War On Drugs
Michael Garrett (garr5206@uidaho.edu)
Lauryn Harriman (harr2871@uidaho.edu)
Jason Mahaffy (maha1484@uidaho.edu)
April Neubauer (aneubauer@vandals.uidaho.edu)
Brian Veseth (vese3866@uidaho.edu)
Nick Wood (wood0395@uidaho.edu)
Website URL: Group Website: www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~neub9078
Our topic became fashionable in the late 1960’s among white middle class Americans. Furthermore, drugs were glorified in the late 1970’s where it was glamorized by television. However, in 1971 Nixon named drugs “public enemy number one”. The laws on drugs were strict at first and slowly have become classed into two categories, soft and hard, with mandatory minimum sentences for each type of drug. There are many criticisms in both directions of the war on drugs and while some Americans protest our military going to other countries to fight this war other Americans support and fund these operations. Meanwhile, presidents enable greater trade routes with foreign countries then spend millions of dollars to stop the drug trade through the same routes. Doctors can prescribe medication, like narcotics, and if you take more than the prescribed dose then you are a criminal and can face very intense consequences for something that you had to pay for in the beginning. What this all reveals about our society is that we want the influence of drugs, and in some cases need the effects, but we don’t want the consequences or the negative publicity of being a drug addict. Before the “war on drugs” most of the “soft” drugs were passed by, not looked down upon, and many of the users were social type users, now there is such an influx of the influence that drugs are glorified in movies and music, which creates the thinking that drugs are not evil despite what laws the federal government passes to make them less desirable. America is caught between a rock and a hard place in the controversy pertaining to drugs. Ten percent of the world population has what is called an addictive personality and therefore is at top risk for death due to drug related causes. The rest of the population, if they use drugs for recreational purposes, use them socially and eventually don’t wish to use them anymore, making drugs a phase. On the other hand many religions use drugs to create a “spiritual awakening” and these religions see the drugs that they use as extremely helpful for these experiences. It is easy to take either side of the debate. Either drugs are monstrous or the suppression of American freedom to choose is monstrous. We must decide whether drugs are more harmful to the heath of America or if our freedom is at stake!
Lauryn: My portion of our project will explore the idea of drug prohibition and its effectiveness throughout American history.
Jason: In my project I will discuss marijuana: the stigmas surrounding the drug, its fairly harmless state, the poor job that the government has done to control its use, and why they shouldn’t be targeting marijuana as much as other drugs.
Brian: South American drug cartels.
Michael: The U.S. government feels they have the authority to enforce their beliefs and laws on drugs throughout the world.
Nick: The War on drugs is a walking contradiction based around the fact that some drugs are ok but only when there regulated by the government.
April: In my project I will attempt to detail the presence and opinion of drugs throughout history and question why some are considered medical tools and others immoral.