Annotated Bibliography

THE FAILURE OF DRUG PROHIBITION 1

The Failure of Drug Prohibition or:

How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate the War on Drugs

Matthew Page

Sheridan College

THE FAILURE OF DRUG PROHIBITION 2

Abstract

“The War on Drugs”, and idea so polarizing, it is no surprise that it carries the bloodied

title of “War.” Many different people have many different opinions about it, opinions across the

spectrum of thought, from believing that it was the best thing to have ever come from a

governing body, to the single greatest tragedy of modern human history. While the truth of the

matter lies at neither one extreme nor the other, it is quite apparent that this politically motivated

war is far worse for everyone than its perpetuators would have anticipated.

Keywords: war on drugs, drug addiction

THE FAILURE OF DRUG PROHIBITION 3

The Failure of Drug Prohibition or: How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate the War

on Drugs

Introduction

Though what is the war on drugs exactly? Simply put, the war on drugs is a collection of

government policies and initiatives from various nations around the world, prohibiting the

production, possession, and/or consumption of a wide variety of drugs that are deemed illicit.

According to Fulkerson & Mohammad (2011), Kursgesagt (2016), Wild (2013), and Wodak

(2014) this policy first came into full force when implemented by U.S. President Richard Nixon

in the early 1970’s. According to Wodak (2014) this policy has been punitive and it put a very

heavy emphasis on criminal action (para. 5). While it aught to have been a primarily domestic

policy for the U.S., the war on drugs was, through pressure from the U.S., adopted by many other

nations around the world; Australia (Wodak, 2014) and Pakistan (Fulkerson & Mohammad,

2011) to name a few.

How does the war on drugs work? “The core strategy of the war on drugs is ‘No Drugs =

No Problems.’” (Kursgesagt, 2016) This means that the primary course of action is to attempt to

reduce the supply of illicit drugs available to the consumer, thereby preventing the consumer

from being able to obtain the drugs they want. Also, policy dictates the arrest, prosecution, and

incarceration of both drug suppliers and drug users, thereby attempting to discourage both the

production and the consumption of illicit drugs.

Is the war on drugs really such a bad thing though? In this paper, it will be demonstrated

that yes, the war on drugs is, in fact, bad government policy. The war on drugs is ineffective at

fixing the problems it was intended to fix, it in fact, exacerbated these very same concerns, and

THE FAILURE OF DRUG PROHIBITION 4

worse still, it created a plethora of new problems that need to be dealt with as soon as possible

and would have originally had nothing to do with the problem of illicit drugs.

Section One: Problems not fixed

At its core, the war on drugs make absolutely no sense economically. The war uses all its

resources on reducing the supply of drugs available but doing so without also lowering the

demand for drugs will raise the price for drugs sharply. Now when this happens with other

products, the rise in price would reduce the demand as fewer people are willing to pay more

money for the same thing, but this is not the case for drugs. As Kurzgesagt (2016) and Powell

(2013) state, drugs are not “price sensitive,” most consumers of drugs would continue to

consume them regardless of how much it would cost them. (See appendix A-1)

Since drugs are more expensive with the war on them in full force, and consumers are

still purchasing drugs at nearly the same rate, drug production is significantly more lucrative then

it ever had been before the war. With the war in place, even when existing suppliers are arrested,

the potential for profit is so high that new producer will invariably come in to fulfill the lingering

demand and ultimately the supply to the consumer isn’t reduced at all. (Kurzgesagt, 2016)

(Powell, 2013) (Wild, 2013)

Section Two: Problems made worse

Obviously, one goal of the war on drugs is to reduce the harm drugs have on people. In

this regard, the war has failed spectacularly. As a direct consequence of the war, drugs are in fact

more potent, increasing the risk of overdosing, and more likely to contain harmful additives.

