Elliot Currie's 'Toward A Policy On Drugs'

Provocative and eye-opening, The Stickup Kids urges us to explore the ravages of the drug trade through weaving history, biography, social structure, and drug market forces. It offers a revelatory explanation for drug market violence by masterfully uncovering the hidden social forces that produce violent and self-destructive individuals. Part memoir, part penetrating analysis, this book is engaging, personal, deeply informed, and entirely

Drug abusers’ children are neglected, abused, and even abandoned. In the 1870’s, anti-opium laws were first directed and Chinese immigrants. During the early 1900’s, in the South, the first anti-cocaine laws were directed at black men. In the 1910’s and 1920’s, in the Midwest and Southwest the first anti-marijuana laws were directed at Mexicans – both immigrants and Americans. In modern time, major disproportioned drug enforcement

Essentially, these social and economic challenges seem to rile the effects of this addiction. The failed economy, high poverty rates, poor living and working conditions can lead to depression and feelings of pain. “... economic hardship, social isolation, and hopelessness [are] reasons for drug use” (Dasgupta 184). With social problems rising the demand for opioids has spiked. This drug crisis is a societal reaction and obvious manifestation of an economic recession.

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.

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

The continuous use of narcotics results in addiction, and financial struggles due to the costly upkeep. “Financial problems are one of the major side effects of drug and substance abuse” (Buaggett, 2015). Addicts cannot adequately take an active role in the economic activities, as the use of drugs inhibits the abilities of the users to earn a daily living. Due to the instability of finances, this would result in selling personal belongings to continue funding the substance of choice, and depending on the addicts living situation, this could lead to losing their house or being removed from their current housing. While being under the influence, an addicts voice of reason is jeopardized, resulting in criminal activities which raise the chances of being apprehended by the law enforcers, as well as, heavy fines are imposed.

The war on drugs was launched as an effort to prevent and reduce substance abuse and addiction. Exclusively, focusing on white, middle-class children, and possibly demonizing others, particularly minorities. Nevertheless, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America campaign used a different approach. This campaign “utilized volunteer talent working together against a single social problem to help young people live free of drug and alcohol abuse, and to assist parents in prevention efforts. The organization gets input from scientists, therapist, community activist, researchers, law enforcement, and offers resources for parents and teenagers.”

Quinones states, “As the opiate epidemic mangled the middle class, these kids doped up and dropped out. Earlier generations of opiate addicts became self-employed construction workers or painters, because that was all they could manage with heroin, and often jail, in their lives” (274), which is a major problem America faces when trying to solve the opiate epidemic. If we educate the states about the addiction rates and potential danger of opiates, public opinion could shift, creating alternate solutions to solving the heroin epidemic in America. In order to lower the amount of opiate addicts the stigma that used to be associated with opiate use needs to return. The fear that used to surround opiate use was one of the only reasons opiates were not used as medication.

Many poor individuals in inner-city neighborhoods are often forced into the business. To truly understand what it means to be a drug offender forced into the business because of economic reasons, I turned to the documentary, “The House I Live In.” Cruz from the documentary, began selling drugs to support his parents, and when he started to become successful at it, he became addicted to the drugs. Cruz was a student before his parents ran into financial struggles. An innocent young adult that loved to play soccer, is now serving a 30 year sentence because he needed to help his parents pay their

For example, agencies have been established with the sole intent to manage drug use and distribution and technology has been exclusively developed to detect the presence of drugs. Yet, evidence has indicated that such exhaustive efforts have been relatively unsuccessful. First, it has been assumed that drugs have perpetuated violence in society and based on this rationale, it was believed that by the suppressing the pervasiveness of drugs that incidents of violence would simultaneously diminish. However, reality has failed to align with the expectations that had initially been anticipated. Research findings have suggested that the decriminalization of drugs would result in a less adversarial drug market in which conflicts have tended to arise among dealers as well as between dealers and buyers (Common Sense for Drug Policy, 2007, p. 21).

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

Some areas in the United States face higher rates of crime and drug abuse. This contributes to the prevalence of health disparities within different communities. In order to eliminate or decrease the distinct difference between areas that are at higher health risks than others one must begin to understand why they exist. Some areas have higher drug abuse rates than others due to factors such as poor education, poverty, unemployment rates, and lack of community involvement. These things play a major role in whether or not a young adult is going to start the use of drugs or drinking alcohol.

The main reason why I chose to include this as a piece of evidence, was to show that there are steps in the system that are flawed. As the title of the article suggested, $2 roadside drug tests are performed on suspected drugs found inside the car. Many of these tests produce false positives, and yet prosecutors across the country still continue to use them. The kits cost around $2 each, and have changed little since 1973. The story also provided an example of a women name Amy Albritton that was a victim of this drug test, as an officer claimed that he had seen a crumb of crack-cocaine. The officer pulled out the drug test, and because of how cold it was that night, the cold weather slowed the colver development, throwing off a red flag in the officer 's eyes. Albritton was cuffed, and arrested for possession of crack cocaine, charges that were later dropped. Hopefully I will be able to integrate this into my essay, as it provides a prime example of how something so miniscule, can deeply affect someone 's life.

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.

This is a summary taken from “Saying Yes” by Jacob Sullum; Chapter 8; “Body and Soul”. An ever-present theme in Sullum’s book is what he calls “voodoo pharmacology”—the idea, promoted in large part by the government, that certain drugs have the power to hijack people and enslave them in an inescapable prison of craving and compulsion. Sullum seeks to show that this idea is a myth, that only a tiny percentage of illegal-drug users become addicts, whereas the vast majority of people who use illegal drugs live normal, productive, loving lives. The book is filled with valuable insights derived from deconstructing government statistics about drugs and drug use. Sullum shows how even the most vilified drugs, such as heroin and crack cocaine, are