The war on drugs was an attempt made by the US government to reduce or prevent drug use as well as destroy the international drug trade. Initially it succeeded in reducing drug use by decreasing the amount of drugs available and increasing the price. This made drugs less accessible to the public and did prevent some cases of drug abuse. However, the price of drugs has dropped significantly in recent years and the supply has also increased dramatically (Lopez, 2016). With this we have to ask is the war on drugs working and was it worth the $1,000,000,000 that it has costed to wage the war on drugs for the past 50 years?

References

Lopez, G., 2016. Vox. [Online]
Available at: https://www.vox.com/2016/5/8/18089368/war-on-drugs-marijuana-cocaine-heroin-meth
[Accessed 22 April 2019]. dpriority52

The War on drugs is the reason why many drugs are illegal for recreational use. Drugs like Marijuana, LSD and Magic Mushrooms that change the state of human consciousness. These drugs have the potential to change the way someone looks at society and strip away the normal state of consciousness for a few hours (Lewis, 2016). Obviously, with changes to consciousness and the way the brain functions, it gives people a new perspective. It not for this reason that the war on drugs was started. A recent article published by Vox states that “The real reason for the war on drugs was to criminalize black people and hippies” (Lopez, 2016). This targeted attack on certain groups was mainly due to the anti-war sentiment that the hippies embraced. Nixon wanted to crack down on the leaders of the anti-war movement but could not do so unless he had reason to under the law. The war on drugs was the way that Nixon could begin to crack down on opposition to the Vietnam War (Lopez, 2016).

While all these drugs are illegal, there are drugs that are legally produced by pharmaceutical companies that have similar effects or are derived from these illegal drugs. For example, cocaine is illegal while Novacaine is legal if prescribed by a doctor under clinical conditions (FDA, 2018). The war on drugs has not reduced drug use or stopped teenagers from using drugs. In fact it has actually increased teenage use of drugs not to mention that it violates many basic human rights in it’s enforcement (Williams, 2019). The fact that substances that have been proven to be harmful to human health are legal to purchase and consume, such as alcohol and tobacco, while other substances are illegal for human consumption is immoral. There is no other species in nature that restricts what other members of that species can consume it is unnatural to do that and immoral as it restricts a person’s free will. Also the fact that not obeying will have said person thrown into prison for a certain amount of time that varies from country to country. This is why the war on drugs is immoral.

Bibliography

FDA, 2018. FDA Guidelines. [Online]
Available at: https://www.drugs.com/pro/novocain.html
[Accessed 20 April 2019].

Lewis, M., 2016. The Gaurdian. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/15/lsd-research-brain-neuroscience-human-nature-psychedelic
[Accessed 20 April 2019].

Lopez, G., 2016. Vox. [Online]
Available at: https://www.vox.com/2016/3/22/11278760/war-on-drugs-racism-nixon
[Accessed 20 April 2019].

Williams, A., 2019. Equal Times. [Online]
Available at: https://www.equaltimes.org/the-war-on-drugs-is-ineffective#.XLyRC_ZuJPY
[Accessed 21 April 2019].

The last post compared two substances that are used frequently in society, Marijuana and alcohol, but what if we compare smoking tobacco to smoking marijuana? Today it is everyone knows the effects of tobacco smoke on our health, such as causing cancer. Tobacco smoke is a known carcinogen and is the number one factor of preventable death globally (CDC, 2015). Tobacco smoke is so deadly that it kills more people collectively than HIV, illegal drugs, alcohol, road accidents and gun deaths (CDC, 2015). Cigarettes are currently legal products that can be purchased legally by anyone over the age of 18. There are many toxic chemicals in tobacco smoke and they all have negative effects on the human body. These chemicals effect more than just the lungs, they effect nearly every organ in the human body (CDC, 2015). The problem with tobacco is that it is addictive because of nicotine. Nicotine is the reason so many people smoke and continue to smoke. There is a common saying “People smoke for the nicotine but they die from the smoke” (Sweanor, 2019).

