Yeah, I know this is a very cliched topic, but it's one that doesn't really have any good solutions that I can see. Legalize everything doesn't work, and ban everything isn't working...
Here is the rough draft of an oration for Debate.
It would be easy for me to get a hold of quite a bit of pot. In fact, I could get in a few hours. That tells us all something about our society. If drugs are easy for the average kid to get, then we are losing our war on drugs. If we can’t keep the drugs out of our country, then the war is already as good as lost. It has been a losing war ever since it started, mostly because we have been fighting against ourselves. Millions of American citizens are arrested and imprisoned simply because they possessed an illegal drug. They did not hurt or infringe on anyone’s rights, except their own. And the jail time that they receive will do them more harm than the drug would have. Many of them won’t even get the chance to receive adequate treatment.
The US takes a hard, zero-tolerance policy against drug addicts that, when studied critically, doesn’t make too much sense. We won’t even supply needles to help prevent the spread of AIDS. Not that denying them clean needles would stop any of these heroin addicts from using. No, instead they use the dirty old needles, and HIV slowly spreads into the US. These drug addicts, as I’ve said, aren’t actually harming anyone. The police still take a military approach to cracking down on these people, with a cold, hard attitude, a gun, and bulletproof vest. They forget that they’re dealing with people, especially people who have had a harder life than they have. There is very little sympathy, and they’re trained that they are soldiers in a war against drugs, instead of respected members of the community.
The most important part of our drug war, fighting it abroad, hasn’t been focused on nearly enough. Colombia still produces tons of cocaine, and we haven’t stepped up to stop them. Recently, we had the chance to bomb huge crops of heroin and opium in Afghanistan. We didn’t, instead we compromised in order to defeat the Taliban and pursue the terrorists. They produced 70% of the world’s opiates, and now that opium will be heading to Europe. It seems that the US would rather arrest our poor US citizens than fight in an expensive war abroad.
One of the worst problems resulting from drug prohibition is the black market. The drugs that are so readily available cost a fortune, and that money goes back to drug lords who use it for their own evil purposes, such as funding terrorism. The lucrative black market also attracts kids who are eager to get rich, and eventually become criminals. Not only that, but it also corrupts local officials. More than a few cops have been arrested for it, and those are just the ones who are caught.
Another side-affect of the drug war is drug crimes. The reason that most of these crimes happen is because the drugs are illegal. It isn’t because people go crazy after smoking a joint or taking some happy pill. We Americans know better than that, after all, the government estimates that over a third of Americans have tried an illegal drug – and that’s a conservative estimate. No, violence is more likely to happen after taking a legal drug, alcohol. After all, it lowers inhibitions, and is renown for starting fights.
The staggering problems go on and on. Our preventative measure against kids just don’t seem to be working – 40% of sixteen year olds report having tried an illegal drug, compared to 20% in the Netherlands, a place where marijuana is basically legal. Indeed, we have the highest drug use (or abuse, they seem to be synonymous) in all of the developed countries. It seems very strange, considering we have the harshest laws against it, and funnel the most money into it.
All this seems to suggest that we must reform our war on drugs, but what alternatives do we have? Can we really continue arresting every single drug user in the country, destroying their lives even more in the process? There are several things that can be done, risky as some seem. Most of Europe has decriminalized possession of marijuana and made them punishable only by fines, and that seems to be working. They all have lower use rates than the United States, and some are pushing for even more liberalization. The Netherlands allows marijuana to be sold, and also enjoys a homicide rate of ¼ of the US, as well as having less trouble with drug abuse and drug crimes. Despite all this evidence, many Americans are still blindly obstinate against any tolerance of illegal drugs. Nick Pastone, former chief of police at New Haven, Connecticut, advises training police officers in a more understanding, caring way. He implemented “sensitivity classes” for his cops and exposure to the life of the poor. At the very least we could concentrate less on the users, and more on the drug trafficers and drug lords who are the root cause of this. In the end, though, the responsibility has to lie with the people and the culture.
I didn't come to much of a conclusion... that's where I started to fall asleep, but also because the solution is hard to come up with. The best one would be to eliminate heroin and cocaine from most of the world by using some sort of global enforcement, but that's not really feasible. We can work towards it, true. We also can't continue to lock up American citizens who are just addicted and down on their luck, even if they get to the point of dealing drugs...
Legalizing pot is an easy one, and just about the only one I came up with... but there are people who argue that pot causes a bit of brain damage, and after smoking it a few years I'm inclined to believe them.
I also stayed away from the abuse of prescription/designer drugs, which I believe is the worst problem right now, but I don't really want to even go there.
So, how can we solve this? Make more drugs legal, and endure them as a necessary evil, like alcohol? It's clear that our enforcement is not effective, but should we just pour more money into it? Or resort to even more fascist tactics to catch these "evil" drug dealers and users? We can't lock up 1/3 or the country.
