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More handpicked essays just for you.
Social impacts of drug abuse
History of drug prohibition in the US
Sociological effects of drug addiction
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This is a summary taken from “Saying Yes” by Jacob Sullum; Chapter 8; “Body and Soul”. An ever-present theme in Sullum’s book is what he calls “voodoo pharmacology”—the idea, promoted in large part by the government, that certain drugs have the power to hijack people and enslave them in an inescapable prison of craving and compulsion. Sullum seeks to show that this idea is a myth, that only a tiny percentage of illegal-drug users become addicts, whereas the vast majority of people who use illegal drugs live normal, productive, loving lives. The book is filled with valuable insights derived from deconstructing government statistics about drugs and drug use. Sullum shows how even the most vilified drugs, such as heroin and crack cocaine, are
Provocative and eye-opening, The Stickup Kids urges us to explore the ravages of the drug trade through weaving history, biography, social structure, and drug market forces. It offers a revelatory explanation for drug market violence by masterfully uncovering the hidden social forces that produce violent and self-destructive individuals. Part memoir, part penetrating analysis, this book is engaging, personal, deeply informed, and entirely
Many people view drug users as bad or broken people and believe that killing them is the best choice for their country. Furthermore, people feel safer in their country when drug users are murdered because of the stigmas associated with it. The effect of these stereotypes is seen when Tito Danilo explains how drug users are viewed by the public: “‘He was paid’ Tito Danilo says, ‘For making the city ‘safer’. In most people’s eyes, Jun’s death meant one less drug pusher on the streets’” (283). This shows how drug users are viewed as dangerous making it okay to kill them to make the country safer when most people who get murdered are only suspected of using drugs.
When looking at a scholarly journal or other form of report pertaining to controlled substances, the theme is usually pretty clear; “drugs are bad, people that do drugs are bad, and it’s only getting worse.” Moore challenges this theme by breaking the mold in his article, “The Other Opioid Crisis” by implementing several rhetorical devices to add a more human aspect to the not so black-and-white issue. (Summary goes here) The article starts out with the story of a woman named Lauren Deluca.
The House I Live In, is a documentary that visually represents how the War on Drugs affected drug dealers, parents of those who took drugs, enforcers of the drug laws, prisoners convicted of drug violence or drug dealing, poor neighborhoods, and historical recordings about the war. All of these were captured through clips of interviews by those imprisoned due to drugs, experts from academic institutes, and police personnel. Moreover, it is a discursive narrative, since the film exhibits conversation of past and current results of the War on Drugs. Additionally, it has been a ‘hot button’ topic actively discussed by victims and authoritative enforcers of the war, outlining how ineffective it has
Annotated Bibliography Boone, R., Jaffe, J. (2001). Reforming United States drug control policy: three suggestions. Social research 415-426. Retrieved from ProQuest data This article review is about the different drugs used that was going on in America. Musicians and minorities were the popular users of cocaine because this was the drug which was mostly used.
Gabriel Sayegh starts his Ted talk by claiming that 20 years ago he was a meth user and abuser. He used methamphetamine as a high schooler, struggled to stayed in school, got into many fights, and barely graduated high school. He ended up abusing meth because he was feeling emotional pain and eventually his tolerance went up from using higher doses. Eventually, he realized that his life has no value to it and that he was no longer getting high off meth since his tolerance was so high. He decided to stop doing meth and go to community college far away, which helped him get away from the drug induced environment he was in.
There are political tools concerned with issues of race and immigration and their methods of dealing with historical pressures and patterns, and they are altered to respond to specific social and political contexts, each of these is engaging aspects and processes. Alexander's reading sheds light on the reasons behind the variance in how drug use problem sufferers are portrayed. Emphasizing how race affects how policies are created and how behavior is criminalized. According to Alexander's reading, the racial group affected by addiction to drugs started
In An Open Letter To Bill Bennett, Friedman is pleading with Bennett to rethink the system of the War on Drugs and consider how effective it has truly been when observing the persistent drug issue not only in America but also how the illegality of drugs has influenced the devastation of other countries within the drug supply. In this letter, Friedman agrees with Bennett on the importance of drug regulation and understands the moral, health, and safety dilemmas that drug use places on society. However, Friedman believes that the way that America is addressing the drug problem is not the correct method and is instead a large source of the increasing drug issue in America. In the letter, Friedman discusses the demand for drugs having to operate through restricted and illegal channels only causes more harm through violent crime, increased arrests and incarceration rates for non-violent drug users, and takes the efforts and focus of law enforcement away from other serious crimes. Further, Friedman pleads with Bennett to address the issues plaguing the prohibition of drugs by appealing to the restrictions of human liberty and individual freedom that are supposed to be guaranteed and offers a solution that focuses on rehabilitation instead of punishment of drug users.
