Assignment 8

            The “War on Drugs” that was declared in 1971 by Richard Nixon has been hailed as both a success and chastised as a failure by different people.  The War on Drugs stated that drugs were “Public Enemy Number One,” and that the fate of society and future generations relied on the elimination of drugs, which were said to destroy minds and bodies.  So, the war on drugs dedicated itself to eradicating drug use from society, and led to numerous pieces of national anti-drug groups and legislation.  I personally think that the War on Drugs was lost.  Some costs of losing the war include leaving lasting racial disparities, uprooting the check and balances in different parts of the legal system, and distrust in the government.

            First of all, losing the drug war would lead to lasting racial disparities that the war created.  The war on drugs has created a lot of racial tensions throughout the years in that it tended to target black people over white people.  90% of drug arrests were made on black people and under 1% were made on whites, even though whites were responsible for 77% of drug use and blacks were only responsible for 15%.  There were also disparities in sentence time.  Minorities are more related to the possession of crack cocaine, and whites are more related to the sale of powder cocaine.  One can receive a minimum of five years in prison for possessing 5.01 grams of crack cocaine, but will not receive a five year prison sentence for possession of powdered cocaine until this possession reaches 500 grams.  These differences in sentencing times, when examining the demographics of the people caught with the drugs, easily shows that whites are favored in this system and points to the trends that more blacks are in jail for drug charges than whites.  Even after losing the war on drugs, the bitter taste of this discrimination will remain, causing conflict for future generations.  It truly shows that there are definitely power differences between the different cultures in America, and these proofs will live on even after the War on Drugs is lost.

            Secondly, losing the war on drugs will help uproot some of the set checks and balances that exist in the criminal justice system.  The police with the discretion to arrest offenders who will have longer sentences begin to override judges’ jobs to sentence people in the War Against Drugs.  Thus, the power will become more unequal between the two parties, as the police begin to make more and more decisions themselves.  Unfortunately, even after the loss of the War on Drugs, police will get used to this power in the court system.  They will begin to expect to make these types of sentencing decisions over the judges of the courts, and this power difference could cause a lot of tension between those in power in the criminal justice system.  So, losing the war on drugs could lead to tensions in power in the criminal justice system.

            Finally, losing the War on Drugs would lead to public distrust in the government.  The government has spent millions upon millions of dollars on this war, and if it doesn’t even succeed then all of this money will have gone to waste. Countless peoples’ lives would have been destroyed from prosecution, and racial tensions and tensions within the criminal justice system would be as high as ever.  Furthermore, because the drug policies changed from president to president in the War on Drugs, a feeling of instability might surround the government.  Propaganda and misleading information released by the government in the war also makes people wary.  Overall, all of these tensions combined could leave the citizens not trusting the US government, which could even last for years after the loss of the War on Drugs.

            In conclusion, I think that we have lost the War on Drugs.  I think that this loss will lead to racial disparities, inconsistencies in power in the criminal justice system, and distrust in the government.  While drug use is definitely a problem in the United States, I don’t think that a “War on Drugs” is the appropriate way to handle the problem, and I think that another method should be used instead.  Losing the War on Drugs runs the risk of certain social turmoil, which is certainly not the desired result when trying to tackle a societal issue.

Assignment 7

            The debate over the legalization of marijuana has been widely publicized in the past couple of years.  The public is extremely polarized either for or against legalization, and both sides are very passionate about their stance.  In “Legalize Marijuana?  A Conversation with the Experts”, six professionals discuss different pros and cons of marijuana legalization.  This essay will present the two sides of marijuana legalization based on their arguments.

