I found the topic of “medical tourism” odd and compelling. It made me wonder why Americans would travel all the way to Mexico for supposedly cheaper healthcare. Either Mexico’s healthcare is extremely cheap or the United States’ healthcare is extremely expensive to justify travelling that far for a dentist appointment and for that to be economically viable. I suspect it’s a mixture of the former and the latter, although honestly the violence between drug cartels in Mexico would make me too nervous to ever travel there. I’m sure many Europeans feel the same way about traveling to the United States when they read up on the country’s gun violence statistics though…
Huemer’s Moral Argument Michael Huemer argues in favor of legalizing recreational drug use by addressing three major concerns that are commonly used to argue in favor of drug criminalization: (1) Drug users may harm themselves (2) Drug users may harm others (3) Drug use may make people less productive and less altruistic In order to address the first two concerns, Huemer posits that there exist countless legal behaviors that result in self-harm and harm to others. These behaviors include “smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol [....] [and being] an inattentive and inconsiderate spouse and parent” (PPE 584-6). If it is not the role of the government to restrict these activities, then it should not be the responsibility of the government to prohibit…
Drug addictions and abuse are not solely an American problem. The drug problem is worldwide. Drug policies vary from country to country and are unique to their specific problems. Each country has developed its own policy in regards to illicit drug use, with varying degrees of tolerance and enforcement towards consumption-related behavior. (Gatto, 1999).…
In his article, “Decriminalizing Drugs Would Not Prevent Prescription Drug Abuse,” William J. Bennett argues that the legalization of drugs would not prevent people from misusing or abusing a drug. He brings up the death of Whitney Houston, including other celebrities, and how “legalizing drugs and making them more readily available would not have saved her life.” He believes that legalization will actually accelerate the misuse and abuse of drugs. Bennett uses Portugal as an example of what would happen if we did decriminalized drugs and ultimately concludes that it would be a failure, just like in Portugal. Although Bennett makes a strong argument here, and I do agree with some of his points, there is still hope that education will go…
Throughout world history, societies have used drugs, such as ayahuasca, opium, and marijuana, for spiritual and medicinal purposes. Even in our own country during the, heroin was prescribed to treat respiratory illness and cocaine was consumed recreationally via Coca-Cola products. In relatively recent years, however, the American government enacted numerous policies targeting the sale, possession, and use of specific drugs. In 1915, The Harrison Narcotics act enforced a policy with restrictions on manufacturing and selling marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and morphine for the first time. After the creation of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics under the Hoover administration, drugs were increasingly criminalized through the enactment of The Boggs…
This paper will compare prohibition to today’s war on drugs. In both cases propaganda and special interest groups played a major role in the federal government passing laws prohibiting certain substances. These will be compared with information that provides the background, reasons, and outcomes for both. The final policy created will address today's drug problems and most specifically those dealing with marijuana.…
It is not just in America but throughout the world that people are attracted towards substances that may greatly harm their health. The…
Drug laws play a vital role in American society because drug use is an unfortunate part of the culture. Regardless of one’s views on whether some currently illegal drugs should be treated differently than others, the fact is that at this point all non-prescription drugs are illegal, and the government is responsible for responding to public outcry on this issue whether it be the legalization of recreational drugs like marijuana or the perceived injustices handed down to non-violent drug offenders. The serious nature of our country’s drug epidemic makes the topic of drug laws one that must be addressed by all branches of the US Government; the President is calling for legalization of recreational marijuana, congress is passing groundbreaking…
For decades, overcrowded prison populations have been at the top of the list for penal reform in the United States. The Federal Bureau of Prisons reports that nearly 85,500 individuals are currently incarcerated on drug-related charges, making up 46.4% of the total inmate population in our prison systems. Of those incarcerated on drug charges, nearly half are low-level drug offenders with no current or prior violence charges on their records. (The United States War on Drugs, n.d) Are criminalization and harsh punitive measures against these nonviolent offenders the root source of our overcrowded prison systems?…
After 40 plus years the American Government’s declared war on drugs has not served its purpose, the Central Intelligence Agency reports that the United States is the world’s largest consumer of cocaine, Columbian heroin, Mexican heroin and…
According to the Association of the Chiefs of Police, drug use in this country kills thousands of Americans (United States. Drug Enforcement Administration, 2010, p. 3). The efforts in some states to legalize these drugs are doing more harm than good (United States. Drug Enforcement Administration, 2010, p. 3). They believe that the states are misleading the public and the real impact and harm the drug use will have on their communities, in fact by legalizing drugs, it does not stop the violence or crime in their communities or reduce the day to day threat that our law enforcement faces out on the streets of our towns and cities (United States.…
In reviewing other countries drug policies, Portugal has found an answer to the drug epidemic. Previously, Portugal was spending millions and getting nowhere. In the 90’s drug problems increased significantly. “In 1991, 4,667 people were arrested for drug offenses.…
Drugs are a big problem, be they in poor and black communities, or rich and white. While added tolerance on drug crimes might help those one-time or small offenders who seriously wish to turn their life around, or the inevitably vulnerable to life on the street, in the long run it would increase... If with such stringent and unforgiving measures, drugs are still found in our schools, our workplaces, our communities, then the loosening of the governments grip on drug criminals would seem to also serve to encourage more drug trade. Many people like to point to prohibition when arguing the legalization of some drugs. They say, when the ban on alcohol was lifted, the booze-smuggling underground gangsters were destroyed and alcohol consumption returned to its normal level and the appeal of the reckless excessive partying was lost when the drink was legalized.…
Bennett states that “with legalization, drug use will go up, way up” (par 12) in America. However, Portugal found that when drugs became legalized, the opposite happened.…
The argument on whether drugs should be legalized has been going on for so long now. Some people say as an Americans we have the right to choose whether we want to do drugs or not. It is really hard to control the consumption of drugs, because people are going to do them whether they are legal or illegal. Other people say that the laws that are being enforced now are good to control drugs. “There will also be more unpublicized fatal and maiming crashes, more job accidents, more child neglect, more of everything associated with substance abuse”(M. Kendrecke).…