drugs out of our nations streets, from attacking the frontline in The Columbian drug fields, to making numerous drug busts in urban cities across the United States.
Substance abuse is just one of the problems facing the United States today. Even though it seems like a big problem, it actually first started in the 1800’s when the first drugs were smuggled. This only began the never ending path of illegal drugs flowing through the U.S.