There were many reasons against the legalization of marijuana.  First off, it is feared that there are a lot of different negative health consequences from the use of marijuana.  It was mentioned that research found negative consequences from marijuana use that included, but were not limited to, anxiety, psychosis, early-onset schizophrenia, and paranoia.  Another health risk from use of marijuana was the potential for cannabis addiction, which is recognized by the DSM-V as a dependence disorder with a high potential for abuse.  This is especially problematic for people with addictive personalities.  When people get addicted, the addiction becomes a burden emotionally, physically, and financially for the users and their families, especially while trying to detox.  The process of breaking an addiction could be further complicated by marijuana withdrawal, which exists for some people.  If legalization of marijuana leads people to see it as a safe drug, more people will take the drug, leading to more addicts around the country, creating a public health epidemic likened to the recent prescription drugs epidemic.  Furthermore, in addition to the gateway drug theory (which states that users who try marijuana will be more inclined to try more hard-core drugs), studies on lab rats showed that male rats who were given THC regularly at a young age had offspring who actively searched for heroin, rather than offspring from rats who had no THC, who did not seek out any drugs.  Unfortunately, despite knowing all of these possible effects, it is hard to determine how a person will react to a drug, especially when potency increases.

            The idea to legalize medical marijuana also poses a problem.  First of all, there isn’t enough data to prove that marijuana has medical use to FDA standards, and legalizing medical marijuana based on a public vote will allow the drug to circumvent scientific safety testing, creating a public safety risk.  It is often thought that medicalization is just an excuse to people to commit fraud and fake pain to get medicinal marijuana for recreational use, which also makes individual states appear to be much unhealthier than they are.  Legalization of medical marijuana would call for the implementation of public policies which prevent this type of fraud from happening.  Furthermore, intoxicating drugs that keep people from functioning at their normal cognition level can hardly be called medicine, and with no known dose range, marijuana should not be voted on as a medicine to smoke.

            Finally, legalization of marijuana in the states contradicts federal law, which declares it an illegal Schedule I drug.  This discrepancy could cause tension between not only the state and federal government but also between states with differing laws on the drug.  If marijuana were to be made legal, a huge overhaul of national and state policies would be necessary, and it would be difficult to make everyone agree and to come up with a system that would work for everyone.

            However, there are many arguments that are made for the legalization of marijuana.  First off, it was argued that it can be used medically, and in fact has been used for hundreds of years as a pain reliever and relaxant.  It can also be used for many other purposes, including as a drug to increase food intake in people who have illnesses that cause them to not be hungry, such as cancer.  It was argued that after hundreds of tests, effects of the drug can indeed be predicted, especially when tolerance to the drug has been developed, and that marijuana usage does not cause cognition problems.  Though the drug may be intoxicating, it is not to be intended for use during working hours, but is intended for times of relaxation and sleep.  Other legal drugs can be intoxicating, yet are still legal.  The main key to control this is dosage, and because THC concentrations are rising, less marijuana must be smoked, leading to smaller doses and less intoxication.  You can get addicted to or take too much of any substance.  However, it was suggested that marijuana has a lower abuse potential than other drugs.  Regardless, simply saying that the drug is safe will not encourage people to smoke more.  This is merely a correlation and correlation does not lead to causation.

            Marijuana has been historically demonized, giving the public a skewed perception of the drug.  Aversion to the drug initially stemmed from racial bias, as usage of the drug was related to Mexican immigrants around the impoverished times of the Great Depression.  Now, unfounded claims about marijuana and detrimental health effects keep the public wary of this drug.  However, legalizing marijuana could lower the stigma around the drug, which could help out many people.  For example, it could minimize the pasts of people with illegal marijuana convictions, and could give them and their families the chance to start over without the record of a petty drug charge.

            Finally, legalizing marijuana would be beneficial because it would put an important decision into the hands of hopefully educated voters.  Once it is legal, different public policies can be experimented with to find out which work for society.  After a bit of experimentation a policy can be put into place that works best over time, and that produces the most good for everyone.

            In conclusion, the debate about the legalization of marijuana was heated in the video that we watched.  It will most likely be a very pressing subject in society for years to come, and though different people will think of different solutions, hopefully the solution that best benefits society will be put into place.