Why are some drugs legalized?
By: Silvia Rios-Carmen
RePin Image: Doodle Style Illegal Drugs. Digital image. Popista.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
History of Drugs
Back in 1930, Marijuana used to be a common drugs used for different kinds of medicines for different kinds of medical issues. But Harry J. Anslinger discovered a negative side to marijuana, and named it “killer weed”. During the Vietnam War, but mostly between the year 1957 to the year 1975, young people- specifically college campuses started to protest the United States’s participation in the Vietnam War. These young people were referred to as hippies, and they experimented on drugs, most people admired drugs for their mind-expanding effects. For example, a psychologist names Timothy Leary guided hippies to “turn on, tune in, and drop out” (Goldstein 31), in other words meaning to not accept social norms and to discover spiritual meaning by using drugs. Most famous artists were good artists because they were under the influence of drugs. Later on in 1971 heroin addictions became more and more common that it had reached bad proportions. Also in 1971 President Richard Nixon had officially declared that drug abuse was the public's number one enemy. In 1984 Nancy Reagan, wife of President Ronald Reagan, contributed her voice to the drug problem going on and inspire young people to “Just Say No” to drugs.
Nancy Reagan and the 'Just Say No' Ant. Digital image. Www.youtube.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
War On Drugs
There have been many questions regarding the legalization of drugs. According to the government and antidrug agencies, all drugs are harmful to health, no matter if it helps medical issues or worsens them. It’s been predicted that drug usage will decline if drugs are legalized. But with needles it’s different, owning a syringe or doing anything not medical with it is to be considered a crime. Many think that drug addicts should be punished but in reality these people are the ones that should be getting to most mental help they can get. “...Americans need education to keep them off drugs and treatment programs to help them quit drugs if they get too hooked” (Goldstein 80). If drugs do become legalized, people would have to be careful who they buy their drug supply from because there have been many cases in which drugs may not always be 100% pure. But just like other drugs, if illegal drugs are legalized, there will have to be general warnings. “... as long as some people will always use drugs, society must find ways to help them and reduce the harm caused by their drug use.” (Goldstein 83).
How Drugs Affect Your Looks and Your. Digital image.Www.justthinktwice.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
Legalization
There have been many questions regarding the legalization of drugs. According to the government and anti-drug agencies, all drugs are harmful to health, no matter if it helps medical issues or worsens them. It’s been predicted that drug usage will decline if drugs are legalized. But with needles it’s different, owning a syringe or doing anything not medical with it is to be considered a crime. Many think that drug addicts should be punished but in reality these people are the ones that should be getting to most mental help they can get. “...Americans need education to keep them off drugs and treatment programs to help them quit drugs if they get too hooked” (Goldstein 80). If drugs do become legalized, people would have to be careful who they buy their drug supply from because there have been many cases in which drugs may not always be 100% pure. But just like other drugs, if illegal drugs are legalized, there will have to be general warnings. “... as long as some people will always use drugs, society must find ways to help them and reduce the harm caused by their drug use.” (Goldstein 83).
Waynesboro Sees Increase in Syringe Drug Abuse. Digital image.Www.whsv.com. N.p., 03 Oct. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
What about Marijuana?
1 in 3 Americans have tried marijuana once. Marijuana influences concentration behavior but it isn’t as addictive as other drugs. Marijuana unlike other drugs does not make the user violent, instead it just makes them feel calm and makes them relaxed. More than 700,000 people get arrested for marijuana crimes. But can we say that everyone who has smoked marijuana at least once should be arrested? No “... adults who used marijuana peacefully, without bothering anyone else, would not be breaking the law”. No matter how much money we put towards law enforcement, people will not stop using drugs. Many say that if drugs are legalized many drug abusers will simply abuse drugs even more and there will be new abusers, but if drugs are legalized then there will be less violence in the world. There are many thoughts about drugs and its effects on people, people say drugs are simple wrong, and some say drugs might be seen as healthy. But what about the billions of dollars we’d allegedly save if drugs were legalized? “It’s true that we wouldn’t have to spend that money arresting and locking up casual drug users. But we would have to spend that money to pay for the social ills of increased drug use…” (Goldstein 111).
The Money in Marijuana | OpenSecrets. Digital image.Www.opensecrets.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
All About the Author
My name is Silvia, and I'm 16 years old. I chose this topic because there's certain illegal drugs that are very helpful with medical treatments. This topics is really interesting because there's so many facts behind the process, people think the President can just say "Drugs are legal" but no, there's so much more behind the process of legalizing drugs, there's law enforcement, restrictions, and so much more.
Location: Forest Hills High School, Forest Hills School Road South, Marshville, NC, United States
Project Reflection
I chose this topic because legalizing drugs is a big controversial topic nowadays. This topic was interesting for me because many people think that if legalizing drugs mean they can use drugs whenever they want to at whatever age, but actually there's also going to be some restrictions. I also thought the topic was interesting because there are some people that think illegal drugs are worse than legal drugs but some illegal drugs don't cause as much harm as legalized drugs would.
Works Cited
Here are my sources