U.S. Drug Policy Versus Drug Reality Essay - 1334 Words

If the United States is serious about winning the war on drugs, it will have to face some hard facts about the failure of its drug policy to date. Since Reagan introduced the war on drugs in the early 1980s, the focus of anti-drug legislation has been on incarceration and eradication, not on drug education and treatment. Drug use is viewed as a crimethe same way that burglary and murder are viewed as crimeswithout examining the social and economic causes behind drug use. This categorization of drug use as criminal misrepresents the nature of addiction. Drug addicts do not abuse drugs because they are deviant or even because they consciously desire to cause harm to themselves or to those around them, they abuse drugs because they are†¦show more content†¦Since the war on drugs began, the number of incarcerations on charges of possession or trafficking has shot up from 50,000 in 1980, to 400,000 in 1997. That means that fully 25% of prison inmates are in jail on drug-related c harges. Despite Americas get-tough policies, U.S. school children between the ages of 12 and 15 are nearly twice as likely to have tried marijuana as their Dutch counterparts (13.5% versus 7.2%), though cannabis possession is legal in the Netherlands. Such statistics do not point to the futility of all forms of government action to combat drug use, but they do firmly suggest that a revision of American policies is in order. The currently ineffectual drug policies stem from a few basic misunderstandings about the nature of Americas drug problem. Firstly, politicians are overly fixated on the inevitably futile policy of eradication. Regardless of the number of DEA officers stationed along our southern border, the US will never be able to quell the importation of illicit drugs into this country. The economic incentives to run drugs across the border are just too high. The number of people living below the poverty line in Latin America, particularly the rural poor, is too high for most Americans to fathom. For many, the economic benefits of drug trafficking will always exceed theShow MoreRelatedThe Flawed Drug Policy of America1691 Words   |  7 PagesAmericas Flawed Drug Policy Introduction: As a major policy issue in the United States, the War on Drugs has been one of the most monumental failures on modern record. At a cost of billions of taxpayer dollars, thousands of lives lost and many thousands of others ruined by untreated addiction or incarceration, Americas policy orientation concerning drug laws is due for reconsideration. Indeed, the very philosophical orientation of the War on Drugs and of the current drug policy in the United StatesRead MoreAmerica s Safety And Security Issues1509 Words   |  7 Pagesis the economy is unstable, drug use is high and crime is rampant. I find it disturbing the media does not report on the safety and security issues in Ecuador as well as other countries. I explored the major contributions behind the crime and residential security in Ecuador; and began to wonder; are the policies of the government beneficial for the development of creating a secure environment for the citizens of Ecuador? Before introducing the different reform policies that the Ecuadorian governmentRead MoreA Study On My Service Learning Partner1717 Words   |  7 Pagesmy first opinion on Ecuador is the economy is unstable, drug use is high and crime is rampant. I find it disturbing the American media does not report on the safety and security issues in Ecuador to explain to Americans the residential and non- residential crime in Ecuador. I wanted to clearly understand the issues so, I explored the major contributions behind the crime and residential security in Ecuador; and began to wonder; are the policies of the government beneficial for the development of creatingRead MoreLabel Or Not, The Gmo Dilemma1726 Words   |  7 Pagesdilemma We have been participating in a mass scale biotech agricultural experiment for over twenty years. Since the mid-1990s the U.S population has been consuming Genetically Engineered (GE) foods or foods that contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) without having done enough research to assess its long time effects on humans. According to the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA), agency responsible for protecting the public’s health and safety, â€Å"genetic engineering is the name given toRead MoreHeroin: the Devastating Thrtuh1386 Words   |  6 Pageshistory, due in part to a flood of cheap doses of the drug. In some regions, heroin is deemed highly available by local police in more than three times the number of communities as it was just seven years ago. This drug has taken many lives in the past and it is now becoming very popular again. The resurgence of the deadly drug has sparked a flurry of action from governors mansions and statehouses across New England. The addiction of this drug is devastating and the deaths are rising. HeroinRead MoreThe Safety And Efficacy Of Drugs1388 Words   |  6 PagesThese include exchange of information among medical organizations globally and answering questions about the safety and efficacy of drugs that are of interest throughout the world, but at the same time, the globalization of clinical trials raises ethical concerns. Regulatory bodies are often structured to monitor the quality of clinical trial data and the safety of drugs and devices in their domestic markets. They have limited information on many aspects of research conducted outside their jurisdictionsRead MoreAlcohol And Drug Abuse Are Not New Themes1525 Words   |  7 PagesFebruary 15, 2015 Abstract Alcohol and Drug abuse are not new themes. â€Å"Alcohol is such a big part of American life today that we rarely stop to consider our pattern of drinking. We drink wine with dinner, or have a few drinks after work, or even a few beers while watching a ball game, but when a pattern of drinking begins to emerge, it can become a problem†(Substance Dependency, n.d., Para 1). Drinking alcohol is like playing a game of reality versus fantasy, the more alcohol is digested, andRead MoreAn Argument Against Racial Profiling by Police1379 Words   |  6 PagesRacial profiling in the dictionary is â€Å"the assumption of criminality among ethnic groups: the alleged policy of some police to attribute criminal intentions to members of some ethnic groups and to stop and question them in disproportionate numbers without probable cause (â€Å"Racial Profiling†).† In other words racial profiling is making assumptions that certain individuals are more likely to be involved in mis conduct or criminal activity based on that individual’s race or ethnicity. Racial profilingRead MoreThe National Law Center On Homelessness Poverty Essay1666 Words   |  7 Pagesthe pages of the local newspaper, you see a picture of a tattered homeless child or a hungry toothless homeless man smiling in front of a hot, piping meal. (Roberts, 2004, p. 17) There are many contributing factors that cause homelessness in the U.S. and San Diego precisely. These factors include but not limited to: 1- Lack of affordable housing The assistance programs that once would have constituted protection against sleeping on the streets have been significantly worn away. Programs designedRead MoreA Mass Scale Biotech Agricultural Experiment1682 Words   |  7 Pagesexperiment? That s right! Since the mid 1990 we have been consuming Genetically Engineered (GE) foods or foods that contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) without enough research that proves its long time effects on humans. According to the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA), agency responsible for protecting the public’s health and safety, â€Å"genetic engineering is the name given for certain methods that scientist use to introduce new traits or characteristics to organisms† In other words, scientists

