Extra credit: SOCI 2201 Name: Lauryn Tonou Sociological analysis of “The House I Live In” The incarceration system in the country has become predicated on economics rather than justice. Drug abuse is not a crime against the society, it is mainly medical as problem. Ethnic and racial prejudice rooted social control in American anti-drug policy. Those are arguments deftly assembled in the documentary by Eugene Jarecki with assistance from David Simon, former crime reporter.…
A year after the stock market crashed, 1930, and president Hoover is in office, America is in a state of existential crisis and people are looking for answers and distractions. The Treasury Department created the Federal Bureau of Narcotics under Harry J. Anslinger who directed the agency until 1962 “and molded America’s drug policy” (The United States War on Drugs). Anslinger who was also a prohibitionist, who believed progress could only be achieved by controlling each individual’s impulses and thought that if enough people were put in jail that America would rid itself of drugs. Nonetheless, with these same beliefs, Anslinger, used these to fight the war on drugs. Armed with a Depression snug budget, and an uphill battle Anslinger tried and failed to get state governments involved with the war effort.…
During the early 20th century, the drug market was not unregulated properly. Medical remedies that contained cocaine and heroin were distributed without prescription. Many consumers were unaware of these drugs and there effects. As a result policies that became known as the “War on Drug” where established. According to the War on Drugs History and Timeline Head (2012) stated, in 1914 the sale of cocaine and heroin were restricted in the Harrison Act of 1914. Head (2012) noted, in 1938 the government attempted to tax marihuana because it was seen as a gateway drug and because of its growing popularity in Mexican-American immigrants. This was known as the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Head (2012) says, in 1951 the Boggs Act was established to mandate federal sentences for possession of cocaine, opiates, and marijuana. Head (2012) noted, these federal penalties were increased in 1956 through the Narcotic Control Act of 1956. According to Fields (2009), in 1971 President Nixon and his administration implemented “The War on Drug” policy, which was the most relevant of all the narcotic policies. This is a commonly used term adapted by the media, which was aimed to define and reduce…
The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs, he takes a different approach to regarding the War on Drugs. While he feels that current drug policies have failed, his book focuses on the injustice of punitive drug laws and believes we should stop punishing people for using illicit drugs. “A law whose purpose is deterrence must always be backed by a demonstration that the law is just.” (ix) His book is presented in three chapters. Chapter one describes our present drug policies and laws and raises questions to answer whether these are just or unjust and offers his position of decriminalization as a more ethical approach to drug use. Chapter two reviews the most frequent arguments used in favor of punishing drug users and Husak believes that none of these are convincing enough to warrant enacting laws on a person’s behavior. Chapter three declares that punishing drug users is counterproductive and damaging to us…
Querna, Elizabeth. “The newest war on drugs.” U.S. News & World Report 138.6 (2005): 52-54.…
Early efforts to meet the nation’s growing drug problem began in the 1970s. The U.S imposed stricter penalties for drug-related crimes, but was met with…
The history associated with drug criminalization in America contains more political motivators than concerns for public health and safety. The biggest politically motivated aspect to drug deterrence comes from Richard Nixon’s s war on drugs in 1971 which has created a system that discriminates against minority groups and has had little effect on deterring drug use. The war on drugs has thus far been notoriously noted for discriminating against people of color by pumping drugs into their communities and then imposing severe criminal consequences for drug possession, use, or distribution. In fact, one of Nixon’s aides John Ehrlichmen stated that the war on drugs was intended for the following:…
The 1960s drug use were characterized as “youthful rebellion.”It gained the attention of the President Nixon and therefore he established the D.E.A. through executive order and declared the war on drugs shortly thereafter. During the 1970s the D.E.A. focused most of its efforts on other drugs due to an assessment on the extent of drug abuse in the United States and it read,…
In “Against the Legalization of Drugs,” by Peter de Marneffe, the argument that the use and possession of drugs needs to be decriminalized is made, because of the belief that the criminalization of drug use and possession violates the rights of citizens. In this paper, I will defend de Marneffe’s position by refuting a possible objection. Contrarians may claim that decriminalizing drugs will inevitably lead individuals to try harder and more dangerous drugs.…
In this paper I will evaluate America's War on Drugs. More specifically, I will outline our nation's general drug history and look critically at how Congress has influenced our current ineffective drug policy. Through this analysis I hope to show that drug prohibition policies in the United States, for the most part, have failed. Additionally, I will highlight and evaluate the influences acting on individual legislators' decisions to continue support for these ineffective policies as a more general demonstration of Congress' role in the formation of our nation's drug policy strategy. Finally, I will conclude this analysis by outlining the changes I feel necessary for future progress to be made. Primary among these changes are a general promotion of drug education and the elimination of our current system's many de-legitimating hypocrisies.…
On June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon committed what is arguably one of his most significant and lasting executive acts when he issued a special message to Congress regarding the growing drug abuse problem within the United States. Although this message was significant in many ways because of the public acknowledgment that the Federal Government was not doing enough to combat drugs and their associated ills, this message is mostly remembered as the origin of the term the War on Drugs. We are now over forty years removed from that “declaration of war,” and not only has the United States ' drug problem remained, it has grown to unthinkable proportions,…
Schaffer, C.A. (n.d.) Basic Facts About the War on Drugs. Retrieved on April 22, 2006 from:…
Yet people in law enforcement and local communities are not convinced for good reasons. Although casual illegal drugs use appears to fluctuate and may have declined in recent years, the regular usage of these drugs has not. The government warning about how dangerous these are, such as; heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine only confuse matter further. Actually, such warning are an indication that these drugs are unwinnable. Production sources , smuggling techniques, purity price and use patterns have changed through the years in dynamic drugs markets as governments has made claims of progress, but the war on drugs that began in 1914 has no end in…
Decrimialization-n. The repeal or amendment (undoing) of statutes which made certain acts criminal, so that those acts no longer are crimesor subject to prosecution.…
The economic woes that plague the United States will be invigorated through the Legalization of Marijuana. Embracing cannabis for personal, medical, and industrial use will encourage economic growth and stability. The war on drugs in America consumes millions of dollars annually. Associating taxes in conjunction with eliminating risk of illegal activity will increase consumer confidence whereas the ease of growing requirements will boost substantial profit. American economy can attain prosperity through Marijuana legalization. The history of Marijuana embargo is rich with debate and the future is known as cannabis commerce.…