Examples Of A Modest Proposal For Legalizing Drugs
Inasse Slaoui
Bernadette Varela
AP English Language
23 February 2023
A Modest Proposal: For preventing drug abuse and overcrowding in prison the United States of America must legalize all drugs.
The War on Drugs was declared by the United States in 1973, and like the similarly unsuccessful War on Terror, it was riddled with inconsistencies and hampered by irrational policy goals. Forty plus years and a trillion dollars later, the U.S. has the largest prison population in the world and a racist two-tiered judicial system under which teenaged blacks caught with a few crack rocks do hard time in state prisons, while the bankers who launder the Mexican cocaine cartel’s blood-stained billions simply pay fines. The very meaning of unpatriotism
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Proponents of drug legalization, such as myself, argue that it could have a number of societal benefits. For one thing, it may help to reduce the number of weak addicts by making drugs more widely available and less valuable. As a result, employers would no longer have to worry about hiring people with drug addictions, potentially leading to a more competitive job market.
Furthermore, legalization might contribute to economic growth by generating new jobs in the drug industry and money through taxes and regulations. Because more goods are being sold, the economy will benefit from more drugs being sold and becoming widely accessible. Despite the fact that they are currently illegal, drugs are still sold, but because they are legal, their exports do not benefit the American economy. In order to participate in the billion dollar drug trading industry, we would therefore need to legalize drugs in order to support the American
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There are currently laws against drug distributors being held criminally liable for overdose homicides. These laws, which are supposed to target major drug traffickers, are actually making it possible to prosecute friends, family members, partners in relationships, and co-users of overdose victims. In six years, from 363 reported prosecutions in 2011 to 1,178 in 2016, the number of people accused of or prosecuted for drug-induced homicide increased by more than 300 percent, according to a 2017 report by the Drug Policy Alliance. According to the Health in Justice Action Lab, by 2019, there were 26 new and expanded laws that reclassified overdose as homicide, murder, or manslaughter. These laws increase the number of overdoses because people are afraid of being charged with manslaughter; however, by legalizing all drugs, those who do unfortunately overdose will be more likely to be rescued before
Summary Of Drugs Case For Legalizing Marijuana By Gore Vidal
469 Words | 2 PagesIn a 1970 article about drugs, narcotics, and the government, “Drugs: Case for Legalizing Marijuana”, Gore Vidal explores how the illegalization of marijuana has created the opposite effect of what the legislation has intended to do. Vidal’s explanation and reasoning behind this idea is not entirely associated with drug users and the population in general, but also has a strong link to monetary gains in government bureaus and large-scale mafias. These financial motive claims are supported by logical appeal and evidence.1 To begin, Vidal points out that, “both the Bureau of Narcotics and the Mafia want strong laws against the sale and use of drugs because if drugs are sold at cost there would be no money in it for anyone” (par. 10). This statement
The Possibility Of Prohibition In The 1920's
948 Words | 4 PagesThe prohibition of intoxicating beverages was one of the least successful experiments in American social and criminal history, but in spite of its obvious failure in the 1920s, the American experiment in prohibition is still being continued today. For decades, our leaders have been telling us that America is in the middle of a drug epidemic, and the trade in illicit drugs has certainly created a criminal industry that is incredibly profitable and extremely violent. Until recently, however, few respectable political or law enforcement officials have been willing to consider the possibility of legalization. The moral, medical and social disgrace attached to illegal drug use was simply too great. In recent years, however, as the crisis has escalated
President Richard Nixon And The War On Drugs
1195 Words | 5 PagesIn 1970, President Richard Nixon, in response to the drug use coupled with the hippie counterculture of the late 1960s, signed the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) which enacted a method of classifying drugs by categorizing them into five schedules, schedule one considered to be the most dangerous. Shortly following this act, in June of 1971, Nixon declared “The War On Drugs”, famously naming drugs and drug abuse “Public enemy number one”. (History.com, 2016). Following Nixon’s presidency, many presidents and administrations, including Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, have continued the support for The War on Drugs, but where are the results? It seems today that the abuse of drugs is worse than ever before.
Addiction In Firekeeper's Daughter By Angeline Boulley
1471 Words | 6 PagesRandy E. Bartnett claims that “drug laws cause more harm to addicts and society than drugs themselves.” According to Bartnett, “Drug prohibition makes drugs so expensive, the addicts trying to crime in order to obtain money to buy them. Furthermore, drug prohibition is unfair in that it punishes users for committing a “crime” that has no victim.” Some people might agree with the idea that legalizing drugs would benefit addicts because then they would not be able to obtain drugs so easily.
Drug Sentencing Policy
942 Words | 4 PagesThe main issue when it comes to drugs in the United States is the inefficient policies and sentencing laws that have been created. Also, the injustices within these policies pertaining primarily to race. Once the “war on drugs” was claimed the only way the government and law enforcement saw fit to handling this skyrocketing issue was to incarcerate offenders. Although this solution worked for a while, other alternatives needed to be made. However, these alternatives were not made and this left the drug policies, sentencing laws, and injustices at a standstill.
