How about maybe? In this paper I will outline the problems of the pedagogical approach the United States federal government took in light of the War on Drugs on the wide public education on drug use. I will examine two different articles from Think Progress and The Guardian that argue against the 1986 initiative by Nancy Reagan that became one of the most subtle but destructive aspects about the War on Drugs. She started an country wide program aimed at educating the youth. More specifically on being able to prevent drug use in teenagers. However, there were unintended consequences that I believe negatively affected the minds bodies and futures of those same teenagers they were trying to help out. Also, the seemingly noble intent to …show more content…
For instance, shortly after its initiation, police officers started being brought into public schools. The usual events were comprised of drug prevention talks where the police demonize drug dealers and shared their experiences dealing with drugged out people. While these scare tactics give an appearance of deterrence there was a study cited in the article by Scientific American, conducted that teenagers were just as likely to use drugs after through these abstinence based programs than if they didn’t get any information at all. The article also found a fatal flaw in the DARE campaigns pedagogy, it was the lack of student in student role play on how to handle social situations with drugs. Bringing in the longitudinal study from a reputable source reinforces the argument against the DARE programs pedagogy. Not only did they show that has the Nancy Reagan philosophy been ineffective, the article subtly made a point to highlight how wasteful it must have been to use our tax money to fund ineffective police educational programs. While no statistics were shown, the fact that these programs were found to be highly ineffective gives this argument quite a bit of merit. Parallel to this, in 1986 congress passed the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act which mandated a zero tolerance policy to drugs in schools. This was the first time police officers began arresting students straight out of schools. This fact also shines light on the how destructive a simple minded
What affect did the “War on Drugs” have on America during the mid 1980s-early 2000s? Annotated Bibliography Primary Sources Applewhite, Scott. “War on Drugs Washington D.C.” July 18, 1989. Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States.
The checks and balances system provides equal rights and power to various different levels of governments. With that, this ultimately “balances” out all the rights and justices for each of the branches to prevent any dictatorship. The Federal Government consists of three branches; the Executive (President), the Legislative (Congress), and the Judicial (Supreme Court) branch. The Executive has the power to assign new judges that are later checked by the Senate (Congress). The Executive can veto any laws the Legislative creates. However, if 2/3 of the majority disagrees with the President’s denial, the Legislative branch is capable of overriding it. The Legislative checks and clarifies every treaty and fund the Executive proposes. The
In January 2004, senatorial candidate Barack Obama firmly opposed the twenty two-year war on drugs, saying that the United States’ approach in the drug war has been ineffective (Debussman). Although the term, “war on drugs,” was originally coined by President Richard Nixon in 1971, it wasn’t until Ronald Reagan announced that “drugs were menacing society” that it became a major policy goal to stop widespread use. Following Reagan’s promises to fight for drug-free schools and workplaces, the United States boosted its efforts in its most recent declaration
When my audience hears “War on Drugs” they may assume it is a worthy endeavor because drug abuse is such a pervasive problem that affects many families. I must dispel the assumption that the “War on Drugs” dealt with the drug abuse problem or reduced drug sales. I can do this by demonstrating that there is plenty of evidence showing that the “War on Drugs” did not do what it set out to do and is therefore not an effective approach to the problem of drug trade and abuse. Additionally the imprisoning of citizens, even if it is done unjustly, does not reduce crime at comparable rates. Research from Harvard found that during the “War on Drugs” in state prisons there was a 66% increase in prison population but crime was only reduced by 2-5% and it cost the taxpayers 53 billion dollars (Coates, 2015). The fact the violent crime went up all through Nixon’s administration while he rallied for “Law & Order” and policing became more severe furthers this argument (Alexander, 2012). Four out five drug arrests are low-level possession charges as well, demonstrating that police policies aren’t dismantling the drug system just punishing addicts (Alexander, 2012). What’s more, drug abuse in America have remained stagnate and even increased in some instances even when billions of dollars have been pumped into the program (National
As the variables above are added up it, quickly becomes apparent that the “war on drugs,” during the mid 1980s-early 2000s had a negative impact on American life. With all the money spent and lives ruined, the United States came no closer to solving drug issues it had faced in the years prior. Citizens took the biggest brunt of this “war” with the fact that not only did they have to forcibly financially support the “war on drugs,” but in some cases, they had their civil liberties encroached upon or even completely violated. It could be argued that retrospectively looking at the “war on drugs” makes criticizing our country and the officials in charge easy, but when you actually look at the statistics and events surrounding this time period criticism
Nixon’s drug war, however, was a mere skirmish in comparison to the colossal efforts launched by the Ronald Reagan administration in the 1980s. Formally announced by President Ronald Reagan in 1982, the War on Drugs was marked by deep public concern, bordering on hysteria,, towards the nation’s drug problem. Under the leadership of President Reagan, the nation focused unprecedented energy and resources towards eliminating illicit drug use and trafficking.” (pp.
