Marijuana and the War on Drugs

524 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Marijuana history in 30 years ago free essay

Marijuana and the War on Drugs

I have often wondered why the "War on Drugs" has not been very effective, in fact, it really has done nothing. Take for example marijuana. It is banned in any form of growth and use everywhere in the United States. Yet, this drug gets just as much use as alcohol. I probably know just about as many "potheads" as I do alcoholics, yet the persistence of the government to waste countless billions of dollars to try and wipe out the use of this drug is pathetic.

Take for example a part of our history. The year is 1920, the government decides on the idea of the prohibition of alcohol, and the Eighteenth Amendment, and the prohibition era began. What did this era in our history accomplish, nothing. Organized crime rose, criminal influence rose, many people died from poor imported illegal products, and yet the prohibition period ended, and alcohol was allowed once again in our society. A new trend, similar to this one has already begun a long time ago. This is the prohibition of marijuana in all forms.

Let's take in to account all of the uses...

Show More
Related

  • Marijuana Synthesis Essay

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    The opinion of Marijuana during the 70’s was much more relaxed than it is today. Approval of Marijuana by 27 states, new medical studies, and its consequences on those convicted from use of the most common general, the argument about marijuana in this country is: should Marijuana continue to be given to citizens based on its health effects, medicinal values, and costs to the country? The reasons why this argument is so important are great. As previously stated, Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in the world, and with millions of people using it regularly and almost 100 million that have ever used it in this country, the laws behind this drug hold great influence. It is because of this and the immergence of new evidence, that the justification behind prohibition of this drug is being rethought scientifically, socially, and economically. The use of Marijuana as both medicine and a recreational drug is being thoroughly questioned in the US. 27 states have Marijuana approved in some form, many of those for medical purposes however those users can still, and do get placed into prison by federal law. Currently, 830,00 people a year are in trouble with the law in regards to Marijuana and numbers seem to be on an uphill trend . Furthermore, the US invests 30 billion a year into the drug war, half of which is dedicated to Marijuana. Many are questioning its success all together. Both imprisonment and the war cost our country, and therefore our people, money. A change in laws is going to have a dramatic affect on America.

    Read More

  • The Legalization Of Drugs By Douglas Husak And Peter De Marneffe

    1472 Words  | 3 Pages

    Observe, then, that an increase in the use of some drugs as a result of legalization might actually result in a net decrease in the independent harms of drug and alcohol abuse taken together” (Husak 112). Being that alcohol is currently legal, there’s a 99.9% chance that it won’t change soon. Some drugs are banned, but, alcohol is still being sold in stores. Marijuana is a nonviolent drug, whereas alcohol promotes anger and pure violence. By legalizing marijuana and making drinking alcohol illegal, there’s a chance that violence will decrease.

    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

  • The Success and Failure of the Prohibition

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nowadays, the modern problem that closely mirrors the Prohibition is the war on drugs. Their illegal manufacture and sale is similar to the manufacture and sale of alcohol during the Prohibition. History repeats itself. Works Cited for: Currie, Stephen. Prohibition.

    Read More

  • Stephen Chapman's 'Legal Drugs Unlikely To Foster Nation Of Zombies'

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    Making drugs illegal has wasted a vast amount of money, prison space, police time, and caused epidemics of violent crime.

    Read More

  • The Anti Saloon League Of The United States

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ike our attempts with the “War on Drugs”. A Lot of money and energy goes into such social reform fights, without any attainable outcome. People rebel, lives are still lost, money is spent on throwing individuals into prisons and jails. People end up with charges, which eventually may affect them obtaining employment down the line in the future. People ended up injuring themselves or killing themselves by the alcohol available at the time of prohibition, which was illegal and difficult to obtain. The alcohol’s purity was not regulated, some of it killed, blinded or damaged individual’s organs severely. Also, due to prohibition, the prevalence of cigarette smokers tripled in 1930 (Florien). Overall, people will do what they want, regardless of the consequences. When doing any sort of social reform, society may react with rebellion and it has the potential to backfire.

