Mohammad Masood
In this paper I will talk about America’s War on Drugs. More specifically, I will summarize our nation's general drug history and look at how Congress has influenced our current drug policy. Through this I hope to show that drug policies in the United States, for the greater part, have failed. I will also talk about congresses decisions to continue support for these ineffective policies. Finally, I will conclude this research by marking the changes I feel necessary for future progress to be made. Among these changes are drug education and the elimination of our current system
First let’s us review the history and current situation of drugs today. Our present drug laws were first created at the beginning of the century. At the time, recreational use of narcotics was not a major issue. The first bill was for the purpose of standardizing pharmaceutical products. After that, the first criminal laws were created which were for opium products and cocaine. Although some states had banned the recreational use of marijuana, there was no federal criminal bill until 1937. By comparison, the use of alcohol and its legality was a major issue in United States in the early 20th century. This created the prohibition of alcohol from 1920 to 1933. Recreational drug use, particularly heroin, became more prevalent among the poor during the early 60s. The cost of heroin was high and its impurities were asscoaited with a lot of crime and over doses
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