Annotated Bibliography

Last Name 3

First Name Last Name

English Composition I

Research Essay

Date

Drugs war

The war on drugs began a while back when President Nixon and his administration had won the 1968 election. The office of national drug control policy (ONDCP) claimed that the illegal and illicit drug use numbers had reduced but the large picture gave another story. In the 1970s, the tale suggested that the trends by ONDCP rather indicated a high number of illicit drug use and therefore the war on drugs had failed. Local level police have achieved a high rate of success over the drug war. National policies addressing the war on drugs have been counterproductive helping the drug war to thrive for years.

The prohibitionist and reduction policies used by the U.S are more compatible with the old models of supply and demand-side ways of compacting drug abuse. The difference creates a confusion as most nations want to reduce the demand and supply-side of the illegal and illicit drugs. More confusion is brought by the evidence of legally-available substances such as alcohol which have more potential for societal harm than the illegal drugs. Marijuana especially comes in to mind as it is classified as a schedule 1 drug and yet it has less societal harm. Marijuana instead provides for numerous medicinal applications.

Spending on the war of drugs has been heavy and shows the government’s strong fight on ending the drug war. The law enforcement spends 60% of the spending on the drug war while 40% goes to treating and preventing of drug abuse (Beazley & Stephanie 2018). Around $51 billion has been spent annually for the past couple of years and it is split. The federal agencies get half of the amount while the state agencies get the other half of the money to aid in the drug war. The figures are misleading in that they overlap government expenditure on issues such as fighting terrorism and border control.

Mandatory minimal drug sentencing has some infamous aspects that have characterized the war on drugs. One of the aspects is that the penalty for possession of a small gram of a illegal drug was the same as that of possessing large amounts. Small time dealers and drug traffickers received sentences that were even longer than those of murderers and rapists. The fair sentencing act signed by President Barrack Obama cleared the mandatory sentences for drug offences . The prison population increased in the late 90’s due to drug related offenses. The period between 1976 and 1997 had seen an increase in the prison population due to non-violent drug offences.

Drug and substance abuse reflects the societal and cultural factors of the nation. It is seen that in Europe, the moderate rate of illegal drug use has little relationship with the strictness of the national drug laws. Britain has experienced high rates of hard-drug use even though the possession laws have been harsh. Hispanic immigrants acculturated found to be using illegal drugs are 13 times more to do so than the natives (Goldstein 2016). Hispanics who went away from their communities are likely to use illegal drugs as natives representing a 7.3% of the population. New behavioral patterns show a set of social skills that lead to immigrants assuming the native’s traits.

Illicit drugs market has 61% of its market funded by the U.S. The government spends almost $61 billion annually on civilians using illicit drugs. The amount almost equals the government expenditure on the war on drugs. Marijuana decriminalization in the 1990s would have led to fewer problems as compared to the currents drug problem in the U.S. Marijuana users were many compared to cocaine users in the early 90’s. Cocaine prices reduced halfway due to doubling of the international production in the 80’s and early 90’s. The drug convictions for serious traffickers was less than 15% of the drug related convictions

Marijuana possession is responsible for the large number of incarcerations on drug related convictions (Morgan 2011). Marijuana is termed as a gateway drug to other hard drug usage and this is the connectional explanation for its criminal sanction. The theory on marijuana as a gateway drug is largely discredited as it offers misleading questions on substance abuse factors. A common variation on the marijuana theory is that if the drug use could not be termed as a problem if it did emerge before 18 years. Various studies agree that drug abuse during adolescence is undesirable and that adult mental health should be used to address drug abuse.

Normative ambivalence theory responds to the drug use issues experienced over the past years. Normative ambivalence theory states that social circumstances can lead to substance se. personal deprivation and social alienation can help in explanation of drug use. Genetic weakness was earlier seen as a cause of substance abuse but recent views points to a lack of self control. Individuals at times are deprived of their rational control leading to drug abuse. The effects of withdrawal can fuel an individual’s need to take more hard drugs. The street seller knows this and uses it to his advantage to sell more while endangering lives.

Illegal drugs negatively affect individuals both physically and psychologically throughout the world. The illegal drugs provide their own specific effects both long term and short term. Illegal drugs such as cocaine led to the war on drugs but there are failures experienced over the ears. Growth of drug use on an international scale led to creation of strict divergent national polices in the fight against drugs. Prohibitionist approaches were developed and they focused on legal punishment and moral sanctions which became effective in reducing drug-related diseases and crimes. The drug sentencing has to be revised to create fairness and the government should invest more in preventing drug use.

Works Cited

Beazley, Jonathan C, and Stephanie L. Field. Cannabis on Campus: Changing the Dialogue in the Wake of Legalization. , 2018. Internet resource.

Goldstein, Margaret J. Legalizing Marijuana: Promises and Pitfalls. Minneapolis: Lerner Publishing Group, 2016. Internet resource.

Morgan, Kayla. Legalizing Marijuana. Edina, MN: ABDO Pub. Co, 2011. Print