Denver Drug Problem
Since the end of World War II, almost every president has declared a war on illegal drug use. The efforts against drugs that are currently used, got their start from a series of laws passed during the Nixon administration's "War on Drugs". Many programs have been established including Nancy Regan's "Just Say No" campaign which was started in 1983. George Bush, later provided the DEA with its largest federal funding increase ever, raising the DEA's budget to more than $18 billion. The War on Drugs has continued in the 1990s with a larger focus on the strict enforcment of U.S drug laws. However, the increased enforcement of U.S. drug laws has led to prison overcrowding and a change from the smugling of illegal substances to a local production of cheap, highly potent substances such as crack, cocaine, and methamphetamine. While when compared to foreign countries, the United States appears to be doing a good job in combating illegal drug use, it is very clear that the drug policies used during the past three decades have failed remarkably to meet their stated objectives. Limited drops in usage levels (rising levels in Denver), failure to reduce violent crime related to drug use, failure to reduce importation of ilegal substances
The offices' approachs which are geared twoards preventative educaton, are representative of Denver's focus on drug education. It is the offices' beliefs that by educating students at an early age about the harmful effects of drugs on themselves and those around them, a long-term solution to the drug problem may be in grasp. This method of education rather than law enforcement measures being used has recently become the standard in many major cities including Denver Expanding treatment services was the next part of the program that was implimented by working within existing sources to establish the treatment needs of communities based on geography, age, gender ethnicity, families and special populations. Another committee was established to identify strategies which place an increased emphasis on the availability of culturally unbiased treatment centers for people of color in and out of correctional settings. The Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools & Communities (OSDFSC) and the Regional Alcohol and Drug abuse resources program (RADAR), are local groups that were started in order to provide programs and services to assist schools with: Gostin, Larry 1994. Towards the Development of a Human Rights Impact Assessment for the Formulation and Evaluation of Public Health Policies. NY On March 31,1999 mayor Wellington E. Webb announced a new strategy for fighting the drug war. In a press release he said the following:
Some common words found in the essay are:
Assessment Center, War Drugs, Alcohol Drug, School System, Project Alert, Board Education, City Denver, Park Hill, Committee APC, Service DEA, substance abuse, city denver, war drugs, harmful substances, drug laws, prevention education ·, alcohol tobacco, treatment providers, school system, education ·, drug abuse, press release strategy, existing sources establish,
Approximate Word count = 1403
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
