Not only did Ronald Reagan misuse funds, he passed new, strict drug laws that caused the arrest rates to jump tremendously. Reagan’s quest for a drug free America included shifting power, increasing prison sentences, and creating new drug related laws. For instance, well known reporter Tony Newman, writer of Nancy Reagan’s Role in the Disastrous War on Drugs wrote that when Reagan became president he shifted all the drug control resources from health agencies to the Department of Justice. Under his guidance in 1986 the worst of the federal mandatory minimum drug laws were passed into law.. These laws included the crack sentencing guidelines that meant that someone possessing just 5 grams (two sugar packets) worth of crack received an automatic 5 years in prison.…
It was the era of the hippies, the “love and peace”, and many people began consuming marijuana, LSD, Heroin and Coke for recreational purposes.. In 1979, one in 10 Americans used illegal drugs on a regular basis. It was a symbol of youth rebellion and social upheaval. In 1968, Richard Nixon called drug abuse “Public enemy number one”.…
Should We Decriminalize Cannabis? For every action there is a reaction, the decision to legitimize or repudiate the use of cannabis goes beyond ethical opinion. When weighing the data provided, could the use of cannabis become more detrimental or become an aiding factor into society? Just like everything else that had its time in prohibition, could there be more uses of cannabis than thought to be? Might it be possible to provide and instruct the use to the masses in order to ensure safety throughout the environment?…
This paper will compare prohibition to today’s war on drugs. In both cases propaganda and special interest groups played a major role in the federal government passing laws prohibiting certain substances. These will be compared with information that provides the background, reasons, and outcomes for both. The final policy created will address today's drug problems and most specifically those dealing with marijuana.…
Lloyd Bitzer states that the rhetorical situation is a context that addresses an issue through exigence, audience and constraints (Bitzer 8). Exigence is best defined as being a change that a certain organization or individuals wants made. The audience are the individuals who can make the change happen. Finally, the constraints have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence (Bitzer 8). Counseling and Substance Abuse Services, or CASAS, reported that over seventy percent of College of Charleston students are not current marijuana users.…
Under the controlled substance act (CSA), drugs are listed under schedules that are based off how likely a person is the abuse the drug and if a person will become physically or psychologically dependent on this drug. As the schedule number increases the abuse rate and dependency on this drug decreases. Some examples of schedule 1 drugs are heroin, LSD, ecstasy, methaqualone which are known as Quaaludes, peyote which is a cactus that is a hallucinogen, and marijuana. Yes, you read that correctly, weed is in the same category as heroin and some cactus that makes you trip. According to the DEA website, “Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”…
The federal and state governments began to regulate and prohibit certain forms of drug use in the early 1900s. The nonmedical use of opiates (mostly morphine and heroin) and cocaine was prohibited in 1914 at the federal level, and by the 1930s marijuana use was prohibited as well. (Nicholas & Churchill 2012) In 1951, the U.S. Congress established harsh mandatory minimum sentences for distribution and possession of marijuana and heroin in the Boggs Act, which mandated 2 to 5-year prison terms for first time drug offenders. This presupposed that cannabis and heroin were equivalent in the harms done by each to the consumer, an idea that has since been all but discredited.…
Christina Younis Professor Ryan Siemers ENGL 1301 December 2, 2015 The Blunt Truth Long before the United States was even an idea, many cultures such as the ancient Chinese used a plant called Marijuana for various medical reasons. Till this day, many doctors still use it in modern medicine. In the 1930's however, the Tobacco Association funded a movie called “Reefer Madness” which successfully caused many people to believe that marijuana will eventually cause death and serious dangerous behavior based on no medical evidence. Although marijuana does not cause an addiction, the plant has been classified as a schedule I substance which not only means it is considered to be a…
Legalizing Medical Marijuana Many say that medical marijuana is a negative substance, but medical marijuana has been proven to be very beneficial in the medical field. It helps with pain, healing, and tends to have better outcomes better than other treatments. Take three year old Landon Riddle as an example; he is a focus of medical marijuana. Landon has acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL, a cancer affecting the blood and bone marrow. It's the most common cancer in children.…
The reclassification of marijuana to a schedule II drug, with medical use on a federal scale, has erupted into one of the most debated topics on a political and social level over the past few years. Marijuana, at the moment, is a schedule I drug, which means it has a high risk for abuse and no medical value. A schedule II drug has medical value, but it is still a high risk for abuse in our society, so it should be seen as a medicine in the social lens. Being a schedule I drug though, people do not see it in the same way, as it should, only because of the stigma that surrounds it.…
Medical Marijuana and the Principles of Autonomy The right to determine what shall be done with one’s body is a fundamental right in our society. It is the patient’s rights to decide whether what medical treatment they receive. I argue that based on the principles of autonomy that it is someone’s freedom and right to do what they please with their body. I argue that medical marijuana should be legal if we all have personal autonomy.…
37,000 deaths a year. One might ask, “Deaths from what?”, and almost immediately assume that some kind of illegal drug was involved. Cannabis, more commonly known as marijuana, is an illegal drug that some may say causes harm, but it is not responsible for these deaths. In fact, alcohol is the cause of that large death rate, and that number does not even include alcohol related accidents. The CDC (U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention) has never had the need to create a category for marijuana related deaths, nor will it ever (Journal of Addictive Behaviors).…
It wasn’t until 1952 that Congress passed the Boggs Act, lumping marijuana with narcotic drugs and sharing the legal consequences…
In 1930 the department of of narcotics dangerous drugs said that marijuana is a powerful and addicting drugs that will lead user into other drugs. With the lack of research that marijuana “Until its prohibition in 1937, extract of Cannabis sativa (marijuana) was one of the top three most prescribed medicines in the US. When it became illegal, its use as a medicine became restricted. Despite these regulations, research on the medical use of marijuana continued" (Cannabis in the Clinic). In 1970 congress classified marijuana as a schedule one drug, meaning that there is no use for marijuana.…
Over the years, the idea about legalizing drugs has always been a discussion. Although we use the general term, there was no specific type of “drug” mentioned in these arguments. It is obvious that some are more harmful than others, but overall, each drug could be as addicting than any other. There are many different drugs that have different effects. In my opinion, man-made stimulant drugs seem to cause more harm to their users more than “natural” drugs such as cannabis.…