After spending countless hours throughout the semester researching various articles and people’s opinions about the War on Drugs, we can conclude that it is still a polarizing issue in the United States. With that being said, however, this issue needs to come to end and be resolved. We cannot continue to allow millions of dollars to be spent, as well as losing thousands of lives to the War on Drugs. With many states beginning to legalize marijuana, we are delving into a whole new era. The amount of tax dollars that states are collecting is mind-boggling, and the money is going to be put to good uses, such as funding K-12 education or our health care system. This should not be a Republican vs. Democrat issue, a liberal vs. conservative issue, a poor vs. rich, or whatever else you can think of. We have seen the justifications for why the War on Drugs needs to be put to rest, but the rest of America needs to finally wake up.
In the article, “5 Reasons Marijuana Should Remain Illegal,” John Hawkins claims that the drug is extremely addictive, hasn’t worked in Amsterdam, is terrible for your physical and mental health, and that it has decimated many people’s lives. Early into the article Hawkins manages to counter his own “extremely addictive” point by citing Dr. Drew. Dr. Drew states, “It’s not very addictive for many people. It’s a small subset of people with a genetic potential for addiction. But for them it is really tough.” Those statements can be made for any form of medication legally sold via prescription. If the drug is administered in a controlled environment then individuals with this genetic predisposition for addiction would be sorted out and informed of the dangers of their ingesting the drug. Many drugs, including marijuana, are beneficial to the user but may have adverse side effects. This doesn’t stop Big Pharma from over prescribing other drugs.
John Hawkins’ argument surrounding legal marijuana in Amsterdam stands on weak legs as well. He tells the reader that the government is imposing a ban on non-Dutch residents partaking in the coffee shops and that the crime rates around coffee shops is alarmingly high. With just a little more research, one finds that the reason this regulation came down was due to neighboring countries that haven’t legalized marijuana. Drug tourists, or couriers who drive over the border to buy large amounts of cannabis, which they resell at home are the cause for this regulation. The crime that Hawkins’ speaks of is traffic and public disorder issues near the border due to individuals trying to sneak it into their country. It has nothing to do with the consumption of the product. The problems arising in Amsterdam in regards to marijuana have nothing to do with their country, but with other countries who have yet to legalize the drug.
Hawkins suggests that, “most habitual marijuana users come off as stupid,” and that, “The drug is making them stupider, even when they’re not high.” This is complete fallacy and it is apparent that the man clearly has an agenda. There are many articles that can be found that show the peak in intellectual creativity brought on by cannabis use. I know what you’re thinking, “Well what about long-term mental effects?” The Harvard University Gazette did a study entitled Intelligence, cognition unaffected by heavy marijuana use. In the study it was found that heavy marijuana use had no permanent effects 28 days after cessation.
Any physical problems due to smoking the drug is purely user responsibility as we are all aware that smoking anything can cause physical harm. This is not due impart to the cannabis ingested, but to the tar associated with all forms of smoking. One should simply find a healthier way to ingest. Many dispensaries have vaporizer bags or pens that work the same as smoking, yet doesn’t offer the nasty physical side effects. If you eat chicken raw you are subjecting yourself to physical harm, there is no difference with this. You not only have to smart about what you put into your body, but how you go about it.
His final argument about the drug decimating peoples’ lives is opinionated and doesn’t deserve much of a response as the evidence he uses to support his claim is based around his previous arguments. Reading Mr. Hawkins’ article was humorous, as upon completing the reading I realized that he went to college to do this occupation for a living. Maybe if he would have taken a trip to Amsterdam during his college years his writing style wouldn’t have suffered from such a lack of creativity and well thought out points.
Attached is a video that presents politicians performing a sing along as to why the War on Drugs should be eliminated, with a special guest cameo of Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith.
One of the greatest examples of satire on America’s war on drugs is the motion picture Reefer Madness. The movie was released in the 1930’s and is a cult classic to this day. The plot involves high school kids who are lured into a drug dealer’s apartment to smoke marijuana…and then the fun begins. The marijuana leads to extreme paranoia, rape, and even murder. I first checked this film out a few years ago on Netflix and absolutely loved it. The message comes across as sincere, as it was financed by a church group who intended for it to show parents the dangers of their kids using marijuana. Fortunately for the viewer, the production team turned the movie into an exploitation of the war on drugs. This film is highly recommended (for multiple viewings even) for a look at how the war on drugs propaganda got started.
We live in a modern day society where you can connect with people halfway around the world in seconds, go shopping without leaving the comfort of your own home, and some of us even have cars that park themselves. So if we are supposedly living in Marty McFly’s era (Back to the Future for the uninitiated), why are we still holding onto the times of Al Capone?
Prohibition of substances, whether it be alcohol or drugs, has never effectively worked and continues to fail to this very day. In the 1920’s the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement and the Anti-Saloon League were concerned about many American’s drinking behaviors which prompted them to pressure Congress to take action…and so the 18th Amendment was born. As we are all aware, people continued to consume alcoholic beverages despite the Volstead Act. Due to the overall noncompliance of the American citizen, the nation saw the 18th Amendment repealed not 20 years after its passing. It should be noted that this is the only U.S. Amendment of all 27 that was ever rescinded.
This brings us to present day prohibition in America. This new form of prohibition picked up steam sometime around the 1970 Nixon era; though not titled “Prohibition” any longer, it held the same meaning. This time Congress entitled it “The War on Drugs.” DrugPolicy.org states, “The number of people behind bars for nonviolent drug law offenses increased from 50,000 in 1980 to over 400,000 by 1997.” In 17 years the amount of American citizens incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses rose 700%. That’s 700% more of your tax dollar going toward the incarceration of nonviolent criminals.
Let’s consider the word war. War by definition is a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation. This suggests that a conflict is being carried on by force of arms between our government and nonviolent “criminals.” Does anyone not see the problem here? Let’s just assume that this war they are referring to just involves the violent criminals that deal in drugs. Well if that’s the case, then you have to factor in that the government has fashioned a workplace for them in which to operate in the form of a black market. This means good ol’ Uncle Sam is the one starting the war.
The incarceration of violent offenders coupled with nonviolent drug offenders equals a lot of damn tax money. We have to start asking ourselves why. Why are we allowing the government to spend our tax money on a war that they have created? Why are we allowing the birth of more violent criminals, when if we removed the market all together they might become productive citizens? Why are regular everyday citizens under constant threat of being arrested for what they put into their own body? Does the government own our bodies? If that’s their plan maybe we should at least take a vote on it first. The bottom line is that prohibition has never worked, in fact the only thing its ever worked is our tax dollar. It’s high time (see what I did there) we write our congressman, end this war, and smoke um’ peace pipe.
The Failed War on Drugs 