Hierarchy Of Drugs Essay

My three questions I asked at the beginning of the term were: (1) How did the hierarchy of drugs come into effect? (2) why is there such a harsh stigma with drug use? And (3) Why does the media alter the effects of drugs and make some seem “better” than others? I was curious about the first question how did the hierarchy of drugs come into effect because I have always wondered curious as to why crack-cocaine has stiffer penalties than cocaine when they are fundamentally the same drug. In class we had a presentation on drug regulation and this helped clarify some of the reasoning behind how we regulate drug use, although it still seems a little backwards. From the class presentations I learned about the two types of drug laws such as the “safety” and “criminal” component. As well I went on to

In regards to my second question about why is there a harsh stigma with drug use was a little hard to find the answers to because it is a very subjective question. On one hand you have people who feel all drugs should be legal and the other side all drugs are inherently evil so we should not allow this. Again, coming to class helped illustrate some of the reasons why drugs can get such a negative reputation, for instance the PowerPoint presentation on the framework of drugs really helped illustrate that drugs are inherently bad and it’s the way the drugs are used cause the issues. Also, going on to some websites to find different perspectives such as the Eurowid.org website put more of an emphasis on educating about drugs and speaking about the relationships between people and drugs. My third question, why does the media alter the effects of drugs and make some seem better than others didn’t fully get answered. Since, we didn’t have a specific presentation on the media and drugs in class and there wasn’t a chapter on it on the book this was harder to