English Argument Essay

RUNNING HEAD : THE DRUG PROBLEM

The Drug Problem The Drug Problem

Drugs have been a consistent problem of the society . For a long time the drug problem has been regarded as a criminal problem . Treating it as a criminal problem has only resulted in criminalization and I believe that accepting the drug problem as a social problem could prove more beneficial to the society primarily because there is nothing wrong with merely using or possessing these drugs . The laws of man are based on ethical standards and there is nothing unethical

with the possession and the use of the drug . Drugs have only gained its negative image because of negative propaganda . Also , legalizing drugs would come with a load of benefits

According to Benson Roe , professor emeritus and chair of the Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of California , illegal drugs have not been proven to have any long-term negative effects on the health of people . He narrated an incident when he was removing heart valves from some infected intravenous drug users and getting curious about the effects of the drugs on the users , he went to consult the San Francisco coroner only to discover that the only deaths caused by drugs is through infection contracted through unsafe intravenous injections and very rare cases of overdose (Roe

Roe indicated that no reliable and objective evidence points to drugs as more harmful than any of the substances that are not outlawed . It is often understood that society should keep its citizens away from drugs but the reason for this is unclear (Roe . If no evidence points to drugs being harmful , I strongly believe that there is no reason for drugs to be banned from the society

Also , drugs have never been proven to cause violent behavior . This aspect of the drugs may be blamed on the media since media entities often include the phrase drug-related ' to a crime even as no direct evidence points to the as the motivating factor for the crime . Merely the presence of drugs in a crime scenario is enough for irresponsible media practitioners to blame it (Jackson , 1998 ) since sensationalism sells . Often , the crime is motivated by another external factor . The media is unknowingly contributing to the negative drug propaganda (Jackson , 1998

Many politicians also play as advocates of the drug laws just for the sake of forwarding their political campaigns (Jackson , 1998 . Anti-drug campaigns always make use of vague and emotive statements to get the support it needs from the public (Russel , 1999 . One book entitled Hugs not Drugs : A Drug Abuse Prevention Manual published in the Philippines starts off with a story of how a bright and studious teenage girl got hooked with drugs . The girl later dropped out from school and had relationships with men that took advantage of her . Many anti-drug campaigners make use of such stories to say that drugs are bad . I however believe that these stories are not proof of drugs being bad . In the case of this girl , her...