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Drugs N Alcohol

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Sociology 202
23 February, 2014 The Social Problem of Drugs and Alcohol
The most serious social problem in chapter 1-5 is the war on drugs and alcohol. This social problem has been in American society since 1971 when President Nixon declared the war on drugs and said drug abuse as “public enemy number one in the United States.” Drugs and alcohol creates many negative effects on society, creates other social problems, and is difficult if not impossible to stop. There are many negative effects on society caused by drugs and alcohol. In the United States they spend more than $51,000,000,000 annually on the war on drugs and alcohol, this is a long term problem, because we are wasting money trying to catch criminals, and drug addiction has stayed almost the same since the 1970’s, so all this spending is obviously not doing anything to stop the war on drugs. 60 % of people federally imprisoned in the United States were convicted of drug charges. Society is paying a huge price on keeping these people convicted in prison, when most of them were convicted of non-violent drugs charges. The government should have rehabilitation programs were people convicted of non-violent drug charges could go, it would save a ton of money because the rehabilitation programs would be shorter and cheaper than keeping people locked up for years and years. All this money is being wasted on trying to win a war you just cannot win, ones desire to escape reality with drugs and alcohol, is stronger then the will to stop it all.

The social problem of drugs and alcohol also contributes too many other social problems such as racism, spousal abuse, driving under the influence, and the list goes on and on. There is an obvious amount of racism with the amount of minorities convicted with drug related charges. There is a huge gap in races incarcerated for drug charges 61 percent of people that

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