The Drug War: Marijuana and Money
What has been America’s longest and most unsuccessful war? If you answered Vietnam or World War II you would be incorrect. America has been waging a war since 1972 that is still going on as we speak, the “War on Drugs”. It was this year that Nixon appointed a National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse and despite its recommendations to decriminalize marijuana Nixon still declared, in his own words, a “War on Drugs.” This war brought upon harsher penalties, set up multiple anti-drug commissions, and eventually set strict mandatory sentences for drug offenses among numerous other efforts to stop drug traffic and drug use within our boarders. Since then the cost of this war has risen every year, and last year cost us close to $9 billion. All most all of this money comes from our, the tax payers, pocket, most of which I am proposing could be better spent. On top of this money is the high cost to keep the massive influx of prisoners incarcerated as a result of these harsh penalties. This effort has also made it illegal to cultivate hemp, which has many practical uses. Although some very good things have happened as a result of this war many bad things such increases in crime and corruption and people’s lives,
Like every political issue that is debated there is another side and point of view on my idea. Those who disagree with a plan similar to mine believe marijuana is harmful and legalizing it would be very detrimental to our society. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is against the legalization of drugs and is our nation’s primary enforcer of our current drug laws. In my research of the other side of the issue I came across a publication by from the DEA called “Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization.”, which was published in November 2002. The introduction brings up the issue that the US drug policy is being challenged by people wanting to legalize certain drugs and in their words, which is what my essay proposed, “. . distinctions between hard and soft drugs”(DEA). The DEA’s intro also says, “A number of states have passed referendums to permit their residents to use drugs for a variety of reasons” but this is because its residents were relying on misinformation. No state has ever passed legislation allowing a drug other then marijuana to be used, despite marijuana still be a federal crime and a user can be arrested even if state law deems it legal for them to smoke marijuana. Another point this preface to the book makes is that the supporters of legalization use the European nations as a model, many of the nations have recently relaxed laws on marijuana. This introduction leads one to believe that they will tackle the supporters of marijuana legalization’s, in the DEA’s words, “misinformation”, with their facts to keep it illegal. They do not do this and concentrate on hard drugs such as ecstasy and the following paragraph will touch on some of their sparse facts regarding marijuana and I feel it necessary to include the real facts because I believe it is the DEA whose facts are misleading and cloudy. Homicide rate per 100,000 population 1995 vs. 1995 8 1.8 Lifetime prevalence of marijuana use (ages 12+) 1998 vs. 1997 33% 15.6% Social Indicator Years USA Netherlands Per capita spending on drug-related law enforcement 1997 vs. 1995 $81 $27
Some topics in this essay:
Drug Abuse,
Drug Legalization”,
Mercedes Benz,
Jack Henningfield,
Iversen Seventy,
United States”,
United America,
Crime Reports,
University Kentucky,
Incarceration Rate,
possession charges,
1998 vs 1997,
12+ 1998 vs,
drug substance,
“war drugs”,
ages 12+,
100000 population,
12+ 1998,
1998 vs,
vs 1997,
billions dollars,
ages 12+ 1998,
title 21 code,
non-violent drug offenders,
non-violent drug,
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Approximate Word count = 2971
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)
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