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Recommended: Role of media in public policy
When Columbus first discovered America, the natives offered him what would become one of the most addictive drugs known to mankind, tobacco. Although at this time, Columbus naïve of the plant threw them out. He did not know that this plant or the chemical substance derived from it, would one day assimilate into the life of many humans because of its biological effects. Now legal, tobacco is just a rarity among recreational drugs citizens indulge in. Drugs, legal and illegal, have long been apart of our country and others. Consequently, policies and regulations have developed to negate the participation of drug usage. These policies and regulations extend from jail time and fines to hard incarceration. But, do these regulations and sentences …show more content…
No matter what area, college, projects, baseball games, and clubs, you can find a dealer. Our government’s concentration of harsh enforcement has shown to fail in impeding on the drug problem. The number of citizens incarcerated for drug related charges has increased almost twentyfold since 1980. Mass-media campaigns have also failed in preserving teens from drug usage and abuse. According to Dale Geiringer, the author of the California NORML report, California since legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, has seen a reduction law enforcement cost by $200 billion. California has also seen a revenue increase of $4.5 billion, adding another $200 million in sale taxes. This type of surplus would be advantageous to America especially in a time where debt is above $17 trillion. Legalizing marijuana (at the least) would do more wonders than just medical and bringing an end to possession charges for weed. The legalization of marijuana would also stimulate the economy with staggering …show more content…
This can only mean that it’s also responsible for many incarcerated citizens. Drugploicy.org claims that in 2013, more than 600,000 citizens were arrested and charged with marijuana violations. Obviously, drugs such as cocaine and heroin could not be compromised with as far as legalization goes but as far as helping and stimulating the economy legalizing marijuana would do more for the issue with drugs than hardcore punishment. Imagine, more jobs accessible for Americans in a billion dollar industry. Profit bringing our national debt down and cutting in half in a small amount of time. Washington’s Post Chris Ingraham argues the importance of the approval of this bill and the tax benefits it would bring to enterprises and effectively stimulating the economy. In Beyond the War on Drugs, Steven Witotsky tries to convince citizens that drugs aren’t the menace they’re made out to be. He’s in support of legalizing such drugs as marijuana as a first resistance to the war on drugs. In our society today, according to the 2013 National Survey on Drug on Use and Health, nearly 50% of Americans have tried marijuana. Americans don’t usually agree on much when it comes to government policies, but, Pewresearch.org boasts that 53% of Americans believe the plant should be legalized in it’s entirety. Not only would legalizing the plant decrease drug possession crime rates, it
It has been said that addiction is the plague of the 21st century. In an age of unprecedented life expectancy and medical breakthroughs, people are dying from both disease and overdose that are self inflicted and the cure is currently out of reach. Implementing progressive ideas such as safe injection sites have been a battle, both for caring social workers and front line emergency workers looking to minimize the health risks associated with risk taking behaviors that inevitably occur with intravenous drug use. While the addicted population currently uses considerable government funding by way of shelter services as well as prison and jail time, safe injection sites are a necessary step in the battle against drug abuse as is a major prevention
However, before the specific outcomes of Congressional influence and policy impact can be evaluated it becomes important to first review the general history and current situation of drugs today. Our present drug laws were first enacted at the beginning of the century. At the time, recreational use of narcotics was not a major social issue. The first regulatory legislation was for the purpose of standardizing the manufacturing and purity of pharmaceutical products. Shortly after, the first criminal laws were enacted which addressed opium products and cocaine. Although some states had prohibited the recreational use of marijuana, there was no federal criminal legislation until 1937. By contrast, the use of alcohol and its legality was a major social issue in United States in the early 20th century. This temperance movement culminated in the prohibition of alcohol from 1920 to 1933. Recreational drug use, particularly heroin, became more prevalent among the urban poor during the early ?60s. Because of the high cost of heroin and its uncertain purity, its use was associated with crime and frequent overdoses.
Almost everybody on Long Island, and probably all around the world, has been prescribed a drug by a doctor before— whether it was to knock out a nasty virus, or relieve pain post injury or surgery. However, what many people don’t realize is that these drugs can have highly addictive qualities, and more and more people are becoming hooked, specifically teenagers. But when does harmlessly taking a prescription drug to alleviate pain take the turn into the downward spiral of abuse? The answer to that question would be when the user begins taking the drug for the “high” or good feelings brought along with it—certainly not what it was prescribed for (1). The amount of teens that abuse prescription medications has been rapidly increasing in recent
Now is not the time for the United States federal government to decriminalize or legalize illegal drugs, including marijuana. However, nor can the government continue to do nothing about the financially, economically, and socially expensive domestic drug policy it currently follows. The United States Congress should pass legislation to remove mandatory minimum penalties from drug offenses, and the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons should add in-house rehabilitation programs for its incarcerated drug offenders. These policies would increase the cost-effectiveness of current drug policy and reduce crime and drug use, and do not face the political obstacles or have the uncertain consequences of decriminalizing or legalizing drugs.
Marijuana is the cause of much commotion and debate, as the question of legalization becomes more of an issue. Drugs are a major influential force in countries all over the world today. Legalization is an option that has not had a chance, but really should be given one. Although many people feel that legalizing marijuana would increase the amount of drug use, legalization would benefit for the following reasons: 1)reduction of money spent on law enforcement 2)increase in the countries revenue 3)lessen crime 4)useful in treating certain medical conditions. Many feel today we are losing the war on drugs.
