Bshs 455 - Take a Stand Paper

Take a Stand Paper

Alethea Cooper

BSHS/455

October 12, 2015

Linda Cook

Take a Stand Paper

Drugs and alcohol are a large part of the United States, whether it is for; purchase, consumption, sell, distribution, medical use, or abuse. People will do what they can to get drugs and alcohol. Even medicine is not used for what it is intended to do. What was once legal is now used for illegal purposes for example; cough medicine, which rappers have even made into an illegal drug to get high off of called lean. The Government and Law Enforcement officials are doing everything they can to stop illegal drug sells and use. From arresting, using informants, rehabilitation and seizing drug- related properties.

In the video “War on Drugs”, The Law Enforcement officials believed that seizing anything or anyone that appeared drug related to being seized or arrested. They were going as far as seizing anyone with a nice car, nice home, arresting someone who looked like they were a drug dealer. The video mentioned a man who was going on a trip where he would be gambling, so he had a large amount of cash. The airline receptionist had him arrested and they seized all of the cash. The man in fact, was not a drug dealer at all. This goes to show that there was not an investigation done, which is very important in situations like this one. There are people who prefer cash and there are some people who prefer to use credit/debit, so why search, seize and arrest someone who are well off enough to carry a large amount of cash. One of the Officers stated, they will go as far as seizing people’s gold teeth. In my opinion, the Law Enforcement Officials seemed like you were doing this to fund their program rather than end the war on drugs.

In my opinion to end the war on drugs, making several arrests on people who have families and taking their families away from them is not going to end the war on drugs. When there are thousands of arrests made for drug offenses, which cost a lot of money the United States does not have to continue to spend. The tax dollars citizens pay for medicinal marijuana and alcohol, pay a high tax price that are spent on incarcerated drug offenders, can be spent on healthcare benefits and the war on poverty. I believe in order to stop the war on drugs; people will have to decide to stop abusing and selling drugs and alcohol on their own. People will always find a way to get high off of something. For example people are getting high off of nutmeg, spray paint, and cough medicine. There is no way to really stop the war on drugs. For instance, when alcohol was legalized, the taxes were raised and the age limit was raised to stop people from becoming alcoholics and driving under the influence. This did not stop anything; teenagers will find a way to get alcoholic beverages.  Alcoholics will use their last dime to get a sip. The more something is less available to drug sellers, traffickers, alcoholics, and drug abusers, the more the crime rate will go up, because people are going to do whatever is necessary to get the product.