What about marijuana smoke? Is it any safer than tobacco smoke or is it just as deadly as smoking tobacco? As research on marijuana has just started with a few US states legalizing marijuana for recreational and medical use, we do not currently have any data about the effects of it’s long term use. However, an early research paper suggests that marijuana smoke has no casual relationship to the types of cancers caused by tobacco (Melamede, 2005). However, despite marijuana consumption not being physically harmful, marijuana use can be harmful to someone’s mental health but there is still not enough data and research done to confirm it’s effects with long term use (WebMD, 2016). The effects of marijuana have not been studied for as long as the effects of tobacco smoke. It took researchers a long time to confirm the link between tobacco smoke and cancer. It will be a long time before researchers confirm the effects of marijuana smoke and the consumption of marijuana in edible form. As doctors would advise, you should not be inhaling anything but air into your lungs to prevent development of lung cancer.

Bibliography

CDC, 2015. Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking. [Online]
Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/index.htm
[Accessed 18 April 2019].

Melamede, R., 2005. Cannabis and tobacco smoke are not equally carcinogenic. Harm Reduction Journal, 2(21), p. 21.

Sweanor, D., 2019. People smoke for the nicotine but they die from the smoke : Prof. David Sweanor. [Online]
Available at: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/people-smoke-for-the-nicotine-but-they-die-from-the-smoke-prof-david-sweanor/68515833
[Accessed 18 April 2019].

WebMD, 2016. How Does Marijuana Affect You?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/marijuana-use-and-its-effects#1
[Accessed 18 April 2019].

Alcohol is a widely accepted drug in our society due to it’s legal status and availability. However, just because it is legal doesn’t mean that is safer than other drugs. An average of 2200 people die from alcohol poisoning every year in The United States alone. When deaths related to alcohol consumption, such as drunk driving, are included this number increases to 88000 a year (CDC, 2015). Alcohol consumption is also shown to increase the risk of developing certain types of cancers including liver, throat and mouth (Brodwin, 2018). Alcohol also has the tendency to bring out violent behavior in consumers of the substance due to lowered inhibition and cognition (Brodwin, 2018). Long term alcohol use can cause lead to memory impairment and dementia later in life. Alcohol is also classified as a human carcinogen .

Marijuana is an illegal drug that is currently the most frequently used illegal substance in the world today. Unlike alcohol no one has died directly from a marijuana overdose. In order to overdose on marijuana a person would have to consume 1500 pounds of marijuana in 15 minutes to overdose (Robinson, 2017). It is physically impossible to consume that much marijuana in such a short period of time. The possible danger of marijuana is that it could possibly cause lung cancer just like smoking cigarettes as well as causing mental illness to onset at an earlier age in people who have a genetic predisposition to developing the mental illness in the first place (Antti Mustonen, 2017). However, due to Marijuana’s illegal status we lack the research to confirm the long term effects of marijuana on human health. Marijuana has some medical benefit while alcohol has no medical benefit at all.

REFERENCES

Antti Mustonen, S. N. T. N. G. K. M., 2017. Adolescent cannabis use, baseline prodromal symptoms and the risk of psychosis. The British Journal of Phychiatry , 212(4), pp. 227-233.

Brodwin, E., 2018. Business Insider. [Online]
Available at: https://www.businessinsider.my/alcohol-marijuana-which-worse-health-2017-11/?r=US&IR=T
[Accessed 16 April 2019].

CDC, 2015. Alcohol Poisoning Deaths. [Online]
Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/alcohol-poisoning-deaths/index.html
[Accessed 16 April 2019].

Guy, J. & Clarke, H., 2018. Report says the UN’s global ‘war on drugs’ has been a failure. [Online]
Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/21/health/drug-report-un-failure-intl/index.html
[Accessed 11 April 2019].

Robinson, M., 2017. The Independent. [Online]
Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/how-much-marijuana-take-to-kill-you-fatal-weed-a8043856.html
[Accessed 16 April 2019]. rf

Watch to the end for the references for the documentary