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War of drugs info
Understand the evolution of the war on drugs
Understand the evolution of the war on drugs
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In the May 1999 issue of Harper's Magazine, Joshua Wolf Shenk's article "America's Altered States: When does legal relief of pain become illegal pursuit of pleasure?" states: From 1970 to 1998, the inflation-adjusted revenue of major pharmaceutical companies more than quadrupled to $81 billion, 24 percent of that from drugs affecting the central nervous system and sense organs. Sales of herbal medicines now exceed $4 billion a year. Meanwhile the war on Other drugs escalated dramatically. Since 1970 the federal antidrug budget has risen 3,700 percent and now exceeds $17 billion. More than one and half million people are arrested on drug charges each year, and 400,000 are now in prison. These numbers are just a window into an obvious truth: We take more drugs and reward those who supply them. We punish more people for taking drugs and especially punish those who supply them. On the surface, there is no conflict...The drug wars and the drug boom are interrelated, of the same body. The hostility and veneration, the punishment and profits, these come from the same beliefs and the same mistakes. The pharmaceutical industry is booming; the war on drugs is escalating. Are these statistics unconnected or do they reveal a deeper insight into our society? What factors influence our moral perception of drugs? What separates the good drugs from bad ones? In Shenk's words, "When does the legal relief of pain become illegal pursuit of pleasure?" To answer these surprisingly difficult questions, we must examine drugs themselves-the origins of their legality and the reasons given for their moral status. This examination will reveal some misguided explanations to the questions above-explanations that have obscured a more urgent problem in ... ... middle of paper ... ...cide for people fifteen to twenty-four to triple since 1960 (undoubtedly this rise in depression has fed the need for more legal and illegal drugs)? Maybe it is the discontent and frustration that is behind the recent school massacres that continue to happen (psychiatrists with their arsenal of drugs flock to these scenes ready to help the victims)? These are questions we must ask, and in this new line of inquiry we must not forget Shenk's insightful words: But we often don't realize that the feeling is inside, perhaps something that, with effort, could be experienced without the drugs or perhaps, as in the psychiatric equivalent of diabetes, something we will always need help with. Yet all too often we project upon the drug a power that resides elsewhere. Many believe this to be a failure of character. If so, it is a failure the whole culture is implicated in.
During the confrontation during the poker game, which immediately ends it, readers are exposed to the reality of Stella and Stanley’s
The reason with the old ways do not work, Alexander say, is because “self-destructive drug users are responding in a tragic, but understandable way” (226). It is not their drug- problem that caused the dislocation, but the dislocation that cause the drug problem. He uses the term dislocation to describe the lack of integration with “family, community, society and spiritual values” (226). Alexander goes on to explain that history proves that inability to achieve health opportunities can take on the form of violence, and damaging drug use. Therefore, the “drug problem” (226) is not the problem. The problem is more the “pattern of response to prolong dislocation” (226). Alexander supports this by explaining the reason for the dislocation as being globalized by a society that is market driven which can only be established by the displacement of tradition, economy, and relationships. This has been seen in history before in England during the 19TH century, when “a brutal, export-oriented manufacturing system” was accompanied by work...
Through explicit and detailed staging directions, the setting reflects the Puritan’s and a New Southerner’s lifestyle based on exterior and interior visual imagery. The “raw and unmellowed”(Miller 3) wood of Salem’s houses versus the “white frame, weathered gray” and “faded white stairs”(Williams 13) of New Orleans’ houses introduces a society in a new settlement, with the latter in the older, poorer part of town. The interior of Salem’s houses with just “the bed...a chest, a chair, and a small table”(Miller 3) of Rev. Parris’ home and the “plain bench[s], long meeting table, with stools”(Miller 77) of the meeting house are simple, tidy and minimally decorated to reflect the avoidance of beauty and lust away from religious belief. Ironically, it is through the lack of a free and imaginative setting that sparks the Salem girl’s imagination and the act of pretending to rebel against their restrictive society.
