Download to read offline
More Related Content
![Q1.0 [Quiz Quirks]](https://cdn.slidesharecdn.com/ss_thumbnails/q1-160902104449-thumbnail.jpg?width=640&height=640&fit=bounds)
Argument.docx
- 1. Derek Bellamy Argumentative Essay SincePresident Nixon declared drug abuse “public enemy number one” on June 18th, 1971, our fight against the War on Drugs has been nothing but an utter disappointment and failure. This has been marked with many key setbacks over the past forty-five years as it has embraced drug traffickers more than strike fear upon them. With the United States having a trillion dollars in national debt, the government has spent over a trillion on this drug war since Richard Nixon’s presidency ($793 per second). This aggressive, heavy-handed tactic of enforcing these drug possession laws has been counter-productive and detrimental to this country. When an individual who is brought up in a poor urban class neighborhood is locked up for a drug offense, it marginalizes him or her as a permanent underclass citizen because they already have few opportunities growing up in such an area. This gives the individual a minuscule opportunity to make a living due to their being a lack of education and treatment facilities in the ghetto to begin with. Three out of four Americans feel that the drug war is failing miserably. However, there is an alternative to attacking this “war” and even possibly bringing it to a permanent end. If the government devoted more time and energy to treatment facilities, education, and prevention for drug abuse rather than these heavy-handed military tactics, not only would we end the War on Drugs but chop down the national debt that has been pulling America back from economic growth. Not enough time is spent on educating the youth on prevention of drugs. Instead, it is made accessible to everyone through TV and movies that glorifies drugs which in turn “brainwashes” the audience through propaganda. For example, educational systems take time to create presentations on cigarettes and tobacco but not cocaine, heroin, and other illicit illegal
- 2. drugs. It isimportant to not hold back on such an issue with the youth because they will be exposed to these things at some point in their lives. Just as black and deteriorated lungs are shown after what long-term cigarette abuse can do to an individual, it is important to educate the children on the same long-term effect that can concur when an individual uses cocaine or meth and how it affects the brain. They can learn to develop the attitude, skills, knowledge to recognize the importance of healthy living. However, because access to watching whatever one may choose is so easy now due to the Internet, a student may see only the fun lifestyle of using such drugs and don’t see the negative effects behind them. However, because much of the taxpayer money on the War on Drugs is spent towards imprisonment rather than educational improvement, the students will be oblivious to such findings and understandings unless doing research on their own. America spends an estimated $51 billion annually fighting such an issue with strict law-enforcement. “Despite a significant and growing body of knowledge documenting that addiction is a preventable, treatable and manageable disease, and despite the proven efficacy of prevention and treatment techniques, our nation still looks the other way while substance abuse and addiction cause illness, injury, death and crime, savage our children, overwhelm social service systems, impede education -- and slap a heavy and growing tax on our citizens” (SusanFoster,CNN.com). Students can learn from an early age the benefit of healthy- living but they simply don’t have access to it because our government doesn’t enough to fund this into the educational system. Instead, our students grow up oblivious to how these drugs can have a psychoactive effect on an individual and by the time it affects them it’s too late. If the government focused more on educating the youth on the effects these drugs have on the brain (inevitable to completely end drug use), then our students would grow up with at least acknowledgement of responsible drug use which would lessen these drug offenses.
- 3. Drug treatment hasbeen proven as the most effective way to end drug abuse. However, the War on Drugs has focused police to focus more on nonviolent drug offenders oppose to violent criminals. “The U.S. Justice Department notes that two-third of drug offenders released from prison will return to jail or prison within three years (for the same predicament)” (http://www.dualdiagnosis.org/). This shows how highly ineffective these laws have been on our society due to locking-up the same individual 2-3 times for the same offense. Incarceration is extremely high in costs considering all the contributing factors of a jail or prison running (staff, matienence, additional security, etc.). Drug treatment tackles a not only a contributing factor towards drugs but crime as well because an abuser is being worked with a therapist. This is also highly beneficial because it costs less long-term. “Maryland, for example, saw average costs for offenders decrease from approximately $20,000 to $4,000. The same report on JusticePolicy.org mentioned that the costs for treatment generally range from $1,800 to $6,800, far less than the cost of incarceration” (http://www.dualdiagnosis.org/). Despite these findings, only 10% of drug abusers receive treatment which may be a reason why many former prisoners keep coming back for the same crime. If America wants to effectively end the War on Drugs the government must due more to focus on drug prevention and treatment which will also put an emphasis on diminishing crime as well. It is possible that the War on Drugs can be ended if more emphasis is placed on educational knowledge on drugs, prevention and treatment facilities. “They readily buy into the code of the street, settling for what is feasible even if it is not optimal or even viable over the long-term” (Against The Wall; Poor, Young, Black, Male pg. 25). This is true in today’s society because there is no educational system teaching these students to not grow up in such a predicament. To live the American Dream is to live happy and healthy. Drugs will deteriorate
- 4. one’s health andalthough they may be happy in the short-term, poor decision-making is still intact and could lead to depression and stress in the future.
- 5.