...Ultimately, the federal prohibition on alcohol throughout the 1920s served as a prime opportunity for the already established crime networks to expand their role in American culture and generate profits far beyond their best days in the gambling and prostitution businesses. Organized crime was structured on the local levels and did not have the systems of nationwide communication and dominance that grew to become commonplace following Prohibition. In essence, Prohibition was directly responsible for the organized crime of the 1920s but was in no way the cause of organized crime in the United States. Illegal trafficking remains a huge issue in the United States today although the demand for alcohol has since been replaced by a desire for foreign drugs. The intense violence between competing mobsters during the Prohibition Era has been transformed into vicious territory disputes between drug gangs across the country. Once again the federal government is unsure of how to solve the trafficking problem just as they found...
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...VANESSA We all know what alcohol is: the stuff that people of all ages love and savor. The refreshing ice cold beer that empowers us after a long day at work and the Hennessy that we all go to the party for. But plot twist: in 1919, the infamous 18th Amendment stole our liquor. The manufacturing, selling, importing, and exporting of the so called “toxic” liquors was banned. SHAJNEEN This ban, known as prohibition, is a result of men over drinking and overspending, causing trouble for their wives. Prohibition does stop some husbands from going home drunk every day but the money they wasted on alcohol continues to be wasted. You would expect their new savings to be spent on clothes and babies, but instead, it is largely wasted in speakeasies,...
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...Al Capone Against Prohibition Prohibition was the banning or illegality of alcohol in Canada and the U.S.A in the 1920s. During this time alcohol was still being sold by bootleggers. The founder of the Chicago Outfit Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone also known as Scareface was one of the biggest alcohol smugglers in the world. Al Capone was not a big fan of prohibition he said “I am like any other man. All I do is supply a demand”. Al Capone says that there always going to be a demand for everything and he just wants to fill the needs of some people. He also believed that prohibition was making things worst rather than better, “Prohibition has made nothing but trouble”. I think Al Capone felt this way about prohibition because he saw prohibition...
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...Removing this would create a hole in the way people can live vicariously through imagination to committing immoral acts in their real lives. While outlets for our sexual adventures such as strip joints and the internet are easily accessible, I do not believe this to encourage an individual who does not already possess a desire to commit a sexual crime to act out these fantasies. The government ought not to impose undue prohibitions on the production of and participation in pornography I firmly believe that it is not the governments place to impose prohibitions on activities that do not constitute a harm to those who are participating or those who may encounter such activities. As it relates to pornography, the question becomes a matter of expression where an individual must be granted the authority to, whether through direct or indirect participation in the act of producing or consuming pornography, decide whether such acts are consistent with their own understandings of morality. Moreover, I firmly believe that if people do not want to view pornography then they have that choice. It is not like pornography, in many cases, is not thrown directly into the faces of those who oppose. An active attempt must be made in order to...
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...Frentheway Professor Largey English 2010 2 February 2016 Marijuana’s prohibition We can’t live in a society that is free and drug-free. Seventy-seven years ago marijuana became illegal in the United States. There are two very distinct views looking at marijuana. One side is totally for it and sees it as an amazing plant that can heal countless medical problems, help with mental well-being, makes cells more active, and even more. But the other side is totally against it and sees it as the devil’s creation. Destroying lives. Making people dumb. Killing people. This side usually doesn’t have much knowledge about the drug, so they are ignorant to the facts. They rely on what the media tells them, what their old teachers and mentors told...
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...state legislatures. However, possession and use of marijuana is still viewed by many as comparable to consuming an alcoholic beverage. Regardless, it (marijuana) is still classified as a Schedule I Controlled Substance by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Introduction After prohibition of alcohol was rescinded by the Twenty First Amendment, years later the focus from the United States government shifted to prohibition of drugs. But there have always been varying ulterior motives. According to Baylor University Professor of Sociology, Dr. Diana Kendall, the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed solely to criminalize marijuana by taxing it; this would dissuade migrant Mexican workers who smoked marijuana to seek employment elsewhere and not take jobs from U.S. citizens as the country struggled during the Great Depression (Kendall, 2010). Last year, voters in Colorado and Washington State approved legislation that supported the commercial growth, sale, possession and use of recreational marijuana. In response, United States Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, promulgated policy that established the posture for enforcing marijuana laws against people or organizations to that: Distribution of marijuana to minors; revenue from the sale of marijuana from going to criminal enterprises, gangs and cartels; the diversion of marijuana from states where it is legal under state law in some...
