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Pros And Cons Of Decriminalizing Drugs

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On average, eight people succumbed to heroin every day last year in central Ohio (Johnson). That’s almost three-thousand people every year in Ohio alone. With the number of drug overdoses and deaths exponentially rising, is now the time to relax drug laws? This is the thought of many critical thinkers who believe that law enforcement and legal implications are not enough, but the founding efforts to combat drug abuse are still standing and prove to be preeminent compared to actively decriminalizing all class one drugs. Though decriminalizing drugs is a hot topic, it is not a rational move considering the United State’s current political structure, healthcare system, and legal system. Decriminalizing Drugs would put strain on the construction …show more content…

The United States Government has passed multiple laws and regulations to prevent drug abuse. The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was created in 1906 to ensure the citizens’ safety and provide accurate information for consumers. Along with creating an entire independent regulatory agency, Congress also passed the Pure Food and Drug Act on the same day. The Pure Food and Drug Act set strict requirements on how contents can be listed and how the medications could be manufactured. This act was much needed. After all, how could the American government let their citizens down more than by allowing them to purchase substances that have not been regulated for appropriate safety and quality standards? Though this act did not specifically outlaw narcotics, it did start a domino effect for states to create antidrug laws of their own. An example of states creating their own anti-drug laws would be the Poison Acts of 1913 in California. California was the first of many states to ban marijuana and opiates (Dale H. Gieringer). These acts effectively branched multiple domains of the public’s

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Four major drug control laws enacted by federal government since 1900 are listed as follows: 1906 Pure food and Drug Act – Consequently,” the new law did not possibly harmful drugs in patented medicines from being sold” (Levinthal,2012). Nevertheless, it only required that manufacturers classify specific drugs that might be delimited in these untested medicines. The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914: Nevertheless, “at first everyone was required to- importing, manufacturing, selling or dispensing cocaine or opiate drugs to register with the treasury department” (Levinthal,2012). However, they must pay a special tax and keep records. Theoretically, the Harrison Act did not make opiates and cocaine illegal.

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Randy E. Bartnett claims that “drug laws cause more harm to addicts and society than drugs themselves.” According to Bartnett, “Drug prohibition makes drugs so expensive, the addicts trying to crime in order to obtain money to buy them. Furthermore, drug prohibition is unfair in that it punishes users for committing a “crime” that has no victim.” Some people might agree with the idea that legalizing drugs would benefit addicts because then they would not be able to obtain drugs so easily.

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Upon reading Gore Vidals "Case for Legalizing Marijuana" one may wonder why drugs are not legal in the United States of America. Afterall, several valid reasonings were made throughout the article. There is a demand for drugs and many people are supplying them, while also making a small fortune. If drugs were made legal and sold for high prices, their market would decrease because many people would not be able to afford them. Most people involved in the drug world do not know the consequences of that which they consume.

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The 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act prevented the manufacture, sale, or transportation of misbranded or poisonous foods, drugs, medicines and liquors, and regulated the trafficking of such items. This act was ruled by the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress, and is regulated today by the U.S. Foods and Drugs Administration today. This act was very successful in improving public health, for according to the Social Security bureau of the United States, now manufactured new drugs have to be inspected and certified by appropriate personnel. This allowed for the revision of many drugs and foods, and got rid of many drugs that used strange and unusual ingredients. This included the banning of cocaine cough drops and soothing syrups that contained

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209 Words | 1 Pages

In 1970, Congress enacted the Controlled Substances Act in an effort to categorize regulated drugs based on their potential for abuse. This act divided their potential into five categories or technically five schedules. Some examples from each category would be: Schedule 1: heroin or LSD Schedule 2: morphine or opium Schedule 3: butabarbital or anabolic steroids Schedule 4: chloral hydrate or diazepam Schedule 5: low-strength codeine combined with other drugs to form a cough suppressant I believe they created this act to try to prevent drug abuse. This act helps prevent drug abuse by categorizing the drugs from the highest potential of addiction to the lowest potential of addiction. The higher ones have many regulations and laws that way

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Furthermore, several acts were enacted to regulate the use of specific drugs as well as the federal prohibition of alcohol. But in 1933, Prohibition ended, making it legal to consume alcohol again. In the 1970’s, drugs were categorized based on their “potential for abuse” (Levinthal, 2016). Unfortunately, many of the illicit drugs are manufactured outside of the United States.

