...Every day more than 115 people in the United States overdose due to the misuse and addiction to opioids; a crisis that affects the economy and public health. Opioids have been used as a way to manage pain; but what comes with these drugs is addiction and dependence. The history of opioid use has been originated from the early 1900s as Civil War Veterans were treated for pain, ultimately, getting hooked on painkillers. The Opioid epidemic is currently the deadliest drug crisis in American History. Overdoses are killing more people than guns and car accidents, spiraling a national health emergency. The idea of prescription restrictions and pain management strategies isn’t a topic that everyone agrees on; however, some doctors and patients have...
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...Some people join the American Legion and VFW’s to support the veterans. Veterans Day is a day we can honor and thank them, Veterans Day is on November 11th. It’s on November 11th because this is the day signing of the Armistice, which ended the World War 1 hostilities between the allied nations and germany in 1918. We also have Memorial Day on the last monday in May to honor the dead, many volunteers place an american flag on graves at cemeteries. Some people are against and cruel to our veterans and don’t respect them for their...
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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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...On July 19, an undercover police officer took the stand in a New York courtroom to testify against an alleged drug dealer named Fabian Joseph. Consistent with longstanding practice in New York City, the officer refused to identify himself by anything but his badge number. Inconsistent with longstanding practice in New York City, trial judge Dorothy Cropper barred the officer's testimony. Judge Cropper ruled that because the undercover officer had failed to show he was in particular danger of retaliation from the defendant for his testimony, he had to give his name. When he refused, she showed him the door. The basis for Judge Cropper's ruling was the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees the defendant the right to a "public trial" at which he will be "confronted with the witnesses against him." A "public trial" means one conducted in a courtroom that anyone can enter. And confrontation means, among other things, that the defendant has a right to cross-examine the government's witnesses - which is difficult to do if you don't know their names. These rights are not absolute, but Judge Cropper ruled that the government hadn't justified either closing the courtroom or limiting cross. The response to Judge Cropper's ruling was outrage. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly excoriated the judge, and encouraged his officers to continue to refuse to give their names. The Manhattan D.A.'s office has decided to appeal Judge Cropper's ruling. Meanwhile, the usual suspects, lead by the...
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...The Impact on Society of the Incarceration of the Non-Violent Criminal. In this age of social media and advanced computer technology I find it to be an utter tragedy the amount of individual that are incarcerated for non-violent crimes. After all we have the knowledge and the resources to event a new cellar device almost every other month. We have drones to deliver package. Information can be sent at the speed of light from the United States to Europe. Yet in still we haven’t come up with a plan to address the issue of imprisoning non-violent crimes. Wouldn’t our hard earn tax dollars be more useful in fighting the war on terrorism? After all isn’t America under attack every day? The threat of an attack on us happens not just in other countries but right here on American soil. And yet we spend this unthinkable amount of money to bring individuals to trial and imprison then for crimes that are of a non-violent nature. Why? If I had the chose I would rather be my monies be spent to protect my country for a terror attack rather than protect us from someone buying weed. For instance in Bernard Noble was sentence to over 14 years in prison for possessing enough marijuana to roll 2 joints. Mr. Noble worked and ran a small business. He is also a father of 2. Did he posse an illegal substance? Of course he did. But the issue is should he have been given such a harsh sentence? No. The impact of incarcerating this man is far reaching. It impacts not just him but...
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...Listing arguments that support the claim that by legalizing this commodity not only crime rates in general, but violent crime rates, will drop noticeably if not substantially providing a savings in the cost of enforcing and prosecuting such crimes. And, that by decriminalization, the federal government can regulate this commodity much like alcohol and tobacco providing new sources of tax revenue. A History of Cannabis The best way to understand the public image that cannabis has today is by looking at how we understood it yesterday. Starting from the first piece of legislation in 1906 and coming to present day medicinal approval in a small portion of US states. This will hopefully address the questions of “Why the war on drugs?”, “Why this particular commodity a drug...