There are so many benefits of legalizing marijuana, far outweighing the negative aspects. Physical, psychological, spiritual, economical, and medical benefits are all being denied because marijuana, as it stands, is an illegal narcotic. George Washington once said, “Make the most of the hemp seed. Sow it everywhere.”(Rosenthal, 1996,p.95) Would you consider the first president of the United States a criminal? In this country there are people who drink responsibly, people, I think, should be able to use marijuana responsibly as well. Though marijuana has been illegal for over thirty years, there is are roughly 65 million Americans, one third of the population, who use or have used the drug. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was quoted in 1963, “One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
In the last fiscal year alone, marijuana brought 70 million dollars in tax revenue in the state of Colorado. Colorado was the first state to legalize marijuana recreationally in the fall of 2012, and since then three other states and the District of Columbia have legalized the plant. Based off of sales in states that have legalized marijuana recreationally, if all fifty states legalized marijuana, they would bring in a combined 3 billion dollars in tax revenue yearly. That much money from sales of the plant alone could help to stabilize the suffering economy. Moreover, the American Government would be able to control the plant and distribute it how ever they see fit. The economic growth marijuana legalization could bring to the United States outweighs any argument against
The legalization of marijuana has the potential to bring our economy back to life if it were to be legalized. There are a number of ways in which legalization could improve the economy. We could use the revenue from taxes on marijuana to provide for a better quality of life for Americans in need. Legalizing marijuana would also save us money by cutting the cost of putting someone in jail for harmless marijuana related charges that waste tax money. Also it would put more money into circulation by keeping the profits off the black market and into the legal and taxed market. With an estimated twenty-five million active marijuana smokers in America that consume nearly thirty-one million pounds of marijuana each year, we are missing out on extreme revenue that this country cannot afford to go without for much longer (Krulick).
Unlike a person who uses marijuana for medicine or entertainment, some people use marijuana as a means for income. Honestly marijuana sales is a very profitable business but the problem is that there is still a numerous amount of people who sell marijuana illegally. Usually with illegal sales of marijuana also comes other illegal activity. According to the DEA, “marijuana smuggling into the United States has occurred at consistently high levels over the past 10 years, primarily across the US–Mexico border, where more than a million kilograms of marijuana are seized annually.” With the availability of marijuana increasing there has also been an increase in use among young adults. The DEA also reports, “Use of the drug will likely continue to increase over the next decade; recent national-level studies indicate that use is most prevalent among young adults, with adolescent acceptance and illicit use increasing.”
In America, marijuana is the most used drug after alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana is used by millions of Americans, despite the harsh laws illegalizing the drug. Some states, such as Washington and Colorado have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Efforts to legalize the drug in other states have been unsuccessful such as Proposition 19 in California, which failed in 2010 despite uptight campaigns. Billions of dollars are spent at the state, local, and federal level to fight the use of marijuana. Millions are arrested for marijuana offenses and sentenced for extended periods. Marijuana has negative effects on the human health and high potential for addiction. Legalizing marijuana will eliminate the black market, which is responsible for the increase in violence, crime, and corruption. Resources used for mass incarceration in the war on drug can be redirected to rehabilitation to decrease drug abuse and addiction.
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.
Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the dangers of prescription drugs when not taken as prescribed by your physician or pharmacist.
With America’s war on drugs being highly focused on the increased use of marijuana, there is not much time for officers to focus on crimes of greater importance. Crimes related to illegal marijuana use are becoming more problematic due to drug deals that go bad, occasionally ending with murder. It has been estimated that one marijuana-related arrest is made every 42 seconds. With marijuana being illegal, keeping crime related activities under control cost the United States approximately twenty billion dollars per year (Sledge). According to Brian Bremner and Vincent Del Giudice, “A 2010 study by the libertarian Cato Institute, forecasted that states could save $17.4 billion annually from reduced drug enforcement costs and increased tax revenue, assuming marijuana production and sales were legal nationwide” (11). Several law enforcement hours are exhausted with pursing, questioning, and arresting citizens that are in possession of or consuming marijuana. There would be a decrease in the number of misdemeanor possession cases that are pending hearing. These cases would be dismissed, decreasing costs affiliated with each case. There are excessive numbers of people who remain incarcerated for nonviolent crimes related to illegal marijuana use. Legalizing marijuana would allow these people to be released, opening jail space for the true criminals. Legalizing marijuana would free up law enforcement officers from focusing on illegal marijuana use and allow focus to be put on more serious
Drug abuse has been a hot topic for our society due to how stimulants interfere with health, prosperity, and the lives of others in all nations. All drugs have the potential to be misapplied, whether obtained by prescription, over the counter, or illegally. Drug abuse is a despicable disease that affects many helpless people. Majority of those who are beset with this disease go untreated due to health insurance companies who neglect and discriminate this issue. As an outcome of missed opportunities of treatments, abusers become homeless, very ill, or even worst, death.
First of all, marijuana can have many positive effects on crime. Legalizing marijuana can actually decrease crime rates in the U.S. This past year, it was counted that 6.9 million people are inside the American’s jails and prisons. 60,000 of these individuals were there for marijuana according to one study. With the legalization of marijuana, it would cut the amount of tax we pay for these jails and prisons, costing us a total of 1.2 billion. Last year a total of 7 to 10 billion dollars was used towards arresting and processing against marijuana. The big picture here is that 90% of those arrests were just for possession. It is crazy that as a country we spend most of our time trying to stop the biggest drug in America when it is just wasting our money. There are less arrests on violent crimes than marijuana charges combined. These “violent crimes” consist of assault, rape, robbery, and murder. How awful is it that we waste our time on this drug when there are so many other bigger problems we could be solving or people to be saved. Cocaine and heroin arrests have actually decreased by 1/3 from 1991 to 2000. While marijuana has more than 700,000 people are ar...