War on Drugs
Society's view of drugs has changed base on the sociological imagination of the times. People's behavior and attitude have adjusted based on the social forces that have evolved around them. This shifting of ideas has been forever apparent in the America and a prime example is the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920's. The illegality of alcohol enabled the Mafia to produce liquor and therefore it had considerable control over those who wanted their substance and service. The role that the Mafia played in the 1920's has transformed into the corner drug dealers and drug cartel of this century. The justification that legalized alcohol under Amendment 21 in 1933 should be just cause to legalize drugs today. With the legalization of drugs deaths related to drugs would decrease and the price would lessen because big businesses could produce drugs at less cost. Thus, reducing crimes that are committed to support drug habits. Another drug that has played a major role in American society is nicotine. For hundreds of years, cigarettes have been a popular legal drug within the United States. Only through legalization and education has the popularity and the use of cigarettes declined within the past ten years. Physically, t
Clearly, there will be some increase in drug use if drugs are made legal and accessible at a reasonable price. Yet the benefits of legalization will outweigh the negatives: less crime, more funding available for greater rehabilitation efforts, fewer jail cells and prisoners, better utilization of law enforcement personnel, greater respect for the law and fewer deaths from impure substances. When today's sociological imagination catches up with reality progress can be made. I believe that the government should use the tax system to discourage consumption among kids, and even among adults to some extent. In the Netherlands, the focus is pragmatically centered on minimizing the harm that the addict population does to itself and the rest of society. The record speaks for itself: American adolescents use marijuana at about twice the rate of their counterparts in Holland, where marijuana and hashish have been freely available for more than 17 years. The only drug that causes traffic fatalities and violence in Holland is the same one that causes these problems here--alcohol. While in Amsterdam this past summer I learned that over last 17 years in Holland, during which possession and use of hard drugs have been legal, the number of people under 22 years of age who use heroin or cocaine has dropped from 15 percent to less than three percent. While there has been a slight increase in overall drug use, the number of crimes associated with drugs has decreased. Dutch adolescents have no problem seeing that this is hardly a glamorous and exciting life-style and that it does not even provide much pleasure. Reality, even a disagreeable reality, is
Some common words found in the essay are:
Drugs Society's, illicit drugs, american society, war drugs, drugs alcohol, drug habits, sociological imagination, drugs legal, legal drug, law enforcement, drug united,
Approximate Word count = 1109
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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