...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 trafficking. It isn’t hard to understand that the legalization of marijuana...
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...Position Paper Khadijah Shabazz CNSL 5203 Dr. Sampson Prairie View A&M University 9/20/2015 The legalization of drugs is one of the most controversial and debated topics of the 21st century. There are both negative and positive reasons to legalize them as well as negative and positive reasons 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...
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... 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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...Global Politics: The feasibility of universal drug liberalization as an emerging phenomenon RWaterhouse Globalization & The War on Drugs: Assessing alternatives to criminalization The purpose of this paper is to address universal drug liberalization as a feasible alternative to the current drug control regime specifically in North America and potentially applicable elsewhere. With an in depth analysis of the historical regulation, implementation of law, and resulting consequences we will be able to see how nations are effected by complex drug politics and why there has been a global paradigm shift in looking spiritedly at the ideal of decriminalization. I argue in favor of liberalization by bringing to attention the violence associated with the commodification of illegal drugs, what the re-directed costs of control could mean for domestic investment into proactive drug awareness education, and finally recognizing Portugal’s success and weaknesses in the adoption of a compete legalization agenda. Following will be a discussion of concluding thoughts centered on the efficacy and feasibility of universal liberalization in today’s globalized world. Historical Context Libertarianism has almost always had position in political discourse but has been majorly popularized through public attention within the era of globalization. (article) Control of drug consumption has always been a contemporary ingredient in the political reform of Canada and the America’s and...
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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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...Abstract: The Alien Tort Statute and the Torture Victim Protection Act both deal with individuals who infringe on the rights of others by torture or extrajudicial killing. These statutes have been explained to juries who have to argue their differences while others have explained both statutes are similar hence they should be used simultaneously. The idea of using both statutes simultaneously gets its origins from the House of Representatives and the Senate. The legislative branch has never explained the relationship between the Alien Tort Statute and the Torture Victim Protection Act. The only guidance in attempting to understand the two statutes and any possible relationship with one another is the Torture Victim Protection Act was codified...
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...concentrated on UFOs enough to know whether they exist or not on the grounds that the legislature overlooks the UFOs that are not known. The author clarifies that we could say that UFO' do exist due to numerous sightings by several individuals from various societies around the globe. Paynter's fundamental point is that if we don't have genuine physical proof of a UFO or aliens, then they don't exist. He additionally expresses that if individuals’ claim that they were stole by aliens, then they require genuine evidence proves or supports their argument. For example, uncommon DNA or characteristics, or anything that demonstrates they are from aliens. He additionally expresses that more research should be done on UFOs. Paynter’s argument to some extent holds water since he says that the law of physics will not be violated it were to be said that the aliens visited the earth. However, the existing scientific paradigms have not shown any proof of any of such occurrence, which again leaves many hanging over the soundness of such claims. What the author challenge to the proponents of the existence of intelligent alien life to come forth and provide evidence is very valid. We live in a world where any person can just come up with intriguing assertions and so to...
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...Wes Bodnar Mrs. Mckeown Honors English 10 9 December 2015 Extraterrestrial Life Really Does Exists Philosophers and astronomers alike have always been always asked one question, “Are we alone?” The existence of alien life has been a controversial topic since before the earliest civilizations. There have been countless hoaxes trying to prove the existence of aliens, but there are also a number of compelling reasons that support the existence of alien life. For example, there is a high probability they exist based on statistics, because life can travel from planet to planet, and there have been thousands of extraterrestrial sightings and encounters; it is highly probable that aliens exist. First off, aliens can be proven to be real by some simple probability and statistics. Our solar system is just one of tens of billions of solar systems in just the Milky Way Galaxy. There are so many possibilities of life in just one galaxy, and there are hundreds of billions of galaxy’s in the universe! Earth is just one of a seemingly endless amount of planets, so it’s hard to imagine that Earth has the only abundance of life in the entire known universe. Also, in the article, “The Likelihood of Extraterrestrial Life” it explains that all humans are made up of three main elements: hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon. Actually, all known life is mainly composed of these “ingredients”. This knowledge suggests that there are many extraterrestrials to be found across the cosmos because all...
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...major point this article discusses is that Mexico sends their criminals and drug dealers into the U.S. to rid their problems in their country. The impact on this country in regards of crime for illegals is tragic. In recent weeks headlines have been covered with cases of criminals who crossed the border illegally only to go on to commit horrific crimes against Americans. Most of these criminals come from Mexico and have a long arrest records, and continue their records in the U.S. by robbing and beating people up along with bringing drugs into communities. One story is that an “illegal man from Mexico was charged with breaking into a 64 year old woman's home, crushing her skull and eye sockets with a hammer, raping her, and murdering...
