War on Drugs - 818 Words

Harsh, cruel, and unusual is an understatement to the punishments given to drug dealers for their drug related offenses. Mandatory minimum drug sentencing was arguably established to target higher level drug dealers but recently the majority of cases have been low level drug dealers. Distributing narcotics is a serious offense, but do these people who are trying to support themselves, a family, or an addiction deserve to spend close to a lifetime incarcerated? During the 1960’s drugs became a symbol of â€Å"youthful rebellion, social upheaval, and political dissent†, the government quickly stepped into action and by June 1971, President Nixon declared a â€Å"war on drugs†. The size and presence of federal drug control agencies and drastic measures such as mandatory sentencing and no-knock warrants. Marijuana was placed under the most restrictive category of drugs and the war on drugs was underway (A Brief History of the Drug War, Bureau of Justice Statistics). As soon as these new laws were enacted in the 70’s, people quickly realized the harshness of the punishments and people started pushing the government to decriminalize marijuana. Around the time Jimmy Carter was elected and inaugurated, a campaign platform that included marijuana decriminalization was enacted. By October 1977, the Senate voted to decriminalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use but as marijuana became more prevalent in school and teens started using the drug, marijuana became caughtShow MoreRelatedThe War On Drugs And Drugs Essay972 Words   |  4 PagesThe war on drugs have been a critical issue that has repeatedly held a great debate topic. It was in the 1906 when the first act against drug was put into effect with the Pure Food and Drug Act which required all over-the-counter medication to have label of its ingredients. Under President Nixon the first executive branch office to coordinate drug policy was formed and the Comprehensiv e Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act was put into place. Two years following that the Drug Enforcement AgencyRead MoreThe American War On Drugs1598 Words   |  7 Pages The American â€Å"War on Drugs† war created to keep an exorbitant amount of people behind bars, and in a subservient status. First, America has a storied history when it comes to marijuana use. However, within the last 50 years legislation pertaining to drug use and punishment has increased significantly. In the modern era, especially hard times have hit minority communities thanks to these drug laws. While being unfairly targeted by drug laws and law enforcement, minorities in America are havingRead More War on Drugs is War on Democracy Essay1286 Words   |  6 Pagestreating marijuana offenders worse than violent criminals. I doubt, however, that many Americans are truly conscious of how some peoples lives have been shattered because of current practices in the so-called drug war. Now, about 1 5 years since its beginning, the war on drugs has become a war on personal freedom and toes the line of authoritarianism. On the brink of the 21st century, this is not a good sign for preserving our future, nor that of democracy. In 1989, a small business owner andRead MoreThe War On Drug War2268 Words   |  10 Pagespresident nixon, Declared Drug abuse public enemy number one, starting an unprecedented global Campaign, the war on drug. Today the number are in the war on drug is a huge failure with devastated unintended consequences, it lead to mass incarceration in the us, to corruption, to political destabilization, and violence in latin america, asia, and africa. To systemic human right abuse across the world.†-Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell The drug war is an all out war between drug cartels, and the governmentsRead MoreThe War On Drug War2282 Words   |  10 Pagespresident nixon, Declared Drug abuse public enemy number one, starting an unprecedented global Campaign, the war on drug. Today the number are in the war on drug is a huge failure with devastated unintended consequences, it lead to mass incarceration in the us, to corruption, to political destabilization, and violence in latin america, asia, and africa. To systemic human right abuse across the world.†-Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell The drug war is an all out war between drug cartels the usa and mexicoRead MoreDrug War2482 Words   |  10 PagesPeriod 8 Drug Policy: A Look at America’s Ineffective Approach to Drugs Introduction In January 2004, senatorial candidate Barack Obama firmly opposed the twenty two-year war on drugs, saying that the United States’ approach in the drug war has been ineffective (Debussman).   Although the term, â€Å"war on drugs,† was originally coined by President Richard Nixon in 1971, it wasn’t until Ronald Reagan announced that â€Å"drugs were menacing society†Read MoreThe War On Drugs And The United States1506 Words   |  7 Pages When, in 1971, Richard Nixon infamously declared a â€Å"war on drugs† it would have been nearly impossible for him to predict the collective sense of disapprobation which would come to accompany the now ubiquitous term. It would have been difficult for him to predict that the drug war would become a hot topic, a highly contentious and polarizing point of debate and, it would have difficult for him to predict that the United States would eventually become the prison capital of the world, incarceratingRead MoreDrugs And Politics : The War On Drugs Essay2157 Words   |  9 PagesDrugs and Politics The war on drugs has been a great tool to keep the force of U.S drug policies’ in Latin America because the prohibition makes the most successful and profitable failure to transnational corporations. Over the course 100 years of repression history of narcotics, it has become apparent that zero tolerance policies have brought nothing than harm to the working class on a Global scale, especially Mexico. The attempt to eradicate trafficking in narcotics in many of the Latin AmericanRead MoreThe War On Drugs And The United States1555 Words   |  7 PagesThe War on Drugs has been an ongoing effect ever since the Civil War introduced the drug morphine to the world. In the years since people have been coming up with drugs more lethal than morphine such as cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and so on and so forth. The War on Drugs is dangerous and leads to many deaths throughout the years. America has set up agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and other drug task forc e teams throughout the United States. Even though we may not be ableRead More War on Drugs Essay examples1932 Words   |  8 Pageshorror stories about drugs like crack-cocaine. From them, and probably from no other source, we learn that crack is immediately addictive in every case, we learn that it causes corruption, crazed violence, and almost always leads to death. The government tells us that we are busy fighting a war on drugs and so it gives us various iconic models to despise and detest : we learn to stereotype inner-city minorities as being of drug-infested wastelands and we learn to witchhunt drug users within our own