Like during the era of alcohol prohibition, drugs are more profitable in higher concentrations as

they would take up less space, making them easier to transport, and hide away from the

authorities. (Kurzgesagt, 2016) (Powell, 2013) Also since drug production is unregulated, and

THE FAILURE OF DRUG PROHIBITION 5

drug use illegal, consumers have no legal recourse when their providers cut the drugs with

potentially harmful fillers. Additionally, with the illegality of their habit, drug users are mostly

unable to “shop around” for dealers, thereby giving dealers no reason to adopt more consumer-

friendly practices. (such as providing safer drugs)

In another video by Kurzgesagt, (2015) the nature of addiction is discussed. To

summarise, humans need to bond with others and when circumstances prevent them from

creating healthy bonds, they will find something to bond with to satisfy this need, and drugs are

very popular for this. So, when we take existing addicts and incarcerate them, it becomes even

harder for these addicts to form healthier bonds, therefore pushing them even further into their

addiction. (Fulkerson & Mohammad, 2011) (Kurzgesagt, 2016)

Section Three: New problems created

The most disturbing aspect of the war on drugs is the fact that it creates new, serious

problems of its own. The more well known of these is the global increase in violent crime around

the world. Interestingly, violent crime is commonly thought to have always gone together with

the drug trade, but this is not the case. Before the drug war, producers would be able to use the

legal system to settle disputes among each other, but now that their business is illegal their only

viable tool for resolution is violence. Homicide rates in the US and many participating countries

around the world have climbed since their implementation of the war on drugs, and Mexico is

going through what basically constitutes a civil-war, with death tolls dwarfing those of other

warzones during the same period. (Fulkerson & Mohammad, 2011) (Kurzgesagt, 2016.

Timestamp: 3:47-4:00) (Wild, 2013) (Wodak, 2014)

Additionally, the war on drugs and other related government policies in the U.S., have

created the new problem of mass incarceration. With the U.S.’s hardline approach, many non-

THE FAILURE OF DRUG PROHIBITION 6

violent drug users are thrown in jail, and they linger in jail for far longer than would seem

reasonable due to government-dictated mandatory minimum sentencing. The extra long

sentences do little to deter drug-use or production, and their lives are effectively ruined; spending

years separated from society, and having many limitations placed on them even after they have

completed their sentences. (Green, 2014) (Kurzgesagt, 2016)

Conclusion

The War on Drugs was ill-conceived, misguided, and harmful to many people and

nations. It continues to be harmful; the problems it fails to fix, and the problems it creates, get

progressively worse as time goes on. This failure of government policy, which was designed to

fix a problem that hadn’t been very big at the time it had started, needs to be killed.

Notwithstanding enacting policies that work to “fix” the problem of drug addiction, such as harm

reduction, simply ending the war on drugs will, in the author’s opinion, have a monumentally

positive effect on the safety and stability of the world. After all, the war on drugs: fixes nothing,

makes everything worse, and creates even more problems, reversing this policy stands to be the

only logical course of action left.

THE FAILURE OF DRUG PROHIBITION 7

References

Green, J. (2014) Mass Incarceration in the US. www.youtube.com. Retrieved from

https://youtu.be/NaPBcUUqbew

Fulkerson, G., Mohammad, F. (2011) The Failure of the War on Drugs: A Comparative

Perspective. Pakistan Journal of Criminology. Retrieved from

http://go.galegroup.com.library.sheridanc.on.ca/ps/i.do?p=EAIM&u=ko_acd_shc&id=G

ALE|A310207514&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon&authCount=1

Kurzgesagt. (2015) Addiction. www.youtube.com. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/ao8L-0nSYzg

Kurzgesagt. (2016). Why The War on Drugs Is a Huge Failure. www.youtube.com.

