What Should We Know About War On Drugs - Free Essay Example

Four decades ago, the United States government announced a war on drugs. When the United States declared the war on drugs, they implemented that the use of marijuana, opium, coca, and psychedelics, that had previously been used for spiritual and medical use, were now illegal within the United States for recreational use. The United States has put in billions of dollars to budget the War on Drugs. To back up the United States claim that such drugs should be illegal, they have said that it is not only bad for the well-being of humans, but overall can take a toll on the human body. But even though those are major issues the United States have been tackling since the 1970s, these issues are far from being resolved. Drugs in the United States began surfacing in the 1800s. In 1806, Freidrich Serturner separated an organic alkaloid compound from resinous gum emitted by the opium poppy. He gave it the name morphine.  Ã‚   During the Civil War, thousands of soldiers who had been injured in combat, were given opium or morphine in field hospitals. Many of these soldiers returned with an addiction to morphine.  Ã‚   Doctors prescribed medicines with morphine for problems such as female troubles to war wounds. Doctors also prescribed morphine for alcoholism and continued to do so until the 1930s.   The first use of cocaine was in circa 1860. Around this time a German pharmaceutical company, by the name of Merck, first started to produce cocaine for certain drugs to use for the greater good. At first they produced small amounts, only to be used in certain circumstances. But later, they had begun producing larger amounts, word had spread that the company was using this drug. Mercks idea was to use this drug in new products to be given to Civil War Veterans who were suffering from addiction to morphine. By 1880, Merck was producing a little over 1 gram of cocaine a year.  Ã‚   In 1886, John Pemberton created Coca-Cola, a very popular soft drink. Pemberton had intended for his concoction to be used as a tonic for ailments. He based the components of the drink off of cocaine of the coca leaf and caffeine extracts. In 1903, Coca-Cola ingredients were changed, caffeine replaced cocaine.   In 1874, C.R. Alder Wright, an English chemist, synthesized heroin from morphine. Although heroin was found in 1874, it wasnt commercially produced until 1898 by Bayer Pharmaceutical Company. Heroin was made to replace morphine due to morphine abuse, but researchers found that heroin was also addictive.  Ã‚   In the early 1900s, many laws were made to try and prevent drug addictions. In 1914, Congress passed the Harrison Narcotics Act, which controlled opium, coca and their derivatives. The law made it illegal to buy over-the-counter drugs for everything from coughs to toothaches that included those drugs. It also prohibited doctors to prescribe opiates to help addiction.  Ã‚   In 1930, the U.S. Department of Treasury developed the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The major reasons for the invention of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was the incompetence and level of depravity within the previous narcotics agencies with the Narcotics Division of the Department of Treasury.  Ã‚   In 1951, the United Nations estimated that there is a total of 200 million marijuana users in the world. The major places are India, North Africa, Egypt, Mexico, and the United States. The Narcotics Control Act was enacted in 1956, it rendered death penalty if recommended by a jury, for the sale of heroin to a minor by an individual over eighteen.  Ã‚   The 1960s brought forth a movement that popularized drug use. The counterculture of the 1960s made marijuana use stylish. Many college-age men and women evolved into political activists and led civil-rights and anti-war movements. Hippies had become more popular among college campuses and led a life with sexual promiscuity and recreational drug use such as marijuana and LSD.  Ã‚   In 1970, President Nixon passed the Controlled Substances Act into law. The CSA models five schedules applied to categorize drugs based on their medical utilization and potential for abuse. Schedule 1 drugs are the most dangerous drugs, such as marijuana, LSD, heroin, and ecstasy. Substances that are less addictive such as cough medications with little codeine are labeled as Schedule 5s. In June 1971, Nixon declared a War on Drugs indicating that drug abuse was public enemy number one.  Ã‚   Nixon drastically increased the presence of federal drug control agencies and nudged through measures such as no-knock warrants and required sentencing. John Ehrlichman, a top Nixon aide, much later admitted: You want to know what this was really all about. The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what Im saying. We knew we couldnt make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did. In 1972, the commission collectively recommended legalizing the distribution and possession of marijuana for personal use. Nixon ignored this report and abandoned the recommendations.  Ã‚   In 1973, Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Administration, which is responsible for confronting drug use and smuggling in the United States. In the beginning, the DEA was given 1,470 agents and budget of $75 million. Now the DEA has almost 5,000 agents and a budget of $2.03 billion. Between 1973 and 1977, eleven states legalized marijuana possession. After running on a campaign to legalize marijuana, Jimmy Carter became president in 1977. In his first year, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to legalize within the limits of one ounce of marijuana.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The presidency of Ronald Reagan marked the start of period of high rates of incarceration, thanks to his remarkable extension of the drug war. After Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, his wife, Nancy Reagan, began Just Say No, an anti-drug campaign to teach kids the dangers of drug use. Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates founded the DARE drug education program, which was rapidly taken up on nationwide despite the absence of proof of its effectiveness. The drug policies also blocked the increase of syringe access programs and other abuse reduction policies to decrease the quick spread of HIV/AIDS.