Running head: RETHINKING THE ‘WAR’ ON DRUGS 1
Rethinking the ‘War’ on Drugs
Wilda Schoeppler Pickett
Columbia College
RETHINKING THE ‘WAR’ ON DRUGS 2
Abstract
This paper will explore the possibility that the war on drugs will be a losing battle as long as it’s viewed as having a paramilitary solution, instead of being a public health crisis. How the lack of education, regarding drugs and their effects, has lead to an ever increasing problem for the United States.
RETHINKING THE ‘WAR’ ON DRUGS 3
Rethinking the ‘War’ on Drugs
One of the biggest problems faced by people experimenting with drugs is that they don’t know if and …show more content…
Keeping up the steady supply of drugs can become a problem when the money has run out. This can lead the addict to engage in high risk behavior like stealing, prostitution, drug dealing and an assortment of other crimes in order to support their habit. Eventually, without proper intervention and treatment, their lives can become a vicious cycle of trying to acquire the drugs, using it and them trying to get more. Acquiring the drugs and using becomes more important than anything else in their lives, including their family and their own health.
While everyone is at risk of becoming an addict, how far up or down you are the economic ladder doesn’t seem to be a factor as far as risk factor, everyone is at risk. Drug addiction in this country has spread like wild fire from urban settings to the suburbs. There are daily news stories of people overdosing in cars, stores, homes and work, sadly many times in front of their young children. The economic factor seems to come into play when it comes to
RETHINKING THE ‘WAR’ ON DRUGS …show more content…
There is premature aging as the body and mind are being abused, as well as high risk for disease such as HIV as the addict engages in risky behavior, such as unprotected sex and shared needles.
The truth of the matter is that you can throw people in jail and spend billions of dollars on law enforcement like we have done since the early seventies when President Nixon called the
RETHINKING THE ‘WAR’ ON DRUGS 5 first official ‘War’ on Drugs, but if you do not treat the addicts and educate the public then this epidemic will continue. One of the biggest reasons that people do not seek treatment soon enough is fear of being label and the stigma associated with drug use. This is why Michael Botticelli, the appointed drug Czar by President Obama, has condemned the "failed policies and failed practices" of past, and refers not to heroin "junkies" or "addicts" but to Americans with "opioid-abuse
Rethinking the ‘War’ on Drugs
Wilda Schoeppler Pickett
Columbia College
RETHINKING THE ‘WAR’ ON DRUGS 2
Abstract
This paper will explore the possibility that the war on drugs will be a losing battle as long as it’s viewed as having a paramilitary solution, instead of being a public health crisis. How the lack of education, regarding drugs and their effects, has lead to an ever increasing problem for the United States.
RETHINKING THE ‘WAR’ ON DRUGS 3
Rethinking the ‘War’ on Drugs
One of the biggest problems faced by people experimenting with drugs is that they don’t know if and …show more content…
Keeping up the steady supply of drugs can become a problem when the money has run out. This can lead the addict to engage in high risk behavior like stealing, prostitution, drug dealing and an assortment of other crimes in order to support their habit. Eventually, without proper intervention and treatment, their lives can become a vicious cycle of trying to acquire the drugs, using it and them trying to get more. Acquiring the drugs and using becomes more important than anything else in their lives, including their family and their own health.
While everyone is at risk of becoming an addict, how far up or down you are the economic ladder doesn’t seem to be a factor as far as risk factor, everyone is at risk. Drug addiction in this country has spread like wild fire from urban settings to the suburbs. There are daily news stories of people overdosing in cars, stores, homes and work, sadly many times in front of their young children. The economic factor seems to come into play when it comes to
RETHINKING THE ‘WAR’ ON DRUGS …show more content…
There is premature aging as the body and mind are being abused, as well as high risk for disease such as HIV as the addict engages in risky behavior, such as unprotected sex and shared needles.
The truth of the matter is that you can throw people in jail and spend billions of dollars on law enforcement like we have done since the early seventies when President Nixon called the
RETHINKING THE ‘WAR’ ON DRUGS 5 first official ‘War’ on Drugs, but if you do not treat the addicts and educate the public then this epidemic will continue. One of the biggest reasons that people do not seek treatment soon enough is fear of being label and the stigma associated with drug use. This is why Michael Botticelli, the appointed drug Czar by President Obama, has condemned the "failed policies and failed practices" of past, and refers not to heroin "junkies" or "addicts" but to Americans with "opioid-abuse