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...Amendment isn’t the only rule violated in these situations; most of the American civil liberties have been undermined due to the drug war. The Court has allowed the following: War on Drugs tactics #1: Consent Searches Started in 1960’s but rarely used until the 1970’s -primarily for hostage situations, hijackings, and prison escapes Once arrested, one's chances of ever being truly free of the system of control are slim, often to the vanishing point. Tens of thousands of poor people go to jail every year without ever talking to a lawyer. Approximately 80% of criminal defendants are indigent and thus unable to hire a lawyer. People fear police harassment, retaliation, and abuse−especially poor people of color. Those looking for an attorney often find that unless there are broken bones and no criminal record, private attorney would unlikely be interested in the case. Without significant provision over the authority when exercising police discretion, they can arrest Americans for nonviolent drug charges with relative ease. The Supreme Court lets them do it by, and I quote, “eviscerating Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures by the police.” Due to this, people are outright saying that there is a “virtual drug exception” in the Bill of Rights. What this means is that the Supreme Court is creating and abusing a section of the Bill of Rights that does not legally exist. Law does not restrict the police when it comes to the War on Drugs. The Fourth...
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...2. Babies a) With Home being the focal point of the babies in the film, the differences on the definition of we call “home” is visibly changed as we follow the lives of these tots. One of the major similarities between each child is that they all live with a roof over their head. For the babies growing up in Tokyo and San Francisco their homes were either a house or an apartment complex, in a large rural city where their access to main necessities were only a block or two away I can assume. These two particular babies are shown in a particular light where they have the major essentials to live and grown up. However in the home of the Mongolian baby this home is secluded far away from any major city, which seemed very far away based on the film. The home of the Namibian child is what their tribe knows as a typical home to them but is similar to a hut or bungalow without any basic furniture or lighting. The homes of both the Mongolian and Namibian babies resembles to be large one room where the family eats, sleeps and lives their daily lives. The differences in each of their living conditions whether in a big house in the city to small hut in the desert I believe both a culture and economic state because home is where the heart is and it not based on what society depicts is the correct way of what home is. Culture plays a part on what life a child will have and grow up to be based on the beliefs and morals of any particular surrounding. Each country depicted in the film has...
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...no concern to them. It’s a society of out of sight, out of mind. What people don't realize is that in reality it is a smaller percentage of inmates that are incarcerated that are violent and dangerous. Twenty-five percent are non-violent illegal immigrants, fifty-five percent are non-violent drug offenders, and about five percent are mental patients, and other types of non-violent crime. (Webb 164) It’s those non-violent inmates are the ones that have rehabilitative opportunities and a chance to re-enter society with a fresh start. But when you lump them all together society see’s them all the same, as violent criminals. So there’s no big push to try to get the system to change. We need prison reform to change these views. It’s necessary so that the nonviolent inmates can receive lighter sentences and also be separated from violent inmates so they can be reformed. A majority of these non-violent criminals end up serving equal or longer sentences than those in prison for violent crimes such as rape. That is because the sentencing guidelines, used by the criminal justice system, are very draconic when it comes to drug convictions. It was made this way in hopes of reducing the illegal drug trade in the 90’s, but in fact it’s had no effect and rehabilitative efforts in prison have little effect. For example, based on federal sentencing guidelines. An individual who is a 24 year old middle class media producer, with no violent crime history, is sentenced to 55 years for a third strike...
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...discredit government effectiveness, alienate populations, and seize control. What is the correlation between censorship and propaganda? “Intelligent men must realize that propaganda is the modern instrument by which they can fight for productive ends and bring order out of chaos” (Bernays, 1928, p.168). Censorship is the “suppression of information, whether purposeful or not, by any method-including bias, omission, underreporting or censorship-that prevents the public from understanding what is happening in society” (Borjesson, 2004, p.419). Since there are different kinds of information or knowledge in society that need to be forbidden because they are harmful to certain groups or to the moral understanding of ethics (i.e. the use of drugs, pornography, assault weapons), what rationale legitimizes suppressed information as forbidden? The principle is “to bring order out of chaos” by using propaganda, “the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the masses” (Bernays, 1928, p.37). A new social order can only be reconstructed by a flow of chaos that compels a populace to request and even accede to such a change. It is essential to this paper that this began to surface publicly during “the mass popular movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s” (Chomsky, 1988, p.39-40). It was evident in the social...
