Drug Abuse In The Early 1900s

The 1990’s marked the beginning of a new war on drugs. Drug abuse rates had started to increase, wider variety of drugs became more common, and more people started to use. Not a lot has changed, because drug abuse is still very common in today’s society. In the 1990s, drug usage was bad, however a lot of the drugs in today 's society were not as common. Drug abuse is not just in the big cities,the problem is all over.

Illicit drugs are drugs that have been considered illegal, such as, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, in some locations (Levinthal, 2016). Legislating drugs began around 1900. In essence, the government let society govern the use and opinions of drugs. Most of society looked down upon the nonmedical use of drugs. Furthermore, several acts were enacted to regulate the use of specific drugs as well as the federal prohibition of alcohol. But in 1933, Prohibition ended, making it legal to consume alcohol again. In the 1970’s, drugs were categorized based on their “potential for abuse” (Levinthal, 2016). Unfortunately, many of the illicit drugs are manufactured outside of the United States. As such, the war on drugs has to be fought on a global

The United States has historically had its fair share of race-related issues throughout its short existence, with slavery being the first issue that jumps to everyone’s minds when the topic is broached, but another lesser known area that deserves light shed on it are the drug and alcohol laws that have been passed specifically targeting every race except white Americans.

The use of narcotics like cocaine, claimed many lives and earned widespread coverage by media and news. Following this Nancy Reagan began the “War on Drugs”, a campaign to combat pre-existing drug usage and prevent future

Essentially, the war on drugs has demonstrated to be an exorbitant expense. The federal government in 2002 alone spent $18.822 billion in the form of expenditures such as treatment, prevention, and domestic law enforcement (CSDP, 2007, p. 54). However, given that the drug war has garnered meager results, this investment may be interpreted as a waste of taxpayer dollars. Alternatively, the money that has been allocated to arrest and detain drug offenders may also be a source of contention. CSDP (2007) “Of the 1,846,351 arrests for drug law violations in 2005, 81.7% (1,508,469) were for possession of a controlled substance.

I just believe the way our government has chosen to deal with the issue of drug use is likely not the best option, and now thousands of people are starting to realize this as well. Law enforcement has significantly ramped up in the last 40 years, as evidently shown by the large increase in spending towards law enforcement and the war on drugs. An estimated $1 trillion has been spent so far on attempting to rid the United States of drugs, which ultimately has been a major failure, as drug use is just as if not more widespread than it was before the war on drugs even began. Now think of all the things that money could have been put towards besides fighting drugs. If they had focused on combatting drug addiction rather than drugs themselves, then it would be much more likely that a decline in overall drug use would occur, as currently the cartels seem to have little struggle with flooding our country with drugs no matter how much we spend.

President Nixon declared the war on drugs on June 17th, 1971. The war on drugs has been defined as “a series of actions tending towards the prohibition of illegal drug trade.” This declaration has allowed for a variety of policies and legislative actions to be implemented over the past 45 years. One of the main actions taken by the United States has been the adoption of a multilateral military approach in combating the drug issue that continues to plague American societies. In 1999, President Clinton worked alongside Colombia’s

In a span of seventeen years, from 1980 to 1997, the number of the incarcerated individuals imprisoned due to non-violent drug offenses increased from forty thousand to five hundred thousand (Drugpolicy.org, n.d.). At the start of the decade only 2% of Americans viewed drugs in America as a major issue, but after only nine years, that number grew to an astonishing 64%. The media and politicians contributed to this meteoric rise in such a short time. Television networks and news programs began to cover the negative side effects of drugs that were ignored during the two previous free living decades.

In his article, “Toward a Policy on Drugs,” Elliot Currie discusses “the magnitude and severity of our drug crisis” (para. 21), and how “no other country has anything resembling the American drug problem” (para. 21). The best way to describe America’s drug problem is that it is a hole continuously digs itself deeper. America’s drug issues were likely comparable to other country’s at one point in time, but today it can be blamed on the “street cultures” (para. 21) that continue to use and spread the use of illegal drugs. These street cultures transcend the common stereotype of drug users, such as low income communities in cities or welfare recipients, and can be found in every economic class and location. They are groups of people who have

“Turn on, tune in, drop out.” (Cite) Psychologist Timothy Leary made this hypnotic phrase popular during the 1960s. Having many ways of perceiving it, the majority of the people at the time viewed it as a creative slogan for taking psychedelics. These psychedelics were mind-altering drugs such as LSD, mescaline, or psilocybin mushrooms. The youth’s curiosity and desire for expanding your consciousness made the use of these drugs increasingly popular. The result was that this phrase was echoed among thousands emerging into the psychedelic rock era. An era bombarded with cold wars, racial discrimination, and social turbulence that tossed and turned eventually developing a new way of bringing people together through experimentation with drugs and music.

The consumption of drugs have always been a part of society, from tobacco used by the native Americans to the coco leaf used by mayans, people exhibit a tendency to use narcotics. While drugs were used for medicinal purposes risks were still associated with them as they are today. As with most things, narcotics can be harmful, and even dangerous, while drugs do not usually cause a society to collapse, it does have a profound effect on how societies function as in the case of the 1900s.While there were positives to the initial inaction of prohibition it was more detrimental than beneficial.

Responding to the opening question requires another question first be addressed: what is drug culture? Psychologist Pamela Brian defines drug culture as “the lifestyle of people who take and abuse drugs that create an altered form of consciousness” (Brian). The US Center for Substance Abuse Treatment is even more specific and defines a drug culture as one with its own history as well as shared values, beliefs, customs, traditions, rituals, and behaviors. Members of a drug culture often share similar ways of dressing, patterns of socializing, language, and styles of communication (Center). Drug cultures also tend to be localized to a certain degree (Center). This localization promotes the formation of various drug subcultures while simultaneously

To understand the War on Drugs one needs to understand the cultural landscape that made the war on drugs advantageous. Ronald

General Purpose: To Inform Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about the drug abuse in the United States both throughout history and currently. Central Idea: The War on Drugs was first brought up on 1971 by Richard Milhous Nixon our 37th president. The budget to initiate the war on drugs was roughly 100,000,000 million dollars, currently as we speak for every 21 seconds a drug arrest is taking place in the United States according to drugpolicy.org.

As of recent, the war on drugs has been a very often discussed topic due to many controversial issues. Some people believe the War on Drugs has been quite successful due to the amount of drugs seized and the amount of drug kingpins arrested. I believe this to be the wrong mindset when it comes to the war on drugs. The war on drugs isn’t a winnable one so we must do all that is possible to assist those who struggle with drug addiction and decriminalize small amounts of drugs. These minor changes in the way we combat drugs will create significant change and have lasting effects.