American Drug Laws Do They Help Or Hurt Term paper

While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (american drug laws do they help or hurt )
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!

American Drug Laws: Do They Help or Hurt?

I believe the drug laws are in serious need of reform. We tend to forget that alcohol is a drug and that at one time it was prohibited without success. Also, I believe that a civil body of government rather than a criminal one should regulate drug use. It is a social problem, not a criminal one. As a largely victimless crime they should not have their civil rights taken away just because they like to take drugs which we have arbitrarily made illegal.

Drugs are very expensive because they are illegal. Their procurement and use fuel crime and violence, which could be largely eliminated if organized crime did not have a monopoly and the free enterprise system could control the market. Potency regulated by licensed drug companies would prevent unusually pure substances from causing accidental overdose. There is an epidemic of unnecessary deaths from this cause. This problem is exacerbated by the fear users and bystanders have of seeking a highly effective antidote for drug poisoning that is universally available at hospitals. The U.S. drug laws violate our right to privacy, cost millions in tax revenue, overloads the criminal justice system, and are ineffective as a deterrent to drug use and trafficking.

Laws that govern drug use are patently arbitrary and have their bases in racial prejudice and the comfort index of old male legislators. The first opium regulatory laws were enacted in San Francisco in response to Asian immigrants entertaining married white women in opium dens (Hamowy).

The American and European tolerance for tobacco and alcohol use while fearing "counter-culture" marijuana, cocaine, and heroin is a strong prejudice based on ignorance of the comparative human misery caused by the inevitable misuse of mind-altering substances. Alcohol and tobacco cause more illness and death each year than all the illicit drugs combined. Legislative attempts to curb alcohol and tobacco use by children makes some of these very vulnerable people desire their use, but the age-restrictive and the accompanying time-of-purchase limits on widely abused drugs are the best that society has devised. Our...

Hamowy, Ronald. Dealing with Drugs: Consequences of
Government Control. Pacific Research Institute
for Public Policy: San Francisco. 1987. You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 26 May, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/66131/american-drug-laws-do-they-help-or-hurt->

More College Papers

American Dream essay
What is the AMERICAN DREAM? I concluded the matter of dreaming about life’s basics wants that are exclusive to North America. The American Dream is the following: Go to college, get a good job, and finally get your own family. If we think about it, the American Dream is indeed a UNIVERSAL DREAM. The

Amazing Grace essay
Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol. At first glance, it seems that the author is going to take us on yet another journalistic ride through the land of the poor. Similar to the ones you read about, or hear in the news. However, this is not the case; the real underlying theme is what is society doing

Alcoholism: Symptoms, Causes, And Effects essay
Alcoholism is a disease that affects many people in the United States today. It not only affects the alcoholic, but also their family, friends, co-workers, and eventually total strangers. The symptoms are many, as are the causes and the effects. Alcoholism is defined as a pattern of drinking in whi