...incapacitating criminals. This may protect society from potentially dangerous individuals, but these institutions' level of accomplishment is askew. The financial burden attached to the building, maintaining, and staffing of prisons constantly plagues the penal system. During the late 1960s, New York built prisons at a price of $2 million each. Since then, prices have risen dramatically. In 1990, each prisoner required $15,496 to support (“Bureau of Justice Statistics”). A prison containing 2,000 inmates amounts to over $31 million to operate on an annual basis. The United States spends an estimated $60 billion each year on corrections (Prisons in the United States). The operation price is synonymous with the level of security, ranging from the supermax, containing serial killers, to the minimum security, containing drug offenders. Violence is not confined to outside prison walls. In 2005 alone, federal and state prisons reported 885 incidents of sexual violence. Of the aforementioned incidents, 38% were between an inmate and a staff member (“Bureau of Justice Statistics”). The constant fear of attack can lead a prisoner to experience serious mental problems. Inmates can suffer from indigestion, constipation, and headaches as some of the psycho-physiological effects. The constant psychological stress can impair the individual physically. These people can suffer...
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...Legalization: The War on Drugs and Criminal Law Howard R. Burke Strayer University Abstract This research will point out that the United States’ current policy on drug prohibition, the so called “War on Drugs,” is ineffective. The current draconian prohibition policies against drug consumption may actually increase their use. As well, contrary to claims made by current drug policy supporters, increased drug enforcement can reduce public safety and compound the individual and social costs of drug use. The U.S. drug policy, born over a hundred years ago, has gone through several transformations becoming more voracious with each new invocation. The War on Drugs is an expensive and failed concept which has incorporated racism in its administration, increased crime rates, imposed harsh sentences for nonviolent offenses, facilitated police corruption and aggressively eroded civil liberties. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION Introduction to the Problem Background of the Study Statement of the Problem Purpose of the Research Research Questions Significance of the Research Assumptions and Limitations Organization of the Remainder of the Study LITERATURE REVIEW CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Marijuana Legalization: The War on Drugs and Criminal Law INTRODUCTION The United States has conducted a long experiment of drug prohibition. The prohibition of marijuana and other illicit drugs has only increased their...
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...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 trafficking. It isn’t hard to understand that the legalization...
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...Drug Legalization in the United States Kristie Hurley Ashford University Abstract This paper will explore four websites and one online newspaper addressing the subject of drug trafficking in the United States and why legalization is a profitable alternative. The various ways drugs are bought into the country, information on how and why drug trafficking has increased in the United States, statistics on the number of people that are addicts, and the problems related to foreign countries on this issue. The reasons why illicit drugs should be legalized and what the income from the taxation from them could do to better our health care reform and our economy. Keywords: drug trafficking, economy, legalization Drug Legalization in the United States Illegal drugs are exports and deported out if our country everyday by different groups such as high profile criminal gangs or groups such as the cartel. Law enforcement has yet found a suitable way in controlling the war on drugs and have in past years, up until now, have made and passed bills and policies within the government that has made it worse. The legalization of illicit drugs, such as marijuana, would dramatically save, if not make our country more money. The Department of Justice reports the trafficking of drugs has increased in the United States (2012). Criminal groups from other countries, such as Mexican, Cuban, and Asian, including the groups in our country, grow, manufacturer, and distribute marijuana and other...
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...legalization in California, and treating marijuana more like tobacco or alcohol. Proposition 19 should be passed, making it a stepping stone towards a national referendum on marijuana decriminalization and leading to a reduction the national debt. If passed, Proposition 19 will legalize the use of marijuana under California state law. It would permit local governments to regulate and tax the commercial production, distribution, and sale of marijuana. But with the legality of the buying and selling of marijuana, there would come many rules and regulations that are stated in the proposition that would adjoin to users. According to Yeson19.com, the proposition was very carefully written to protect medical user’s rights while at the same time, written to regulate the use and impose constraints on those same individuals (Control & Tax Cannabis). In addition, these laws could be viewed as fairly similar to current laws regarding the use of tobacco and alcohol. Some of the major parts of the bill in regulating the use of marijuana are to control marijuana like alcohol, place age restrictions, limit location to where possession is allowed, and the most importantly, gives the State of California the authority to impose taxes. Many people argue that Proposition 19 should not pass because they believe it is a poorly written bill that could cause more harm...
