War on drugs summary

Hey everyone,

The war on drugs conversation went great. It was held at Ryan's house, and it was doubled as a surprise birthday party for Missy! So everyone tell Missy happy birthday. We started with dinner, cake, and small talk for a while, then moved into the war on drugs conversation.

This is my personal take on the conversation, and on the articles that we read before the conversation. Again this is just what I got out of it and what my final opinion ended up being. FEEL FREE TO POST A COMMENT TO THIS TELLING EVERYONE WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THE ARTICLES AND SUCH. THE POINT OF THIS BOOK CLUB IS TO HEAR DIFFERENT OPINIONS FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE IN DIFFERENT DISCIPLINARY'S SO THAT WE CAN LEARN FROM DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW!

My take on the readings..

I will admit that I didn't read the readings as thoroughly as I should have, but I did get a few good points out of them. My favorite piece of the articles was from the second essay, which said "this is a battle of Plato V. (forgot the guys name, see last post), about whether it is the governments job to tell us what's right, or whether it's just the governments job to protect us from danger. This covers many aspects of our life, and definitely comes into play with the drug laws in this country.

During the discussion many things came up, but some topics were covered much more extensively than others. For example, we talked a lot about how we shouldn't say "drugs should be decriminalized and made legal", rather we decided that drugs should be taken on a case by case basis, because drugs such as heroin and meth are much more dangerous than marijuana. This was my favorite part of the discussion, because it is a core idea behind my opinion on what should happen with the future of drugs in our country.

Beyond covering marijuana, we talked a lot about the heavier drugs, particularly heroin, and how it is so dangerous. I made the point that many of my friends in high school, along with many people that I know if in high school, are literally addicted to OxyContin. This is a huge gateway drug for a straight run into heroin, because OxyContin is basically just a weaker version of heroin, and is about 5 times more expensive than heroin.

There was much more that we talked about, but these were my favorite ideas. To close I'm going to leave you with my opinion on what should happen with the future of drug policy in america.


We have been on a trend that is decriminalizing marijuana, and I believe that we should keep that up; on top of this I believe that states should start legalizing marijuana, and enforcing rules on it much more forcefully, such as making it illegal to drive while under the influence (just like alcohol, and there is new technology that makes it possible to test for it on the side of the road using a machine that processes your saliva). Eventually, I would like to see marijuana legalized and taxed, to gain money to help pull economies out of this crisis, empty our prisons a little bit, and stop funding huge drug cartels that make quality of life much poorer for many people.

I don't believe that we should legalize any other type of drug, but rather we should make these drugs available from hospitals. I believe that if we make drug addicts come to a hospital to shoot up their heroin, that it will be much safer for them, and for the public. Using clean needles, and clean and measured doses will lower the amount of overdoses, and decrease the spread of many diseases that can be spread from a needle, most notably AIDS. If possible this should be done at a lower cost than people can get on the streets, this will make them want to come into the hospital to get their fix, and will lower the demand for illegal drugs on the streets. While they are getting their fix in the hospital, it will be much easier to set up programs to wane people off of the addiction. There will be help there, and they can set them up on a schedule to get them off the drugs because the hospital would measure how much they are taking at a time. I believe it would be incredibly effective at removing the addiction from the persons' life.

This will also lead to a reduction in the amount of people who want to try these heavier drugs, as they know they would have to go to the hospital to get them. The drug scene right now is glamorous, young people see and hear about crazy parties in clubs, where people do drugs, and have a fun time. The thought of going to a hospital, and standing in line just to get a fix doesn't sound nearly as appealing.

The final way to reduce people wanting to start drugs, and to increase the number of people who will go to hospitals to get their fix, I feel that higher penalties for illegally using or possessing the drugs is in order. If you are charged with automatic years in prison for possessing cocaine, you are much more likely to go take some from the hospital than you are to buy some off the street. I would like to say that we should go as far as capital punishments for people possessing drugs (something fun like cutting of their tongue, or their hand, something of the like), as this would almost do away with street drugs completely, but I don't think it will ever happen, so I won't get my hopes up for that.

So there you have it, legalize marijuana as a recreation drug, and enforce strict laws on heavier drugs. Make it not worth the risk of carrying those drugs around on your own so that you have to go do it safely from the hospital. This will decrease deaths, addictions, and make it more safe for the public.

Adam