America's War on Drugs escalated after President Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and increased penalties for marijuana-related offences. Criminalizing marijuana has caused the American legal system to appear severely imbalanced and even ludicrous with the majority of new convicts being non-violent offenders whose sentences often far outweigh those of murderers (Beatty, Holman & Schiraldi)
Yet perhaps no circumstances sparked the use of marijuana in the United States as robustly as the influx of Mexican immigrants after the turn of the century. Recreational marijuana use remained confined to Mexican-American communities but by the late 1920s the drug had also become popular with jazz musicians and urban bohemians in part because it was relatively cheap (Bonnie & Whitebread)
Schedule What? The prohibition of marijuana was initially based on faulty evidence linking use of the drug to violent crimes. Whereas marijuana still retained its value among the medical community, however, by 1970 it would become classified as a Schedule I narcotic: a delegation many experts believe to have "no rational basis" and which clearly violates the American Constitution (Hupy)
Moreover, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to review published scientific papers regarding the medicinal benefits of marijuana in spite of urging from major national and international health organizations ("Medical Use"). A 2004 American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) survey revealed that a whopping 72% of Americans over the age of 45 believe that "adults should be allowed to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if a physician recommends it," and 59% believe that marijuana does indeed have medicinal benefits (Kalata)
Unfortunately, neither American lawmakers nor the voting public learned from the mistakes made with the passing of prohibition laws. Although alcohol consumption in America dropped significantly by 1921, within a few years after the 18th Amendment was passed, per-capita drinking levels rose and a thriving black market permitted the flow of libations around the nation (Thornton)
"The legalization and taxation of cannabis would provide more than $1 billion dollars to balance California's busted budget." (Dickenson, 2009) a state "Marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past quarter century despite an exhaustive anti-drug effort by law enforcement
2 billion annually if marijuana was taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco." (Miron, 2005) Expenditures would come in three forms: Savings from prosecutorial and judicial resources, reduction in corrections departments and the reduction of police enforcement
"Seventy -- two percent of Americans say that for simple marijuana possession, people should not be incarcerated but fined: the generally accepted definition of decriminalization." (Nadelman, 2004) Broader legalization of the substance Forty percent agree that "the government should treat marijuana more or less the same way it treats alcohol: it should regulate it, control it, tax it and only make it illegal for children
When evaluating the merits of these laws, it is essential that the real motives behind them, and the success they have had as a whole throughout the past forty years be researched and documented. "Over half a century of marijuana prohibition in the United States has failed to control the use of the drug, and the governments accelerating pursuit of prohibition now exacts a price for exceeding the harm of this mild intoxicant," (Slaughter, 1987) Years of high criminal penalties and an anti-drug campaign did nothing to curb the marijuana usage in the United States
"Demand for marijuana is a key factor in the Mexican drug war. (Stone,2009) U
The Prohibition further intensified and contributed to the quick disintegration of the morals of the society. Alcohol consumption, highly occurring among males, led them to patronize saloons, which, in turn, promoted not only excessive alcohol consumption, but also socialization and 'establishing' intimate relationships with women, married or otherwise (McBee, 1999:86)
Alcohol consumption, highly occurring among males, led them to patronize saloons, which, in turn, promoted not only excessive alcohol consumption, but also socialization and 'establishing' intimate relationships with women, married or otherwise (McBee, 1999:86). After showing thee 'highs' (economic prosperity and social freedom) and 'lows' (moral disintegration) of the Roaring Twenties, it is also important to put the audience again into yet another context that would establish the period's place in American history as a "social revolution," happening after the First World War and acting as the precedent for the Great Depression (Price, 1999)
For the women, a controversial would be the emergence of 'women empowerment' in the form of through sexual awareness and education. This issue can be discussed two-fold: one side asserting that sexual education is empowering to women of the '20s, while the other side opposing this position, claiming that sex education can actually lead to obscene thoughts and acts (Wheeler, 2000:180)
This very fact separates the two and allows the previous immigrants to use alcohol as a scapegoat for all social problems, when clearly this was not the reality. (Auerhahn) Social conditions for new immigrants were regionally varied but in the large part atrocious and those who were more established felt threatened by the overwhelming nature of the visible symptoms of poor wages, squalor in living conditions and limited opportunity for success on the part of new immigrants
(Reuter 89) Others argue that the logical progression of the Mafia into the illegal drug trade was as a result of the repeal of prohibition and made societies issues regarding the consumption of drugs and alcohol far worse and the crimes that surround it far more violent. (Behr 29, 165-170) The Mafia and its legacy provide a great deal of interest for the media, as the legacy of the Mafia is often a popular movie plot
Some great things came from this, child labor laws, workers rights legislation, local and national infrastructure building for sanitation, all various aspects of the growth of the Progressive Movement, largely a social services driven political movement. (Byer 29) Yet, the movement to prohibit vices, such as the consumption of alcohol also emerged as a product of the investigations and moral views of these helping organizations
government and some strong social forces united in an attempt to legislate morality. (Columbia University, Press) Though other vices have had laws passed to make them illegal the government had never tried to make anything illegal that was so widely accepted as normal, i
government and some strong social forces united in an attempt to legislate morality. (Columbia University, Press) Though other vices have had laws passed to make them illegal the government had never tried to make anything illegal that was so widely accepted as normal, i
government and some strong social forces united in an attempt to legislate morality. (Columbia University, Press) Though other vices have had laws passed to make them illegal the government had never tried to make anything illegal that was so widely accepted as normal, i
That is, individuals were urged one by one to sign pledges promising to abstain from alcoholic beverages. (Krapohl and Lippy 33) The WCTU made great strides in areas outside of temperance and some would say even delayed the development of universal women's suffrage (through the failing of the 18th amendment) but none the less shaped the future of the nation significantly in both the negative and positive