America's Drug Problem

Among George Bush's campaign promises was the promise to create a "kinder and gentler" nation. When the press hounded him to define this phrase he said that it meant that he would try to inspire more volunteer programs and ways of finding solutions to problems without spending government money. This makes some sense since the general public in the United States seems to want things to change but doesn't want to spend any money to find a solution (Weintraub, 1989). In other words, they don't want their taxes increased. Drug abuse is one of the problems that this country faces and yet doesn't want to spend any money to solve. The following then is the way I would try to solve this country's drug problem and find money to help the fight, if I were William Bennett.

First of all, this country needs to spend a little money to bring about more drug awareness, other than "just saying no." It's important to make up our minds about what is and what is not a drug. The staunchest anti-drug people can often be those who smoke two packs of cigarettes a day and who are arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. These too are drugs that affect mood and influence behavior. Maybe, then, we should determine that some drugs when used responsibly are okay. These would include caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and probably cocaine. These "good" drugs would be determined by the fact that they are derived from natural sources.

The primary difficulty of such a plan would

Related Essays

US ANTI-DRUG POLICIES IN SOUTH AMERICA .... is being maintained" (Philipsborn, 1993, p. 5). American anti-drug efforts in South America have also .... Flynn, S. (1993, Winter). "Worldwide Drug Scourge: The .... (1929 8 )

Drug abuse as a major social problem .... Lishner, Denise M. and Michael S. Look. .... and risk for AIDS transmission among intravenous drug users in .... of Drugs." In Robert Aimed Long (ed.), Drugs in America. .... (3280 13 )

Latin American-United States Relations .... has long been perceived by many Latin Americans as a nation intent on dominating Latin America economically to .... Flynn, S. "Worldwide Drug Scourge: The .... (1659 7 )

COMPULSORY DRUG ABUSE TESTING EMPLOYERS .... De Cresce, Robert P., and Lifshitz, Mark S. Drug Testing in the Work Place. .... Steal this Urine Test: Fighting Drug Hysteria in America. .... (3825 15 )

War on Drugs .... of illegal drugs is a pervasive situation in America, one that .... it is out leaders who seem "stoned." The drug war .... August 1, 1999: 1-2. Wisotsky, S. Breaking the .... (1024 4 )

Annotated Bibliography: Drug Abuse .... Husak, D., & Peele, S. 1998 .... Findings from the Drug Use Forecasting/Arrestee Drug and Alcohol Monitoring .... Prostitution control in America: Rethinking public policy .... (760 3 )

ure that more American dollars were being spent in the United States, rather than going to a few drug lords in other countries. Psychologically, legalizing these drugs would also help teenagers. Since many teenagers think it's cool to try different things, especially things they have been told not to try, I making cocaine and marijuana readily available products, they would become boring, just like cigarettes did for our parents, once they were old enough to smoke them. Since children cannot be put in jail, they are often used as sellers and distributors of illegal drugs. This gives them a false sense of hope about what they can do. It also teaches them the need for violence. Many inner-city gang fights and killings would not occur if the sale of marijuana and cocaine occurred at your local grocery store, coffee, cigarettes, and sleeping pills are sold There would still have to be a war on drugs, as stated earlier, against the drugs that are more dangerous. The distinction would be that man-made chemicals are used to make these drugs (ecstasy, crack, angel dust, LSD, etc.), and that makes them immediately addictive and dangerous to the body. Where new ads for marijuana and cocaine might look like the Surgeon General's

Category: Medical - A