The rhetorical affection of “’War on Drugs…the nation has enjoyed a drug-free past, and that with renewed efforts to stop the use of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and other illicit substances there may be a drug-free future…would be ‘remarkable naïve and historically myopic.’” Controlling the addictive substances that deprives upon today’s society is arguable that deals with the cultural values. With the questionable addictiveness, marijuana is the sole factor of illegal statues. Compared to cigarette whose factors of being labeled as “addictive” is based “more in the history of attitudes toward smoking.” As to alcohol medically prescribed as “a disease and that predisposition to addiction exists in ethnic, racial….” Making the use of legality.
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
Drug use has been an ongoing problem in our country for decades. The use of drugs has been the topic of many political controversies throughout many years. There has been arguments that are for legalizing drugs and the benefits associated with legalization. Also, there are some who are opposed to legalizing drugs and fear that it will create more problems than solve them. Conservatives and liberals often have different opinions for controversial topics such as “the war on drugs,” but it is necessary to analyze both sides in order to gain a full understanding of their beliefs and to decide in a change in policy is in order.
This becomes such common practice that many times the addiction is more than physical, but emotional need sets in. Why should one suffer the pain of life when it takes so little to escape them? “One cubic centimeter cures ten gloomy sentiments,” (54). It is found to be too easy to avoid all of their problems with one little pill, vial, needle, blotter, leaf, or bottle. The drug seems to be the easiest way, the path of least resistance.
has had a lot of attention in the first seven years of his life. On
she was told "to take a streetcar named Desire, and then to transfer to one
Wolf, M. (2011, June 4). We should declare an end to our disastrous war on drugs. Financial Times. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.consortiumlibrary.org/docview/870200965?accountid=14473
A drug is considered psychoactive if it has an effect on the central nervous system which alters a person’s thought and behavior (Cole & Cole, 1963). Humans have had a long-running affair with psychoactive substances and have responded to the demand for them with both altruism and opportunism. While much of pharmaceutical industry genuinely seeks and works for the betterment of mankind, it is also driven and influenced by capitalism and power struggles. This has been the case since man first discovered that substances can be refined, combined and consumed to provide physical and mental relief from suffering. The continuous improvements in drug potencies and in the processes for manufacturing and distributing them, ingenious marketing campaigns, and the consideration of consumers’ favored methods of intake all play roles in how a drug is embraced by society.
Another important factor that increased prohibition of only certain drugs within Industrialized Western Countries was argued by Brown et al (2001:1071) we can derive a powerful and historically sustainable argument that those drugs which are currently legal in Western Countries are those in which there is an indigenous history both of use and capital investment, while those which are illegal are those which are produced in Third World Countries, where the costs of use exceed the profit to be to be made.
The use of drugs is a controversial topic in society today. In general, addicts show a direct link between taking drugs and suffering from their effects. People abuse drugs for a wide variety of reasons. In most cases, the use of drugs will serve a type of purpose or will give some kind of reward. These reasons for use will differ with different kinds of drugs. Various reasons for using the substance can be pain relief, depression, anxiety and weariness, acceptance into a peer group, religion, and much more. Although reasons for using may vary for each individual, it is known by all that consequences of the abuse do exist. It is only further down the line when the effects of using can be seen.
Thomas Lanier Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi in 1911, he was the second of the Williams’ three children. By his own candid accounts, he described his family situation as being troubled, to put it lightly. His parent’s marriage was ordinarily tense, most likely as a result of his father’s alcoholism, physical intimidation and neglect. Thomas’s kindred troubles did not end with his parent’s unpleasantness, his beloved older sister, Rose, was institutionalized as a young woman and remained in care for the reminder of her life. He, himself suffered a mental breakdown, following his recuperation he moved to New Orleans and changed his name to Tennessee, this move invigorated his lifestyle and provided him with a new source of inspiration.
she ran to New Orleans in the first place. Since she had come to New