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...Task Research and analyse debates on the current 'war against drugs' and its success or otherwise, globally and/or locally. Explain the debate and present an argument, supported by evidence, for either the continuation of a 'war against drugs' or for an alternative. Introduction The use of prohibited drugs has been predominant in Western society since the 19th century, with cannabis introduced to the United States in 1839, while opium was introduced to Europe and the United States through trade with China. These drugs were initially used for pharmaceutical benefits, but over time various legislatures introduced laws to administer, regulate and prohibit the use of various drugs. The declaration of ‘war on drugs’ took place in the United States of America (USA) in 1971. The historical response to the ‘war on drugs’ has been prohibition: the complete banning of drug use. This approach, which involves strict enforcement of illegal drug laws, has proven costly and ineffective (RCAP & RANZCP, 2004). This essay will focus on Australia’s current drug debate regarding the legalisation of certain prohibited illicit drugs. Whilst examining the Australian position, this essay will use international examples to illustrate how the current strategy fails and survey workable solutions. Firstly, this work examines the historical position of the ‘war on drugs’. It will outline the history of drug use in Australia and the nation’s current drug policy. This essay will then discuss the criminal...
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...The so-called “War on Drugs,” as declared by the Nixon administration in the signing of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, marked the beginning of the current era of mandatory minimum sentencing, racism, privatized prisons, and a powerful constituency that profits as a result of the prohibition of drugs. Psychoactive substances have been apart of the human experience as long as humans have walked the earth. There is little hope that drug production will ever be curtailed, so long as there is a demand; a demand that has remained steady even though it has been forty years since the beginning of said war. As Judge James P. Gray from the Superior Court of Orange County has so plainly put it: “Where did this policy come from? Unfortunately I have conducted an inquiry into this and I have determined that drug prohibition laws came for reasons of racism, empire building, and ignorance.”(Booth) The War on Drugs is politically motivated as a means of profiting. One may ask them self how government can financially benefit from such policies. In fact, they benefit in a myriad of ways. The government spends an exorbitant amount of money in an attempt to combat drug production and drug usage. The U.S. government has spent over a trillion—that’s right a trillion—dollars in its attempt to eradicate the drug problem. With so much time, effort and money there should be something to show, right? Wrong. Today drugs are more prevalent, more potent and cheaper than...
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...major concern for a lot of people, some people believe that it can be changed by legalizing it and therefore taking away the drug cartels number one source of income. The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy ... says that more than 60 percent of the profits reaped by Mexican drug lords are derived from the exportation and sale of cannabis to the American market (Armentano2). It is ridiculous to think that the United States can put out a statistic like this and ignore the fact that if they legalized the drug there would be less violence because there would be no point for Mexican drug cartels to try and smuggle the drug into the U.S. In the article “Blame Prohibition, Not Pot Smokers for Violence in Mexico”, published by AlterNet.org, Tony Newman tells us how the people who run the “Just Say No” campaign against drugs have a new scheme in which they plan to blame people who smoke pot for the violence in Mexico. They are hoping to stop younger people from smoking marijuana if they associate it with the murder of people by the drug cartels in Mexico. There are a few problems with these campaigns: They are inaccurate in some cases, and downright dishonest in others.Office of National Drug Control Policy It is disingenuous to connect the average American's marijuana consumption to the horrific violence of Mexico's drug war. The average pot smoker's growing and purchasing of marijuana has no relationship to the violence along the border that is the result of large-scale drug...
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...Marijuana Prohibition Was The Result Of White Power You must be able to ignore the racial roots of Marijuana Prohibition; the effect of discrimination on race has made this a popular topic. A lot of arrests for drug paraphernalia is mainly focused on Race. The amount of Blacks and Latinos that are targeted instead of White people is unbelievable. Why are people of color being singled out for public possession? Why are the statistics of the drug arrests for people of color at higher rates compared to White people? Because of targeting people of color we can't use certain drugs to help with neuropathic pain. Why is law enforcement targeting blacks and latinos? We need to stop addressing people of color for these drug charges so we can start...
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...Drug Prohibition has introduced millions of Americans to lives of crime and violence. Prohibition has multiplied prices on the black market a thousand fold or more, leading drug addicts to commit crimes against the rest of us - and each other - to get the money to support their habits. Prohibition has let punks get rich controlling the drug markets, corrupting law enforcement agencies in the United States and entire governments overseas in the process. Are drug laws supposed to help the addicts? As harmful as using drugs may be to someone, being imprisoned makes matters much worse. And drug peddlers can hardly be prevented from selling adulterated and poisoned drugs that kill their customers - sometimes on purpose - leaving addicts at the mercy of unaccountable and unscrupulous suppliers. Are drug laws supposed to protect the non-drug-using majority from the addicts? As disheartening as it may be to know that another is harming himself with drugs [or alcohol or tobacco] it is even worse to be robbed or burgled by an addict who cannot otherwise afford artificially expensive drugs. Are drug laws supposed to keep drugs away from young people? Black-market prices and profit margins created by drug laws have encouraged sellers to seek customers among the most impressionable and gullible - our children. Indeed, children are the most effective sellers to other children. Those seeking the illegal "thrill" of marijuana are driven into contact...