    Read More

  • Stop The Drug War on Marijuana

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    America is in a war. A drug war with marijuana.Marijuana is a hallucinogen grown naturally as the cannabis plant. Smoking pot clearly has far fewer dangerous and hazardous effects on society than legal drugs such as alcohol, yet it is federally illegal. It is established scientific fact that marijuana is not toxic to humans; marijuana overdoses are nearly impossible, and marijuana is not nearly as addictive as alcohol or tobacco. But, the marijuana prohibition continues to be thriving. Marijuana prohibition causes more problems than it solves. This nation spends too much money where it could be making more money. If America were to legalize marijuana, it would cause a healthier economy, improve health care, and it would be safer than legal drugs like alcohol and cigarettes. The prohibition ruins thousands more lives than it supposedly tries to save and it should stop.

    Read More

  • The Federal Government Must Decriminalize Marijuana

    2430 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...ot admitting when it has made a mistake. A bold shift in policy would most likely allow the public to regain confidence that the system as working for public benefit rather than political gain. The history of marijuana and the gross injustices that we are currently seeing in the penal system together provide a near indefinable argument for legalization. If we hope to see a drop and reversal in the racial and ethnic discrimination that we see in our government’s conduct legalization would be an effective and positive first step. American’s have been living in what has been coined " a Puritanical hangover" for most of our history. It is time for us to shake off the shackles of our historical submissiveness to the wishes of a minority of citizens that feel they must dictate to us our ethical and moral responsibilities in the name of their beliefs and distorted opinions.

    Read More

  • Drugs And Legalization

    551 Words  | 2 Pages

    the only way to make money. Minimum wage salaries can not compare to the huge

    Read More

  • Time to Legalize Marijuana

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    Making drugs legal will reduce massive amounts of money spent on enforcement every year. The MPP (Marijuana Policy Project) estimates that marijuana consumers cost taxpayers more than $7 billion dollars annually (MPP). Year after year, money is thrown away trying to stem the flow of illegal drugs into our country. When one drug lord is caught, two show up somewhere else to take their place. For every drug bust, four more make it through to the United States. For example, in his book Intoxication, Ronald K. Siegel talks about the very first significant international anti-drug campaign: Operation Intercept, the first major assault on marijuana use. This operation captured 493 drug runners at the Mexican border. Very few drugs were confiscated, and no change in marijuana use inside the United States was recorded (280). Today, billions of dollars are spent each year to combat drug use, but no real concise victories are evident. Drugs are still bought, sold, and used everyday. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse found that the number of first-time marijuana users in 1998 was 2.3 million. This number increased significantly compared to 1.4 million in 1989 (DEA). These figurers alone show that money spent on enforcement has had no effect. President Ronald Reagan said it best, "Despite continuing expressions of determination, America's war on drugs seems nowhere close to success.

    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

  • Nightclubs Role In Our Drug Problem

    1709 Words  | 4 Pages

    With all the effort we put into the war against drugs, why is there little

    Read More

  • The War on Drugs

    1439 Words  | 3 Pages

    The world has many different issues, and without them the world would be a perfect place. An issue that causes a lot of controversy is drug abuse. Though the world can never be a perfect place, humans still need to do our best to make in inhabitable as possible, and drugs cause a lot of harm towards humans. Therefore, it is my belief that the first thing that needs to be fixed should be drugs and their abuse. Many possible solutions to this problem exist.

    Read More

  • The Legalization Of Marijuana In Today's Society

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Legalization of marijuana has been a  very controversial issue in today's society. Indeed many claims against marijuana  have been made in recent history, but the truths of marijuana are slowly starting to come to light. Unfortunately, these truths are under a lot of criticism due to the stereotypical view of what people see as a typical marijuana smoker. They are viewed as lazy, unmotivated, jobless and unproductive in today’s society who just want to get high. This of course isn’t true and is considered a generalization against an entire group of people. It is a result of over seventy years of propaganda and wrongful information spread by private or government organizations for their own personal gains. Many recent studies have shed a

    Read More

  • What is history

    674 Words  | 2 Pages

    As corny as this sounds, history really does have a way of repeating itself. It’s up to the people like us, the future leaders of the country to decide if the good things or the bad things are the ones that will repeat themselves. Events that lead to the stock market crash, which lead to the great depression are being avoided, things that lead countries to war are being dealt with today in a different manner because no one wants another world war, Democracy, the longest standing form of government in the United States, is being spread around the world to avoid such conflicts that occurred with dictatorships in the past, and the newest problem, terrorism, that is occurring in today’s world, will be and is being looked at.

    Read More

More about Marijuana and the War on Drugs

Open Document