In the world of illegal drug markets, similar to the world of legitimized businesses, attaining credibility amongst competitors while also gaining profits through territorial and market expansion are the key strategies to a successful business. However, one of the striking differences between the legal and illegal markets seem to be the overwhelming correlation between drugs, crime and violence (Beckett, 2018). As explained in the third chapter of Phillipe Bourgois’ “In Search of Respect” through the ethnographic lens in inner city America, this complex relationship is explained mostly by the illegitimate nature of drug markets that seem to use violence as a necessity to advance businesses as well as to guard financial and personal security
The Eerie Truth About the War on Drugs Introduction When considering drugs, and the effects they have on the world, people's minds immediately jump directly to cracking addicts on the streets that are begging for a few dollars. What are they going to do with this money? They will probably choose to use the money to fund their next fix instead of buying themselves food when they are clearly starving. How could someone who has the potential to live a prosperous life and be a contributing part of society be in a state like this, where they would rather get high than eat a meal? This is the reality of a multitude of drug addicts' lives.
The war on drugs not only created powerful criminal organizations headed by criminals like Escobar and El Chapo but leads to the torture of millions of innocent people by the Mexican government. It encouraged the bloody and brutal clashes by rival gangs not only in Central and South American countries but also here in the United Sates. Between 2008 and 2014 alone, Congress has appropriated $2.4 billion dollars to fight the Mexican cartels which have led to the death of thousands of people (Gordon, 2014). If drugs were decriminalized not only will the violence decrease substantially but the government could control and regulate the market and sales and make the dispensation of drugs safer. The effect of outlawing drugs and waging a war against it also encouraged the mass hysteria that led to the mass incarceration of young people especially of youth belonging to a particular socioeconomic status and ethnic minority.
In Drugging the Poor: Legal and Illegal Drugs and Social Inequality, the author, Merrill Singer hypothesizes that drugs, both legal and illegal, are responsible for widening the gap between the wealthy and the poor in society. From the perspective referred to as Critical Medical Anthropology (CMA), Singer attempts to bridge the relationship between political-economic factors and social inequalities with the distribution and use of all drug-like substances. CMA is the "theoretical perspective in medical anthropology which stresses the importance of political and economic structures, especially global capitalism, on the health of human populations (also known as the political economy of health)" (Joralemon 2010, Glossary). Singer uses CMA to equate the black-market with legal drug corporations, examine “drug capitalism”, and uncover their correlation to the drugging of the poor (Singer 2008, viii).
Many poor individuals in inner-city neighborhoods are often forced into the business. To truly understand what it means to be a drug offender forced into the business because of economic reasons, I turned to the documentary, “The House I Live In.” Cruz from the documentary, began selling drugs to support his parents, and when he started to become successful at it, he became addicted to the drugs. Cruz was a student before his parents ran into financial struggles. An innocent young adult that loved to play soccer, is now serving a 30 year sentence because he needed to help his parents pay their
The video depicting the course of heroin addiction/use in the United States begins by introducing the audience to the late 1960’s in which consisted of a “wave of violence and drug users” (Vox). Strict penalties resulted in the beginning of the “war” on heroin. Despite the spending of 100 billions of dollars over a course of 40 years, efforts seemed to have made little difference in the amount of heroin users. Rockefeller, a resident of the city ranked as one of the highest heroin addiction rates in the ‘70’s, instilled harsh drug laws which influenced other individuals such as John Dunn who sponsored a new law demanding mandatory prison sentences up to life for heroin abusers and sellers in the possession of more than 1 oz. of the drug. Instead