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...ESSAI Volume 5 Article 34 1-1-2007 The Rise and Fall of Prohibition in America Daniel Smith College of DuPage, essai_smith@cod.edu Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/essai Recommended Citation Smith, Daniel (2007) "The Rise and Fall of Prohibition in America," ESSAI: Vol. 5, Article 34. Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/essai/vol5/iss1/34 This Selection is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at DigitalCommons@C.O.D.. It has been accepted for inclusion in ESSAI by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@C.O.D.. For more information, please contact koteles@cod.edu. Smith: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition in America The Rise and Fall of Prohibition in America by Daniel Smith (English 1101) n February 16th, 2007, a headline in the Chicago Tribune read in large, bold lettering: “Task Force Nabs $1.3 Million in Cocaine, Disrupts Drug Ring.” Open almost any newspaper on any given day and one is bound to find an article like this detailing the enforcement of the prohibition of marijuana, cocaine and other drugs, or gang-related crimes. The demand for black market drugs in America is alive and strong, fed by organized drug cartels from Mexico and other countries. To these drug lords, it is simple business mechanics; they have a source for their product and buyers willing to pay large sums of money for it. Even with enforcement at the borders and the occasional bust, their products continue to slip into the...
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...Legalizing Marijuana in the United States Jennifer Wilkins English Composition I Engl 1301 July 21, 2009 Bertha Webster Legalizing Marijuana in the United States Introduction Marijuana is a substance that has become very much a part of American culture. By definition, marijuana derives from the Indian hemp plant thought to have originated in the mountainous districts of India, north of the Himalayan Mountains (http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861628419/marijuana.html). Nearly 95 million Americans have either used marijuana occasionally or regularly (Belville, 2009, p.60). Marijuana’s history is long and extensive. Marijuana comes from a Mexican word meaning “Mary Jane”. Marijuana has been grown for medical use for thousands of years. It is an established scientific fact that marijuana is not toxic to humans; marijuana overdoses are nearly impossible, and marijuana is not nearly as addictive as alcohol or tobacco (http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/60959/?page=2). Today in the United States there is an ongoing debate whether marijuana should or should not be legalized. Legalizing marijuana can cut the cost to the government for the on-going “war on drugs”, be used medically in numerous proven ways, and eliminate the failure of prohibition. Cost of the “War on Drugs” In the United States, all levels of government (federal, state, and local authorities) participate in the “War on Drugs.” More than thirty years after the “War on Drugs” was declared, billions...
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...From an Economic Standpoint 12/2/2012 The Legalization of Marijuana in America ID: 1175376 Introduction After the recent 2012 United States Presidential Election, whereupon Colorado and Washington passed the policy to legalize marijuana for “adult purposes,” government officials faced conflict as to whether to legalize the drug on a federal level or not (Smith 1). There is a battle between the Supreme Court and federal government regarding enforcement as state law allows production and consumption of the drug while the federal law prohibits such activities. When a state officer finds marijuana on the persons of a Colorado resident, there is no charge; however, when a federal officer finds marijuana on the persons of a Colorado resident the extent of the penalty could be arrest and incarceration. Due to conflicting enforcement policies, America is forced to examine the issue and come to a consensus between the policies to ensure homogeneity between the two lawmaking bodies. One means of analyzing the issue is through an economic perspective. As economics is the study of “how society manages its scarce resources” and the manner in which a society makes decisions, the economics behind a controversial policy can help determine acceptance or rejection of the proposed law (Mankiw 1-1). Based on fundamental economic concepts, historical evidence, global data, and future forecasts, the effects of legalizing marijuana will be analyzed. After analyzing the economics of the legalization...
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...Note to Professor: A lot of my citations say “Prohibition, 2002” and appear to come from the same source over and over again. This is incorrect; this source uses over 50 other sources, the majority of which I was not able to visit. So, I simply put down that they came from the NORML website. The endnotes are on that website if you would like to look. Meghan Wyandt Marijuana: Decriminalization for Medical Use Outline 1. Introduction a. "Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use." -President Jimmy Carter: Message to Congress, August 2, 1977 i. Marijuana has been illegal in the United States since 1937. 2. Paragraph one: Present the Problem b. What is the problem? ii. Legal prescription drugs do not always offer relief to patients dealing with serious illnesses. Natural Cannabis has been proven in many clinical studies to offer relief from nausea, tremors, and chronic pain in sufferers. However, the Federal government completely prohibits the use of marijuana in the United States, for sale or for personal use, including medicinal relief. c. What caused it? iii. The criminalization of marijuana came about after its recognition as an intoxicant in the 1920s and 1930s. During this time, exaggerated accounts of violent crimes allegedly committed...
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...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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...“Drugs" The United States is at war. I am not talking about the war in Iraq or the War on Terrorism; I am talking about the War on Drugs. We are currently facing a large debate on the issue of drugs. That is whether drugs should remain illegal or be legalized within the United States. It has come to be a war; a war which is being fought against our own citizens and against other countries. It is a war which has taken many lives and will not cease in its toll. Both sides of the argument have strong points. In 1970, Gore Vidal wrote an essay supporting the legalization of all illegal drugs in the United States. I agree with Vidal, in legalizing drugs. They should be legalized and regulated by the government just as cigarettes are. In “Drugs,” Gore Vidal argues that all drugs should be legalized. The government should make all drugs available in markets and sell that at cost to the consumers. He states that the prohibition of these drugs is a violation of the constitutional right for the pursuit of happiness. He observes that legalizing drugs will take away its title of being a "forbidden fruit." People always want what they cannot have. Legalizing drugs enable people easier access to them, taking away the thrill of getting them. He argues that the prohibition of drugs, like that of alcohol in the 1920's, will be a failure. He believes that both the Bureau of Narcotics and Mafia are against legalizing drugs and selling them at cost because then there would...
