What is crazy to me is that people feel that putting an end to drugs is seemingly a "viable option” for most Americans. It is important to note that America has not ever and will never be drug free. The state and local governments have spent close to hundreds of billions of dollars on trying to make Putting an end to drugs. In Americas attempts to make the world a "drug-free" society the sate and local governments have spent hundred of million dollars. The irony is that heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs are now cheaper, purer and easier to obtain than they have every been before.
The result is that now we have more than half a million people imprisoned on simply petty possessions of these drugs. As opposed for the DEA going for the main suppliers of the drugs, they seem content with imprisoning the largely destitute and helpless population that could be deemed as "drug users. The war on drugs promotes this facade of attempting to help the people but rather it has thrown in jail more than half a million low-level players based on simple drug charges, targeting families with low income and a blatant disregard for human constitutional rights.
The irony lies in the fact that the majority of the problems that the "drug war" has attempted to resolves are indeed the causes of the drug war itself, for the various laws that they have implanted have a direct correlation with the prohibition of drugs and the distortion of laws of supply and demand. The "drug war" that has been going on for various years is merely a shell in order to keep the majority of middle of America at bay, promoting the ideal that it is an effort to protect the youth from intravenous drug use. However it has simply served as a catalyst of negative behavior for the youth, leaving numerous helpless children without a steady parental figure with has a direct correlation with their educational demise, bouts with addiction, and ultimately joblessness due to the lack of a substantial parental figure being at home. Now don't get me wrong, drug abuse is bad for the youth, but the drug was has far more detrimental effects.
It is ironic that majority of the problems that the drug war is supported on and direly wants to resolve are indeed caused by the drug war itself. What has been labeled as "drug-related crime has a direct correlation with the prohibition of drugs and the distortion of laws of supply and demand. Although on the shell the drug war seems like a great idea towards the protection of the youth from drug use, it has serves as a catalyst of negative behavior of the youth. Numerous children have fallen victims to having their parents be inmates due to these laws and as a result are a a direct risk for educational demise, future addiction, delinquency, and ultimately the possibility of not attaining a substantial income due to lack of guidance. Granted drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is far worse.
The drug war has essentially compromised our public health and undermine our fundamental civil liberties for so long and to such a degree that the war on drugs is seemingly counter intuitive. The United States happens to be the world’s largest jailer, thusly imprisoning nearly half a million people for minor drug offenses alone. Roughly 1.5 million people are arrested on a regular basis due to these drug offenses, and the sad part is that40% of these imprisonments have come from solely marijuana possession. The laws implemented by the “war on drugs” tend to neglect those suffering from AIDS, cancer, and other legitimate illnesses that have been proven to be aided by the use of medical marijuana.
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3 comments:
You have a fascinating viewpoint on the whole subject of drugs and drug use. And I find myself agreeing with posts like these; America has only worsened the amount and frequency of drug use by their "war on drugs", much like the perpetuation of terrorism as a result of our country's "war on terrorism". This being said there are some issues you argue that are simply ludicrous to me, one of which is that drugs taken in moderation is not just safe, but possibly beneficial. I've found throughout my life that there are very few people who can do things in moderation. We live in a society that is constantly unsatisfied, a society with "super size" value meals and just as many people with eating disorders. It is too easy for people to fall prey to extremes and while it may be a Utopian wish that people could use drugs in moderation to ease pain, illness, or mental difficulties, I simply don't see many people physically capable of doing so.
I strongly disagree with the majority of what you have to say throughout this post, and feel that you disregard the fact that drugs have more of a negative impact on individuals than a positive one.
For starters, your statement that "heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs are now cheaper, purer and easier to obtain" is ironic and paradoxical. Drugs become cheaper because they are made or produced in a manner that diminishes their purity. For example, cocaine is often mixed with other white powders to give the potential buyer the illusion of more, when the quality and purity is much further away from being "pure."
In addition, throughout your post you seem to completely disregard the fact that methamphetamine and other drugs are highly addictive and have proven to be so. It has been scientifically proven that after taking one hit of heroin, a person has a 95% chance of falling back to the drug. The hallucinogenic effect of such drugs might have some positive effects, but the health ramifications tremendously outweigh the mystical experience. Especially, since most people today can not control their urges and impulses, people will be more inclined to resolve to addiction.
On the decriminalization issue, I agree that certain individuals should not be thrown in prison for minor drug possession charges. Individual's who are caught multiple times with narcotics should then be placed in prison, but not until an offender has had a history of drug use should that person be imprisoned in jail or a rehabilitation center.
I strongly urge you to attend merely 5 Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and then come back and respond to my post. I think you will feel differently once you see how drugs have destroyed thousands, if not millions, of lives throughout the United States and the rest of the world.
In response to rex345's comment, I have to disagree with you on the point about our society not being able to handle anything in moderation. While I do agree that this is definitely a huge problem, I do not think that that claim can be made universally. I mean, we allow alcohol use in our country, which is a hugely damaging substance (especially when not used in moderation), yet I would not say that all people are unable to drink without moderation. I think a similar parallel could be drawn to the idea of drug use as well. It's not to say that the point is not valid, it just is not universal enough to make such a claim.
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