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...it aim to affect illegal immigrants? How might it affect the government? How might it affect other citizens? What are the arguments for the bill? What are the arguments against it? 3.Imagine you will be giving a speech to Congress or to the state government considering the bill. Write a speech where you explain the background of the bill (answers to the research questions in Step 2), and then take a position on whether the bill should pass or not. Be sure to give facts to back up your opinion. This is a formal, informative, and persuasive speech, so be sure to write in the third person (do not use "I think" or "I believe" or similar phrases with "I"). 4.Cite the sources of your information in MLA Format. Include this bibliography with your speech when you submit it to your instructor. 01.02 What Is Citizenship? (Honors Extension) The bill, titled to provide discretionary authority to an immigration judge to determine that an alien parent of a United States citizen child should not be ordered removed, deported, or excluded from the United States, “amends the Immigration and Nationality Act, in the case of an alien subject to removal, deportation, or exclusion and who is the parent of a U.S. citizen child, to authorize an immigration judge to decline to order such removal if the judge determines such action to be against the child’s best interests”. It also states that “such discretion shall not apply to...
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...the role of dispositions in the account of mental states? They are statements about how a person will behave in various circumstances. If conditions are such-and-such, then the person will behave so-and-so.) Does the behaviorist deny that behavior is caused by the brain processes? Why brain processes do not constitute mental states? There is nothing more to mental states than how we are disposed to act. Behaviorists maintain that mental states are nothing more than dispositions to behave in certain ways! What is the inner aspect of mental states and why does it provide and argument against behaviorism? Why does it provide an argument against behaviorism? Epiphenomenalism is the view that mental events are caused by physical events in the brain, but have no effects upon any physical events. What is the interconnected character of mental states and how does it provide an argument against behaviorism? Every mental state is related to another mental state. It denies everything internally. For example pain, you need an Asprin to feel better. When you define one mental state, you must define another. Behaviorist don’t believe in feelings or beliefs because they only believe in observational proofs. What are mental states according to the identity theory? The identity theory of mind holds that states and processes of the mind are identical to states and processes of the brain. What are the parallels...
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...In addition, thousands of harmful illegal aliens are roaming the streets of the United States everyday. These illegal immigrants are felons of crime and unlawful activity. According to a U.S. government analysis, the United States population consists of 55,322 illegal immigrants, and the study constructed a statistic that proved the illegal aliens were arrested at least 459,614 times. Furthermore, each illegal alien had a minimum total of 8 arrests (Martin). Based on the research above, it is evident that illegal immigrants do not take responsibility for their actions, and nevertheless, will not stop updating their criminal records. Although, the data above does not discuss an assault conducted against a single citizen, each criminal act listed in the static above exhibits one or more assaults against many U.S. citizens. “A Congressional Research Service report released in August 2012 found that over a 33-month period, between October 2008 and July 2011, more than 159,000 illegal aliens were arrested by local authorities and identified by the federal government as deportable but nevertheless released back onto the streets. Nearly one-sixth of those same individuals were subsequently again arrested for crimes” (Federation for). Moreover, one dangerous of many illegal aliens admitted to returning to the United States after being deported due to criminal activity. These illegal immigrants are aware...
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...raise many arguments including the mere cost of just funding space programs, let alone send a shuttle to space. Why spend billions of dollars to send a few people into space when there are homeless people starving on Earth? The cost of space travel is a reasonable point that most people for and against space exploration would agree with. A simple reason people in favor of space exploration would agree with a cost argument is due to a growing concern with where billions of dollars of funding is going and how...
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...The movie is both an excellent example of utilitarian ethics and as it ends becomes a brilliant argument against them. The main issue revolves around John Goodman’s character, Howard, and if he is morally in the right for what he does. 10 Cloverfield Lane seems to suggest that based upon utilitarian ethics he is right in what he does. The movie is set almost completely in an underground bomb shelter. It revolves around Michelle, who, after getting into a car wreck, wakes up in the bunker with news of a widespread attack on US soil. Howard informs her and another farm boy, named Emmett, that they cannot leave the bunker or...
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...course grounds as to why all states do not full support each and every citizen. This paper is supporting the expansion of Medicaid, providing counter arguments against Medicaid expansion, and stating why it is this paper is in support of Medicaid expansion. Medicaid expansion could assist “About 406,000 Texans with mental illness and substance abuse disorders…” this doesn’t even include those who just don’t have the required income to qualify (Chang, Medicaid). I am for the expansion of Medicaid. Medicaid aids those in need, those who struggle to maintain themselves,...
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