War On Drugs Public Policy Failure
2325 Words | 10 PagesAaleyah Patterson Tom Scales U.S. Public Policy & Democracy 10 March 2016 The “War On Drugs” Is A Public Policy Failure Here we are, four decades after Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs in 1971 and $1 trillion spent since then. What do we have to show for it? Externalities that were unforeseen.
The Decriminalization Of Drugs In The United States
1077 Words | 5 PagesThe legalization of drugs has been at the center of interminable debate. Drugs have widely been perceived as a dominant threat to the moral fabric of society. Drug use has been attributed as the source responsible for a myriad of key issues. For instance, it is believed that drugs have exacerbated the already weak status of mental health in the United States in which some individuals suffering from mental illness administer illicit substances such as heroin or cocaine in an attempt to self-medicate. Moreover, drugs are blamed for turning auspicious members of the community into worthless degenerates.
Prohibition Essay
1364 Words | 6 PagesFirst, it could eliminate the black market and related criminal activities, it might lessen drug-related crime and violence. Legalizing drugs may also lessen the demand on the criminal justice system and the number of people who are imprisoned for drug-related offenses. Opponents of legalizing drugs argue that this could increase drug use and addiction, as well as related health and social issues. There are worries that making drugs legal could encourage drug use among young people in particular and contribute to the normalization of drug use in society. Additionally, there are worries that drug companies can place profits ahead of public health and that drug advertisements could open up new markets for illegal
The Globalization Of Us Drug Enforcement By Matthew R Pembleton
592 Words | 3 PagesBut if the government wants to help drug addicts, they must not only provide drug addicts with medical services, but also provide them with housing and jobs that can sustain them. These methods are not only expensive, but may also affect the overall American society, because providing jobs for these people means that some normal people will lose their job
Drug Enforcement And Punishment Approach
946 Words | 4 PagesThis paper argues that the “War on Drugs” and the current enforcement and punishment approach is not working. The results of our policies are the mass incarceration of individuals, especially blacks and Latinos. Drug experts and historians identified two main eras of the war on drugs, the 1970s’ and 1980’s, two main turning points of U.S. policy in combating drugs. The first major shift in drug policy was started by the Nixon Administration. Nixon was sworn in as the 37th President of the United States on 20 January 1969 and by July of 1969 his administration submits legislation for a comprehensive reform of federal drug enforcement laws.
Satire On Drugs
557 Words | 3 PagesToday many countries try to regulate the numbers of drugs users as many as they can by using the scary promotions and commercials to attract the attention from people, albeit ineffective. Rather than using the outmoded methods, legitimacy should be announced for all drugs in order that the regulation will process more ease for the government. In this procedure, the government can legislate the limitations for drugs consumption and people will be able to understand drug disadvantages profoundly. Therefore, allowing drugs as ordinary substances will abate the drug consumption. The aforementioned issue, in brief, the drugs is a too danger to leave it as it is so it should be legalized.
Satire Essay About Drugs
776 Words | 4 PagesThe financial costs of illicit drug use can be roughly measured by how much the government spend on law enforcement and the loss of human productivity. Globally the world spends $100 billion annually on law enforcement aimed in an effort to enforce, prevent, treat, and reduce harm caused by illegal drugs. Despite all the money spent on the interdiction of illegal drugs, drug markets continue to rise and expand. Law enforcement provides very poor value for money that should instead be allocated for education, public infrastructure or in the form of lower taxes. Additionally, drug use causes loss in human productivity which is bad for the economy.
Gore Vidal Case For Legalizing Marijuana Summary
786 Words | 4 PagesSince marijuana was legalized there have been dramatic results. States that allow the use of marijuana have increased the public’s awareness of the drug’s effects. After an increase in public awarness, many people are setting the drug aside due to long-term effects. If other drugs were made legal in the United States and their long-term and short-term effects were taught, it is very likely that there would be a decrease in their use. People are less inclined to get hooked onto drugs when they realize it could kill them.
Drug Trafficking Satire
638 Words | 3 PagesIt benefits terrorist groups, causes high amount of deaths every year, and causes many people to be thrown in jail. It affects individuals because those who use the illegal substances have a chance of dying and those
The Argument Essay: The Legalization Of Marijuana
814 Words | 4 PagesThe legalization of marijuana would create an increase in jobs because it will create a new industry. It can create many businesses related to marijuana such as spas, textiles, paper, marijuana dispensaries, and many others. All of these will help boost the economy. The only reason it was banned was because of a man named William Randolph Hearst wanted to eliminate a textile competitor because he was using hemp to create his textiles. Hearst was big in the media so he launched a marijuana prohibition movement and later got marijuana banned in Congress.
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