In October 1982, President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation and promised a “planned, concerted campaign against all drugs, hard soft or otherwise.” The President had two ways he to
Drugs have been a problem in the country for a long time. Issues with drugs even existed in ancient times. However, through the War on Drugs, the media created a panic about the issue, making citizens believe drug abuse was an exponentially growing new epidemic in the United States. Although the War on Drugs was declared in 1982 and was intended to reduce the rates of drug abuse in the US, America’s drug problem increased dramatically over the next years (Bagley, 1988).
The War on Drugs began in increments, first with President Nixon and secondly with President Reagan (Hill, Oliver, Marion, 2012). While under the Nixon administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration was developed due to the thought of how drugs can affect an individual as well as a community. Drugs did not only affect the user and the community, but also the families as well as children. Out of all the presidents, it is documented that President Nixon was one who had discussions about drugs more than any other president (Hill, et al., 2012).
More than 45 years ago President Richard Nixon announced and declared the nation is at war, that war was the "War on Drugs". Nancy Reagan campaigned heavily in the fight against drug use as well; her fight was that of teaching young children the slogan of “Just Say No”. The goals of the criminal justice system in the war on drugs have been a never ending fight against the sale of illicit drugs and that of combating drug abuse. We will discuss the increased resources spent on law enforcement and rehabilitation while making an attempt in understanding
The official “war on drugs” was declared in 1982 by President Ronald Reagan and many government assets were put into play among all facets of society (Bagley, p. 1). The US military’s role in interdiction efforts increased, Congress approved tougher legislation against drug offenders, and public schools across the country were saturated with anti-drug educational materials from Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign (Bagley, p. 1). In spite of all this, drug
This weeks assignment explores the "War on drugs" and the effect that it has on those addicted to drug and those that sell drugs. The "war on drugs" gained popularity and momentum in the 1960's with action taken by President Richard Nixon in 1969 when law were enacted (Singer, p.289). This article surprised me greatly since I was under the impression that this 'war' was designed to improve health. wellbeing, and restore the values of the 'good ole days". However, little influence regarding society's wellbeing had little to do with the decision. Political, economics, and international relations proved to be the focus of the 'war'. Nixon attributed the decay of society to the use and distribution of drugs, labeling drug abusers as criminals (Singer,
According to Michelle Alexander, why and how has the “war on drugs” developed over the last 40 years? What are the main political and economic factors that led to the war on drugs, and what are the main political and economic factors that shaped it as it developed over the last four decades? Draw on material from the Foner textbook chapters 25 through 28 to supplement Alexander’s discussion of the political and economic context.
The United States’ new claim in today’s world of propaganda and mind-warping media is that The War on Terrorism = The War on Drugs. Recently simple anti-drug slogans have been manipulated into aggressively and often erroneously exaggerated media assaults. (planetpapers.com) The United States claims that each person can help fight terrorism by choosing not to buy or use illicit drugs, and the government itself can help fight terrorism by implementing a more effective War on Drugs throughout the country. They claim that illicit drugs are the major monetary support of terrorist groups throughout the world, which in some respects is correct. Due to this claim, teenagers and drug
The house I live in states that the war on drugs created by Richard Nixon in the 1970’s is a failure on many levels as well as causing more harm than good. Then goes in-depth on why these failures occurred.