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...provoked questioning of the rationality of the current US federal legislation on both drugs, as marijuana is currently illicit whilst alcohol is not. Research has suggested that marijuana could be equally if not more beneficial than alcohol to the economy, with fewer negative externalities. This discussion has been sparked anew after the states of Colorado and Washington infringed federal legislation by instating the open legality of marijuana. The topic, in current debate, must be viewed objectively to reach a valuable conclusion, since much of the argument is highly opinionated and biased owing to the stigma attached to such substances. Marijuana is currently a Schedule I substance under federal law whereas alcohol is federally regulated through the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) alongside stringent state and county laws. Existing federal law makes alcohol legal to those over the age of 21, with high taxation placed on consumption. Hence, the substance is highly regulated, although not currently prohibited. We intend to examine the economic effects that alcohol has on the economy and compare these findings with the hypothetical benefits of legalised marijuana. Analytically considering the reasoning behind its current illegal status, we will compare the negative externalities of cannabis against those of alcohol to determine whether there is logic behind the prohibition. The paper will look to settle disputes about the monetary incentives of a legal market...
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...America's War on Drugs: Policy and Problems In this paper I will evaluate America's War on Drugs. More specifically, I will outline our nation's general drug history and look critically at how Congress has influenced our current ineffective drug policy. Through this analysis I hope to show that drug prohibition policies in the United States, for the most part, have failed. Additionally, I will highlight and evaluate the influences acting on individual legislators' decisions to continue support for these ineffective policies as a more general demonstration of Congress' role in the formation of our nation's drug policy strategy. Finally, I will conclude this analysis by outlining the changes I feel necessary for future progress to be made. Primary among these changes are a general promotion of drug education and the elimination of our current system's many de-legitimating hypocrisies. However, before the specific outcomes of Congressional influence and policy impact can be evaluated it becomes important to first review the general history and current situation of drugs today. Our present drug laws were first enacted at the beginning of the century. At the time, recreational use of narcotics was not a major social issue. The first regulatory legislation was for the purpose of standardizing the manufacturing and purity of pharmaceutical products. Shortly after, the first criminal laws were enacted which addressed opium products and cocaine. Although some states had prohibited...
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...Arguments Against: Prohibition of Marijuana 1. Medicinal Use a. STUDY- According to Congressional Research Service, “By the 1840s, marijuana’s therapeutic potential began to be recognized by some U.S. physicians. From 1850 to 1941 cannabis was included in the United States Pharmacopoeia as a recognized medicinal. By the end of 1936, however, all 48 states had enacted laws to regulate marijuana.” b. Certified physicians prescribing marijuana (specifically for the THC in it) as a form of medicine i. Many people can find benefits from its medicinal purposes 1. Improves nausea and vomiting 2. Stimulation of hunger a. Cancer and AIDS patients b. STUDY- University of California, San Francisco concluded that 30% more AIDS patients who smoke cannabis compared to those who did not felt “significantly less pain and better appetite” 3. Lower eye pressure c. Specifically Glaucoma patients 4. Generic pain reliever ii. Many countries have begun the process of legalization for medicinal use 5. 9 Countries around the world, including Spain, Germany, Italy, and Canada 6. As well as 14 states within the United States, making you wonder what exactly will happen if over half the states legalize medicinal marijuana c. VIDEO----------------------------------------------UNION MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS ------------- 2. Industrial Use ...
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...marijuana, but now it brings up discussion about marijuana if United States should legalized marijuana for medical purpose. Now you have to ask yourself something, why is marijuana illegal in the first place? If the government wants to legalize it for medical purposes, why not completely legalize it. So the question is if prohibition is here to protect us, does the prohibition really work? Where in today’s studies there no proof that marijuana is harmful to the American people, so let take a closer look on why marijuana should be legalized in Untied States. Couple years now the discussion of legalizing marijuana is coming up a lot more nowadays. It’s showing that marijuana is actually more useful than people think. So the government is thinking about legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. That raises some red flags, because everybody thinks it so harmful, but that’s not the case. “Actually it’s a proven fact that marijuana does not kill brain cells, it actually stimulates the brain cells and helps them grow.” (The Union-Adam Scorgie 2011) “Also from today polls there are no record death from Marijuana.” (CNBC-2011) Let’s take a look at a poll taking by “The United States government National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bureau of Mortality Statistics: TOBACCO……….400,000 ALCOHOL …………………… 100,000 ALL LEGAL DRUGS ………….20,000 ALL ILLEGAL DRUGS ……….15,000 CAFFEINE …………………….2,000 ...
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