Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Global drug policy
Introduction The US has a complex patch that has been demonstrated in its framework and enforcement practices that are associated with drug laws. A number of federal and state policies have been formulated that sometimes seem to overlap hence giving rise to a number of conflicts among the different level of governments. This essay will explore and demonstrate the federal drug policy that the US Federal Government is designing and the issues of federalism that the policy raises. The US Drug Policy 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). Priorities of ONDCP Termination of drug use before initiation; this focuses on preventing use of drugs and is done by research based programs Focus on providing heals and treatment to America’s drug users and abusers. This involves programs that are of intervention and drug abuse nature which aim on sustainable recovery of drug users and provision of after care. The third focus is to unsettle the drug market. This is done by attacking the supply side of the drugs History The history of drug use dates back to the 19th century during the US Civil War. This saw a number of policies being introduced and by the year 1898, heroine was inaccessible. The next drugs that were targeted were alcohol and by the year 1906, the US Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act (PFDA) to help stop the use of such drugs. The next drug that was targeted was opium and an act was passed in 1909 to ban... ... middle of paper ... ... states have done this although in different ways. This however does not mean that the national government has been left from a constitutional perspective as it must turn to the “equal protections” clause to claim a clearer and broad mandate for action. However, it seems the Drug Policy is left open for debate. Conclusion Policymaking in federal system is fraught with challenges. The Constitution is vague on how the federal government and the national government are to share their responsibilities. There has been an ongoing challenge to sort out roles and responsibilities as far as drug regulation is concerned. However, in spite of the complexity, the federal system provides opportunities for participation by citizens and government officials. As a result, we can have a successful policy making benefits from broad participation of all involved stakeholders.
Together, traditional substance abuse services and harm reduction approaches can be incorporated to provide a comprehensive sequence of care—from safer substance use to reduced use to maintaining total abstinence.
Illicit drug use and the debate surrounding the various legal options available to the government in an effort to curtail it is nothing new to America. Since the enactment of the Harrison Narcotic Act in 1914 (Erowid) the public has struggled with how to effectively deal with this phenomena, from catching individual users to deciding what to do with those who are convicted (DEA). Complicating the issue further is the ever-expanding list of substances available for abuse. Some are concocted in basements or bathtubs by drug addicts themselves, some in the labs of multinational pharmaceutical companies, and still others are just old compounds waiting for society to discover them.
Cannabis, since its discovery, has been used for recreational and medical purposes. It was seen as a drug that was “safe” and did put the body at risk but benefited it. However, this is not the case anymore because the government under I Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970 law banned the use of the narcotic and has the right to persecute anyone who attains the substance. Nonetheless, the question is not whether the drug is “safe” to use but whether the States should have the power to regulate marijuana or the federal government should continue having the control over the drug. Since 1996, 23 states including Washington D.C have passed laws that have legalized the medical use of marijuana, yet the federal government does not protect or even recognize the rights of users or possessors. The debate over marijuana has picked up momentum and many would agree that all this uprising conflict can be traced back to the constitution and the flaws it presents. The constitution is blamed for not properly distributing the States and Federal powers. Although the federal government currently holds supremacy over marijuana, States should have the power to regulate the drug because under the 10th amendment the federal government only has those powers specifically granted in the constitution, Likewise the States have the right to trade within their own state under the Commerce Clause.
National Institute on Drug Abuse (2009). Preventing Drug Abuse: The Best Strategy . Retrieved October 21, 2011, from http://www.nida.nih.gov/scienceofaddiction/strategy.html
Gerdes, Louise I., ed. At Issue: Legalizing Drugs. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2001. Print.
Government has not always seen fit to outlaw psychoactive drugs in the Western world. In fact, there was no prohibition in this country until 1914. Cocaine and Marijuana were both used in the late 19th century both for medicinal and recreational purposes. During this time there was considerable pressure for a ban on alcohol, but narcotics were simply not viewed as a threat to society. N...
President Reagan established the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) following the passage of the Anti-Abuse Act of 1988 amidst mounting risk of drug dependence becoming more pervasive in American workplaces and schools. The legislation established the need for the federal government to make a good-faith effort in maintaining drug-free work places, schools, and drug abuse and rehabilitation programs for many users (Eddy, 2005). The early focus for the ONDCP’s was to curb the rising drug threat emanating from the drug cartels operating throughout South America, in...
Nadelmann, Ethan A. “U. S. Drug Policy: A Bad Export,” Foreign Policy No. 70 (1988): 83-108
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 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.
In order to solve this vast and complex problem of drugs in America, we must first acknowledge that the "War on Drugs" is not actually a war at all, but is instead an attempt to avoid the real challenges involved with addressing our shortcomings as a society, as individuals, and as a nation, by imagining that drugs themselves are to blame. Perhaps today, as we see our armed forces engaged in warfare abroad, our economy in flux, and our nation heavily involved in a global "War on Terror," the illumination of the facts will yield the collective will necessary to disengage from this domestic battle of our own creation, and finally declare an end to the “War on Drugs.”
There is a need to change the current drug policy due to inefficiency by adopting the above recommend policy that is scientific based and that has credibility by justifiable statistics and research. The policy should be evidenced-based prevention programs, rooted in scientific research on addiction, historical emphases on recovery, increased access to treatment and a complete criminal justice reform if success against drug abuse is to be attained (Carmen, 2015).
America’s modern “war on drugs” was officially kicked off in 1971 during a press conference with president Nixon. Among other things, Nixon declared drugs to be America’s number one enemy and the phrase the “war on drugs” was born. The size and presence of federal drug control agencies dramatically increased during Nixon’s presidency. It would also prove to be the only time in our country’s history of fighting drug use that the bulk of the federal funding for this initiative was spent on demand reduction and treatment-based approaches rather than on punitive and supply control methods (Thirty). Both prior to and since this period, America’s drug policies have always taken a decidedly different course. In recent years such policies have come
In the United States, there is a remarkable diversity of policies at state and local levels. Currently, 13 states have decriminalized use or possession of cannabis, and 16 states have recognized medical use of cannabis, with some states opting for both policies. Due to legislative and voter initiatives, the overview of state and local control policies is constantly changing, generally toward more lenient control regimes. A major gap is emerging, where in many countries strict drug control legislation has impeded access to and availability of essential medicines such as morphine, methadone or ephedrine, in other countries pharmaceutical painkillers are generating the most problematic patterns of nonmedical drug use, replacing heroin. And recently, a new
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