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...Border War A father and his son slowly makes their way over a ten-foot iron fence; propelling themselves upward by wedging their worn sneakers in between the large metal poles. They’re climbing the fence to go visit their family in America. They both have made this trip multiple times, and both know that if their caught the punishment will be a lecture and a free ride home. Maybe next time over they will carry some drugs to make some quick cash, this is my story and just like my dad and I were, many illegal immigrants know how easy it is to cross the border and how light the punishments are. They know that the border is just a small obstacle between them and the United States, acting more as a revolving door than an impenetrable barrier. The border fortifications put in place by the United States of America are ineffective and a waste of time and money because of the insecure fencing, lack of appropriately equipped and trained personnel, and the fact that drugs are still making it across the border into the United States. The current ineffectiveness of America’s border defenses have been around for multiple decades. For the past ten years, the U.S./Mexican border has come under close scrutiny because of the many failed attempts to hold back immigrants and drug dealers coming from Mexico. Larger fences were built along borders near major cities and towns, mainly along the border cities of Texas. Bigger security forces (the Border Patrol Agency) were created in the mid ‘80s to...
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...voluntary exchange within drug markets, and analyze some of the social and economic costs and benefits to society. I’m going to present statistics and viewpoints that will evoke feelings...
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...Mario Prieto 7/25/2014 Mr. Ogrodowski English 102 Research Paper Marijuana Legalization Marijuana is the most used drug in the world; it’s as popular as it is polarizing. It’s been said to have medicinal benefits for the ill. Can it kill a human being? If it can kill, than why is it illegal? Why not legalize it, that way crimes will go down? All these are questions that have been asked when discussing the hot debate that is marijuana. While there is no clear answer to any of these questions, there is a variety of opinions out there in respect to marijuana. Marijuana has carried a big stigma for a long time. Back in the 20th century, not a lot was known about marijuana. We as humans tend to be afraid of the unknown, therefore we feared marijuana and what damages it could cause. As of today, 23 states have legalized marijuana, with Colorado being the state that gets the most recognition (ProCon.org). Those for the legalization of pot are devoted to this plant and go way back to 1965, where Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg led a march for marijuana legalization outside the New York Women’s House of Detention in Lower Manhattan (Lee, Martin A). Passionate protesters waved posters and shouted out slogans in one of the more renowned moments of the 1960s (Lee, Martin A). This protest launched the inaugural event of the New York chapter Committee to legalize pot, the group was led by Ginsberg and Poet Ed Sanders; these protests would be...
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...In Defense of Recreational Drugs If illicit drugs are harmful to the mind, body and soul, than why do people continue to manufacture, distribute and use these substances? The prohibition of these illicit substances as outlined in the Controlled Substances Act of the United States goes against all logic. Propaganda across the United States promotes the myth that psychotropic drugs impair moral judgment and is a cause of destructive deviant behavior. There is evidence that refutes this claim, illustrated by findings in several of the government’s own studies. The truth is that the majority that dabbles with these intoxicants is misrepresented by the media and politicians as delinquents, but are respectable citizens with jobs to work, bills to pay, and classes to attend, and are indistinguishable from the general population. Their use is not accounted for as many are reluctant to admit to it, due to the illegality and prejudice against use of controlled substances in our society. Such illicit substances must have some intrinsic value because of their continued use. Just as prescription pharmaceuticals can prove to be valuable in a specific context, so can all classes of illegal drugs. The poison is in the dose not the chemical itself. The unconstitutional War on Drugs in the United States needs to cease, because it is based on heresy and fear mongering. This calls for reeducation of the American people about the true nature of drugs; for this legalization and regulation of all...
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...Guatemala is a country located in Central America. It has a population of about 15.47 million and the size of 42,043 square miles. Guatemala has many economic and social challenges. Its problems continue to grow. They have the fifth highest murder rate of any country in the world, and seventy five percent of its population are living below the poverty line. Children that are raised in Guatemala are accustomed to the idea that guns are normal, whether it is for protection or violence. “The number of serious crimes that go on, causes people to be afraid and to deem it necessary to carry weapons, like guns. For example, at local gas stations a security guard carrying a gun at the entrance to protect against the theft and crime that goes on (Elbein 1). Children may be getting accustomed to this, but they do not desire to live like this. Many of these children want to have a job that they can earn more than minimum wage. Unfortunately, for the majority of the children that is an unobtainable goal. This is why many children choose to leave the country. They want to live in a country where they are not struggling for every dollar, and they are not in constant danger. The consequences of the next generation of children emigrating could turn into a serious issue, as a result the population of...
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