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The war on drugs and decriminalization of drugs Drugs consumption has been a part of different cultures in all ages of past history. Drugs have been used for healthcare reasons, religious rituals by shaman and recreational use in past and present times. Drugs have been used in the United States as early as the civil war to help alleviate pain of wounded soldiers through the use of opium’s component morphine. Many of the soldiers that would return from the civil war would be dependent on morphine, and dependence on morphine amongst soldiers would be referred to as the soldier’s disease. In the early to mid 1800’s migrant Chinese workers that were brought to America in order to work on the railroads would smoke opium recreationally.

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The Food and Drug Administration founded in 1848 by the work of Lewis Caleb Beck, the FDA has grown in stature and responsibility to take charge of research, development, and regulation of food and drugs. Men, like Harvey Wiley, helped to oversee the administration of effective consumer protection policies, which led to the enacting of the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was the first legislation in the country that sought to regulate pharmaceuticals and food products by requiring truth-in-labeling on products, creating inspectors of the drug and food manufacturing process, and creating a list of 10 dangerous drugs that had to be labeled at all times. It ultimately came about during the

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As a proposal to change the law around the 1900s for the food industry, President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 signed the Progressive Era Legislation to make a change for the protection of consumers. The Pure Food and Drug Act was passed in 1906 because of an advocate Harvey Washington efforts to acknowledge the unsanitary hygiene in the meat industry in the book, The Jungle published by Upton Sinclair describing the gruesome condition he encountered. By examining the progress Sinclair gave about the harsh condition he enlightened the public eye on diseases,rotten and contaminated meat leading to the creation of new federal food safety laws. Overall, the purpose of The Pure Food and Drug Act (FDA) has an important impact on the history of America

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Many different types of drugs have been around for hundreds of years and they each have had a roller coaster of popularity and use in America. With decades of research about drugs and their influence we have been able to develop a better understanding and knowledge of them. With the growing popularity of drugs it goes without saying that sooner or later the public will get their hands on them, luckily the popularity of particular drugs have been documented over time. For example, amphetamines grew in popularity in the 1920’s because of its use in the medicinal community.

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In 2016, drug overdoses killed around 60,000 people, which is more deaths than during the Vietnam War. Drugs have had a tremendous impact on America for quite some time (Shannon 5). The United States has, and still is, battling with the narcotic world everyday. In looking at the history of the war on drugs in the United States, it is important to look at the prohibition era, the war during 1970 through late 1990, and the war that is going on today. The prohibition era began in 1920 with the 18th Amendment, which prohibited transporting or consuming any alcoholic beverages in the United States.

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The legalization of drugs has been at the center of interminable debate. Drugs have widely been perceived as a dominant threat to the moral fabric of society. Drug use has been attributed as the source responsible for a myriad of key issues. For instance, it is believed that drugs have exacerbated the already weak status of mental health in the United States in which some individuals suffering from mental illness administer illicit substances such as heroin or cocaine in an attempt to self-medicate. Moreover, drugs are blamed for turning auspicious members of the community into worthless degenerates.

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If this issue remains ignored by the majority of the population in the United States, the drugs will continue to negatively affect the lives of millions, the population, and the well-being of the country as a

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The Food and Drug Administration is the oldest consumer protection agency in the United States Government. Founded in 1848 to analyze the chemicals in agricultural products. The Pure Food and Drugs act passed in 1906 which "prohibited interstate commerce in adulterated and misbranded food and drugs. " The FDA 's main responsibility became enforcing the Pure Food and Drugs act.

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1277 Words | 6 Pages

1 “In society we face a number of problems. We face many different problems from ocean to ocean, but the problem that causes the most problems these days are drugs. With drugs come many different problems. Drugs cause bad decision making, committing crime, and gets people very addicted to bad habits.” Three Illegal Drugs And Their Effects

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