Retrieved from https://youtu.be/wJUXLqNHCaI

Powell, B. (2013) The Economics Behind the U.S. Government's Unwinnable War on Drugs

Library of Economics and Liberty. Retrieved from

http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2013/Powelldrugs.html

Wild, J. (2013) Epic failure: the uncomfortable truth about the United States' role in the failure of

the global war on drugs and how it is going to fix it. Retrieved from

http://go.galegroup.com.library.sheridanc.on.ca/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=ko_acd_shc&id=G

ALE|A366863625&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon&authCount=1

Wodak, A. (2014) The Abject Failure of Drug Prohibition. Australian & New Zealand Journal of

Criminology. Retrieved from

http://journals.sagepub.com.library.sheridanc.on.ca/doi/full/10.1177/0004865814524424

THE FAILURE OF DRUG PROHIBITION 8

Appendix A-1

(Chart 1: Supply and Demand chart for drug market. Powell, B. 2013)

AnnotatedBibliographyonBrainsimulationaspartofArtificialIntelligenceEdited.docx

Running Head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1

2

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Annotated Bibliography

Kim Espina

Sheridan College

COMM19999 Essential Communication Skills

Rolla Bahsous

Annotated Bibliography on Brain simulation as part of an Artificial Intelligence project

Shapshak, P. (2018). Artificial Intelligence and brain. Bioinformation, 14(01), 038–041. https://doi.org/10.6026/97320630014038

‌This article by Shapshak (2018) presents information about a research on Artificial Intelligence and Brain Simulation. Based on the author view, Artificial Intelligence is going rapid development, introducing new solutions every day. The article points out the various elements of Artificial Intelligence, which includes multitudes of human made languages, systems, and methodologies that are implemented with computer technology. In addition, the article presents how biological integration with Artificial Intelligence is presenting various solutions human beings. Specific, integration with functions of brain neurons, is presenting new evolution to human era. Reviewing the credibility of the article, it is well grounded by other scholarly articles. In addition, the presented evidence closely relates to what other scholars present about the research.

The primary reason for selecting the article, it will help to form a good background research for the topic. The article presents how AI is fueled by the simulation and study on the functions of neurons. In addition, the article presents various significances of brain simulation as an AI. Also, the article relates to my research topic on brain simulation as part of Artificial Intelligence. I intend to use the article particularly to answer the research question of my research, “Is the brain simulation a useful model for Artificial Intelligence?”. For instance, the article identifies that brain simulation could help treating brain diseases. There are no biases identifiable in the article, which makes it more credible for use in my research. However, the conclusions presented does not summarize what the article was about.

Beckers, S. (2017, November). AAAI: an argument against artificial intelligence. In 3rd Conference on" Philosophy and Theory of Artificial Intelligence (pp. 235-247). Springer, Cham. https://sanderbeckers.github.io/website/sander/articles/AAAI-preprint.pdf

‌This peer reviewed article by Beckers (2017) presents various counter arguments about Artificial Intelligence. The article is about the ethical concerns, which relates to the successful implementation of the Artificial Intelligence. Based on the author’s view, there are various issues, which are requiring attention such as how AI is causing extreme human suffering. The article identifies that human are suffering since the wake of Artificial Intelligence. For instance, the use of AI is threatening the future of human beings, where it can become super intelligent compared to human beings. The article presents that Brain Simulation, as part of AI projects would result to creation of artificial intelligence with conscious, which can be a disaster to the human’s futures.

The reason for choosing this article, it presents counterarguments to my research topic. This article identifies how dangerous AI is to human being, particularly, on including brain simulation. For instance, the developed computers with conscious will now learn new things just like human beings and become more super intelligent far from human brain. Reviewing the credibility of the article, the author has supported his arguments with other peer-reviewed articles, which makes it more credible. In addition, the findings relates to other researches as well. I intend to use the article in my research topic to presents some counterarguments on the usefulness of brain simulation as part of Artificial intelligence. Also, the article will form a good background for the research. There are no identifiable biases in the article, which makes it more credible for use in my research.

Amunts, K., Knoll, A. C., Lippert, T., Pennartz, C. M., Ryvlin, P., Destexhe, A., ... & Bjaalie, J. G. (2019). The Human Brain Project—Synergy between neuroscience, computing, informatics, and brain-inspired technologies. PLoS biology, 17(7), e3000344.