Anyway, good luck plowing through this, feedback would be appreciated.
Here is the rough draft of an oration for Debate.
It would be easy for me to get a hold of quite a bit of pot. In fact, I could get in a few hours. That tells us all something about our society. If drugs are easy for the average kid to get, then we are losing our war on drugs. If we can’t keep the drugs out of our country, then the war is already as good as lost. It has been a losing war ever since it started, mostly because we have been fighting against ourselves. Millions of American citizens are arrested and imprisoned simply because they possessed an illegal drug. They did not hurt or infringe on anyone’s rights, except their own. And the jail time that they receive will do them more harm than the drug would have. Many of them won’t even get the chance to receive adequate treatment.
The US takes a hard, zero-tolerance policy against drug addicts that, when studied critically, doesn’t make too much sense. We won’t even supply needles to help prevent the spread of AIDS. Not that denying them clean needles would stop any of these heroin addicts from using. No, instead they use the dirty old needles, and HIV slowly spreads into the US. These drug addicts, as I’ve said, aren’t actually harming anyone. The police still take a military approach to cracking down on these people, with a cold, hard attitude, a gun, and bulletproof vest. They forget that they’re dealing with people, especially people who have had a harder life than they have. There is very little sympathy, and they’re trained that they are soldiers in a war against drugs, instead of respected members of the community.
The most important part of our drug war, fighting it abroad, hasn’t been focused on nearly enough. Colombia still produces tons of cocaine, and we haven’t stepped up to stop them. Recently, we had the chance to bomb huge crops of heroin and opium in Afghanistan. We didn’t, instead we compromised in order to defeat the Taliban and pursue the terrorists. They produced 70% of the world’s opiates, and now that opium will be heading to Europe. It seems that the US would rather arrest our poor US citizens than fight in an expensive war abroad.
One of the worst problems resulting from drug prohibition is the black market. The drugs that are so readily available cost a fortune, and that money goes back to drug lords who use it for their own evil purposes, such as funding terrorism. The lucrative black market also attracts kids who are eager to get rich, and eventually become criminals. Not only that, but it also corrupts local officials. More than a few cops have been arrested for it, and those are just the ones who are caught.
Another side-affect of the drug war is drug crimes. The reason that most of these crimes happen is because the drugs are illegal. It isn’t because people go crazy after smoking a joint or taking some happy pill. We Americans know better than that, after all, the government estimates that over a third of Americans have tried an illegal drug – and that’s a conservative estimate. No, violence is more likely to happen after taking a legal drug, alcohol. After all, it lowers inhibitions, and is renown for starting fights.
The staggering problems go on and on. Our preventative measure against kids just don’t seem to be working – 40% of sixteen year olds report having tried an illegal drug, compared to 20% in the Netherlands, a place where marijuana is basically legal. Indeed, we have the highest drug use (or abuse, they seem to be synonymous) in all of the developed countries. It seems very strange, considering we have the harshest laws against it, and funnel the most money into it.
All this seems to suggest that we must reform our war on drugs, but what alternatives do we have? Can we really continue arresting every single drug user in the country, destroying their lives even more in the process? There are several things that can be done, risky as some seem. Most of Europe has decriminalized possession of marijuana and made them punishable only by fines, and that seems to be working. They all have lower use rates than the United States, and some are pushing for even more liberalization. The Netherlands allows marijuana to be sold, and also enjoys a homicide rate of ¼ of the US, as well as having less trouble with drug abuse and drug crimes. Despite all this evidence, many Americans are still blindly obstinate against any tolerance of illegal drugs. Nick Pastone, former chief of police at New Haven, Connecticut, advises training police officers in a more understanding, caring way. He implemented “sensitivity classes” for his cops and exposure to the life of the poor. At the very least we could concentrate less on the users, and more on the drug trafficers and drug lords who are the root cause of this. In the end, though, the responsibility has to lie with the people and the culture.
I didn't come to much of a conclusion... that's where I started to fall asleep, but also because the solution is hard to come up with. The best one would be to eliminate heroin and cocaine from most of the world by using some sort of global enforcement, but that's not really feasible. We can work towards it, true. We also can't continue to lock up American citizens who are just addicted and down on their luck, even if they get to the point of dealing drugs...
Legalizing pot is an easy one, and just about the only one I came up with... but there are people who argue that pot causes a bit of brain damage, and after smoking it a few years I'm inclined to believe them.
I also stayed away from the abuse of prescription/designer drugs, which I believe is the worst problem right now, but I don't really want to even go there.So, how can we solve this? Make more drugs legal, and endure them as a necessary evil, like alcohol? It's clear that our enforcement is not effective, but should we just pour more money into it? Or resort to even more fascist tactics to catch these "evil" drug dealers and users? We can't lock up 1/3 or the country.
Anyway, good luck plowing through this, feedback would be appreciated.