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...Shakib Hossain Causal Argument English 191 February 2015 Why the War on Drugs Failed “For every prohibition you create, you also create an underground”. These words by famous musician Jello Biafra may sound prejudiced, but it is the truth we all live and have lived by since the prohibition era. The war on drugs has become a significant issue in today’s society, but people are not completely sure why the war on drugs has failed. In reference to Jello Biafra, the war on drugs is a type of a prohibition, but the real question is how big of an underground has this war created that it has ultimately failed. The start of the war on drugs can officially be dated as far back as 1971 when Richard Nixon declared drug abuse as “public enemy number one”, and he increased the size and presence of federal drug control agencies (Drug Policy Alliance, 2014). Later, during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the number of people incarcerated for drug abuse shot up sky high due to his zero tolerance policy, and the unpredicted rise of illicit drug use. When we say the war on drugs has failed, we usually consider that the use of illicit drugs could not be reduced and is on the rise. However, it is also because it is costing more and more lives every day in addition to all the resources used coming out of the taxpayers’ pockets. In short, the war on drugs has failed because the government enforced punishment instead of prevention, which led to creating a black market that increased crime and corruption...
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...to keep them prohibited. According to LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, drug prohibition is the true cause of much of the social and personal damage that has historically been attributed to drug use. It is prohibition that makes these drugs so valuable – while giving criminals a monopoly over their supply ("Why Legalize Drugs? | LEAP").LEAP goes on to say that criminal gangs are driven by the huge profits from this monopoly, criminal gangs bribe and kill each other, law enforcers, and children and as such their trade is unregulated and they are, therefore, beyond our control ("Why Legalize Drugs? | LEAP"). It is LEAP’s belief that by eliminating prohibition of all drugs for adults and establishing appropriate regulation and standards for distribution and use, law enforcement could focus more on crimes of violence, such as rape, aggravated assault, child abuse and murder, making our communities much safer ("Why Legalize Drugs? | LEAP"). Another positive aspect of the legalization of drugs is financial gains. According to the International Business Times in a study for the Cato Institute, Jeffrey A. Miron, senior lecturer on economics at Harvard University and a senior fellow at Cato, and Katherine Waldock, professor of economics at New York University, estimate that legalizing drugs would save the government approximately $41.3 billion annually on expenditures related to the enforcement of prohibition (Ghosh, 2010). Of those savings, $25.7 billion would accrue to...
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...involved in this illegal market. Serious dependence is the first argument that people against the legalization use in a debate. They say that marijuana causes dependence, and this dependence could interfere in social life of users, for example, school and job performance. First of all, there are research comproving that marijuana is less harmful to human health than most of other banned drugs, such as cocaine or crack. Furthermore, marijuana is less harmful than the main two legal drugs that we have nowadays. The dependence of tobacco and the changes in our mind of alcohol are countless times more harmful than marijuana. The main point in this discussion more than the dependence, is the social problems that the illegal commerce of marijuana causes. The current ways adopted by the government to combat the traffic are not working. The government does not know how to stop this illegal commerce. It happens because even with the legal prohibition the consumers do not stop to consume drugs and it does not stop trafficker to produce and sell illegal marijuana. In summary, only the combat against the crime is not the right way to stop this social problem, because consumers will not stop to consume. The government should create a way to control the producing and the selling of marijuana to stop this illegal market. Currently the government spends millions and millions of public money to fight against the...
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...International 101 Research Paper - Assignment 7 25 November 2013 Drug War: World Issue? Question: Why do certain countries try to stop the drug war and drug trade when it is such a high commodity all over the world? An important part of our world today, which has a high fascination in cultures all over the world is drugs. Drugs have been around for a while but they have not been regulated in any way by many governments. Amsterdam has made marijuana legal which taxes it which goes to the government. TV shows revolve around the use of drugs in society; reality and fiction. Although drugs are something that multiple people, politicians, and government officials all have an opinion on. Even suburban parents and the teenage stoners have a stance on drug trade or drug regulation. Which prompts the question, why do certain countries try to stop the drug war and drug trade when it is such a high commodity all over the world? Studies have show, as displayed in the text of America's Holy War explains that tax policies and property and crime directly correlate with drug trade and problems within a modern society. America is an example of bad drug policy whereas other places, for example Europe, have more liberal drug policy and they live more peaceful lives. The contamination of drugs can spread AIDs and many other life threatening diseases. We spend tax dollars to keep drugs out yet they still find a way back in the American border because they are such a commodity and addiction...
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