This peer-reviewed article by Amunts et al. (2019) is about human brain projects. In specific, the article presents how Human Brain Project (HBP), has been useful to human being. Specific, the article identifies that the project has helped to transfer the acquired knowledge in health sector. HBP integrates the empirical neuroscience in the human’s brain, to Information Technology (IT), helping to develop new health interventions. One of these health interventions is developing technology, which can help in imaging the malformations of the patient’s brain, helping in surgery or seizure prediction. Reviewing the credibility of the article, it is well grounded by peer-reviewed articles. In addition, the article has images supporting the arguments presented by the author. In addition, the findings of the research relates to other scholarly findings, which makes it more credible.

The primary reason for selecting the article, it would be useful to form a strong background research for my topic. In addition, the article presents various significances of human simulation as part of Artificial Intelligence. I will use the article to support how brain simulation has been useful to human being. In addition, the article has important information, which will be useful to support discussions questions. For instance, there are various models of brain simulation in the article. There are no identifiable biases in the article, which makes it more credible to use. For instance, the findings of the study are valid. In addition, the conclusions presents the summary of the research. In overall, the article is credible, two years old and has significant information, which will be useful in the research.

Wu, Y. (2019, November). Research on the Development of Integration of Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 384, No. 1, p. 012007). IOP Publishing.

This peer article by Yue Wu (2019) presents a research on artificial intelligence, and how it integration with neuroscience. The article presents the history of Artificial Intelligence and how it have developed over the years. The presents that the recent development of Artificial intelligence involves development of the Cognitive Science and Neuroscience, which aims in developing the machines to be able to realize various human cognitive abilities, improving their intelligence levels and cognitive behaviours. The article identifies that there is potential use of brain-like intelligence, where it applications could have far-reaching impacts to human beings. Reviewing the credibility of the article, it has strong background from other scholarly articles. Also, the findings are closely linked to other researches, which makes it more credible.

The primary reason for selecting this article, it is closely related to my research questions. In addition, it presents the historic development of the Artificial Intelligence, including it’s recent development on brain simulation. This will help to write a good introduction about Artificial Intelligence, including how it have been used for the past few years and its future projections. In addition, it will provide a good source for answering and supporting discussions in my research. There are no identifiable biases in the article. All the research findings are valid as they relate to other scholarly works. In addition, the author presents original work, which is not available in other scholars work. In other words, the article is not plagiarized from other scholarly work, which makes it a credible source to use in the research.

Perez, J. A., Deligianni, F., Ravi, D., & Yang, G. Z. (2018). Artificial intelligence and robotics. arXiv preprint arXiv:1803.10813, 1.

This article presents a research on artificial intelligence and robotics. This article was written by four authors, Dr. Javier, Dr Fani, Dr. Daniele, and Prof. Dr. Guang-Zhong. This article provides the origin of AI, and how it has evolved for the last 60 years. Some of the evolution of AI identified in the article include the rise of deep learning, computer vision, and machine learning. As identified in the article, AI has undergone various seasons, which has brought fears on its impact to the society. The article identifies that there are legal and ethical challenges related to Artificial Intelligence, which particularly affects its progress. Some of these challenges include wrongful use of AI, civil rights, legal responsibility, jobs, and privacy. However, the authors presents that AI has it importances, which could have adverse significance to peoples’ lives and economy.

The major reason for selecting this article, it has some counterarguments relating to the research topic. The authors’ presents that Artificial Intelligence has resulted to various problems such as job loss, and could have potential negative impacts in future. This applies that the current development of integrating AI with brain simulation could make the machines more intelligent. I will use the article to provide a good background for the research, including the negative impacts of AI on the society. Reviewing some of the credibility of the article, it well supported with peer reviewed articles, which makes it more credible source for the research. There are no identifiable biases in the article. In addition, the article is very current, which makes it more important for the research.