War On Drugs Film Analysis

On April 7, 2015 I attended both the film screening and panel discussion on the U.S. “War On Drugs.” I found the film to be useful. It began by President Nixon stating that America’s number one enemy is drug abuse. I can agree with that statement that drug abuse is a huge issue in the United States. People are being caught with drugs and rotting away in prison, as well as people are addicted and not receiving the help they need. As mentioned in the film, what drugs have not destroyed, the drugs on war have. People are being arrested each and every day for the distribution of drugs, and once faced with charges these individuals face the mandatory minimum sentence, which states that the judge must give an individual a certain amount of time
However, as mentioned in the video how can we expect people to stay away from the distribution of drugs when the drug economy is the only good economy? People have been struggling financially, and being in the drug industry can be an easy solution
The second part of the presentation consisted of a panel that included Professor Sam Goldstrohm and Dr. John A Lewis from the department of criminology and Dr. Melanie Hildebrandt and Hilario Molina from the department of sociology. The panel began by each of the four individuals giving their input on the topic of drugs, and it was followed by discussion questions from the audience. For starters, Professor Goldstrohm has been teaching at Indiana University of Pennsylvania since 1976. Also he works as a judge for the Armstrong community and helps with the program Drugs Kill Dreams. This program goes into schools in the Armstrong community and provides drug prevention. Goldstrohm is a firm believer of primary prevention, and does not see the benefits of locking people up long term. Next Dr. Melanie Hildebrandt shared her opinion. Her main argument was that when we arrest people and lock them up we are labeling these individuals as criminals. However, we need to