In addition, gangs increasingly are smuggling large quantities of heroin, cocaine, and MDMA (also known as ecstasy) into the United States. Local street gangs in rural, suburban, and urban areas transport drugs within very specific areas, most of what seem to be low socio-economical areas. Some gangs collect millions of dollars per month selling illegal drugs, trafficking weapons, operating prostitutions rings, and selling stolen property. Gangs launder their proceeds by investing in real estate, recording studios, motor cycle shops, and construction companies. The extent of gangs/drugs A proliferation in gangs will also mean a growth in drug and violence in our community’s and threatening society in general.
Many drug users are arrested for possession of Marijuana every day. It has been a problem that Marijuana is the most common drug that is used in the streets. Also numerous addicts are arrested for different drugs such as heroin or crack cocaine or many times, are under the influence of alcohol. Somehow, the issue on legalizing Marijuana is that anti Marijuana users think that if Marijuana is legalized, crime on the streets would be much higher. For instance, Pot heads (Marijuana users) get busted for minor crimes such as illegal possession of Marijuana.
War in Iraq My political knowledge is essentially non-existent. I have discovered the more I learn about our government and its actions the less I wish I knew. My limited political knowledge comes mainly from the sensationalized and biased mainstream media. When approaching this paper I was directed towards a book, Fiasco, written by Thomas E. Ricks. I worked individually on my paper to research the topic of the war in Iraq and more specifically, President Bush’s policy on this topic.
This book is a collection of learned essay by variety of authors and writers who view coercive diplomacy, which means to change the behavior of a nation or group of people by threat, limited use of military force. The studying cases of nations are Bosnia, Haiti, Iraq, Taiwan North Korea and many others. It provides information on trends in American relations with different states both present, past and future. Jett, Dennis C. Why American Foreign Policy Fails: Unsafe at Home and Despised Abroad. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
In “Science, Law, and the search for Truth in the Courtroom: Lessons from Daubert v. Merrell Dow”, Bertin and Henifin (1994) argue that science and law have different ways of pursuing ‘truth’ and they question who should be taking burden of this uncertain state. Mukherjee et al. (2001) and many other researchers question the risk of Vioxx, which was mainly for osteoarthritis relief, ever since it was introduced in the U.S. pharmaceutical market in 1999 (Wadman Meredith, p.899). Merck & Co. conducted an experiment on safety test of Vioxx, known as the VIGOR, before introducing it to the market and the company did hide the fact that there was a chance of harmful side effects associated with the drug (Mayer Theodore, p.1068). However due to actual risk of Vioxx, Merck & Co. voluntarily withdrew the drug from the market in 2004 (Wolsing Jennifer, p.214).
Thirty years later, marijuana emerged as the drug of choice for many middle class young adults. In the 1980’s stiffer penalties for drug offenders fueled the further criminalization of marijuana, and the drug war pressed on. Today a new reefer madness infects America, a madness that creates a disturbance in otherwise respectable people’s lives. It is the prohibition of marijuana. I am a good father and a decent student.
HIV/AIDS The effects of HIV and AIDS are deadly, and one of the most dangerous diseases in the world. Throughout the story line of Forrest Gump, HIV and AIDS aren’t directly said but they are heavily implied as Jenny, Forrest’s childhood friend and crush, goes through the hippie era and used various drugs and becomes very sick and dies young. Throughout the story line the director flashed between what was happening in Forrest’s and Jenny’s life. During these scenes it shows Jenny hanging out with her hippie friends and doing numerous amounts of drugs and even at some points it shows Jenny using dirty needles, which are most commonly associated with the contraction of HIV and AIDS. These scenes accurately line up with the events that occurred at home while soldiers were away fighting the war in Vietnam.
One factor contributing to the continuous growth of substance abusers in the prison population is drug misuse and addiction. The majority of inmates incarcerated have used illegal drugs on a regular basis (at least once a week for a period of one month) and have been incarcerated for selling or possessing drugs; driving under the influence of alcohol; committed crimes under the influence of drugs or alcohol; committed their crimes to get money for drugs; have a history of substance abuse; or share a combination of these characteristics (CASAColumbia, 1998). Another factor is the war on drugs and mandatory minimum sentences. In an attempt to reduce drug abuse and drug dealing, the U.S. has pursued punitive drug control policies to threaten arrest and incarceration. Mandatory minimums at the state and federal levels lead to individuals being sent to prison for possession of relatively small amounts of illegal substances (Taylor, Hallam & Allen, 2009).
The minimum drinking age in the United States has and will continue to stir controversy as new proposals to lower the legal alcohol consumption age occur. Lowering the legal drinking age to 18 is something that has been contemplated time and time again by our “all-knowing” government who continues to make loose-ended arguments backed up by not so solid facts. In an attempt to shut down any further prying about lowering the minimum drinking age, the government is spending taxpayer money on the NIAAA, or the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Their job is to suggest counter arguments to any existing arguments about the already set drinking age. However, what most of us don’t know is that this agency is guilty of presenting deceptive and misleading arguments in promoting the current minimum legal drinking age.
In pop culture, there were movies that portrayed the use of marijuana causing people to be so paranoid that they resorted to rape and murder. Paranoia is a side effect of marijuana but not to the extent of rape and murder. Most of the paranoia caused by smoking marijuana is from it being illegal. Just like the 12-year old sneaking their first cigarette smoking marijuana causes the same kind of paranoia. News articles came out that there were gruesome murders and violent attacks on people from marijuana.