The Great Gatsby As A Satire Essay - 599 Words

The Great Gatsby as a Satire nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Satire is an implement used by authors to point out a flaw of society or group of people in general. There are different levels of satire that the author can use. For example, the author may employ a type a formal satire known as Juvenalian satire. Here, the writer points out a subject with anger and contempt for it in a bitter fashion. There is also the contrasting form of Juvenalian satire called Horatian satire. Here, the writer points out a subject with a gentleness and jovial tenderness. The second main type of satire is informal. This is the type of satire used in The Great Gatsby. Here, Fitzgerald uses Nick to point out the characters flaws and makes each person the butt†¦show more content†¦On outward appearance, Jay Gatsby seemed to be a rich, well-rounded man who was always very poised and eloquent. But when turned inward, this confident man seemed very self-conscious and scared. He was scared that people would find out about his past and r ealize that he was not always the rich and graceful man that he now is. Throughout the novel, Gatsby informed all of his acquaintances that he was an Oxford man and that he came from a well-to-do family. However, this was not the case. Gatsby did not attend Oxford and was not from a well-to-do family. He was poor as a child and obtained most of his money from illicit business ventures. This is why Gatsby was rarely seen at his own parties and why he never liked to talk about his past or where he earned his living. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Prohibition was passed in the early nineteen hundreds to try to eliminate the use of alcohol. But it is clearly obvious that at all of Gatsbys parties and throughout the entire novel, intoxicating beverages are abundant. At all of Gatsbys parties, cases of champagne and liquor are consumed by the dozens. Tom even brings a bottle of liquor along as he Daisy, Jordan, Gatsby and Nick prepare to go for a drive. Fitzgerald employs the use of alcohol to show that no matter what the law states, people will find a way to break it and do what they please. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Fitzgerald uses each character and action in TheShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby Satire Analysis1056 Words   |  5 PagesAuthors use satire to bring the reader’s attention to various aspects of a society by illustrating the ridiculous and criticizing the evils he/she sees within it. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Francis Scott Fitzgerald criticizes the classes of the 1920s, who had so much money they could get away with adultery and murder without consequences. Nearly all the characters in The Great Gatsby are motivated by love and desire. Fitzgerald argues that the way the characters approach love and desire is problematicRead MoreThe Great Gatsby: A Social Satire Essay1276 Words   |  6 PagesThe Great Gatsby can be regarded as a social satire and an observation of The American Dream The Great Gatsby is observed as a social satire of the United States in the roaring twenties, where Fitzgerald exposes the American Dream as a flawed fantasy merely generated by over-indulgence. America was established in the conception of equality, where any individual could have equal opportunities and success on the substratum of their abilities and effort, which can be described as the AmericanRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1621 Words   |  7 PagesAmerican history that profoundly depicted social inequality, immorality, superficiality, and unrest. During this time period, the iconic story of F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, was written and published. In this revolutionary novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald revisits his fascinating childhood in a more fictitious manner. The Great Gatsby describes and details the life of a young man from Minnesota, known as Nick Carraway, who moves to New York after World War 1 during the Roaring Twenties when the ideaRead MoreExamples Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby1227 Words   |  5 PagesTrey Orosco Mrs. Russell IB English 17 November 2017 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as a satire on American ideals during the 1920s. He shows just how careless everyone is at the time by setting them up in the community of East and West Egg. Fitzgerald portrays two major themes throughout the book. One of the themes is how The American dream is corrupted by the desire for wealth while the other is how The achievement of a dream may be less satisfying than the pursuitRead MoreLove story vs Satire827 Words   |  4 PagesAP  Literature  and  Composition  Ã‚   Ms.  Harrison   27  November  2014   Is  Fitzgerald  writing  a  love  story  that  embraces  American  ideals,  or  a  satire  that  comments  on   American  ideals?   Love  Story  vs.  Satire     At  the  surface  of  this  novel  it’s  an  ongoing  love  story  but  when  you  peel  away  at  the   layers  it  is  actually  a  satire  of  society’s  expectations.  The  novel  The  Great  Gatsby  by  F.  Scott   Fitzgerald  was  written  to  criticize  the  American  dream  of  the  1920s  through  love  affairs,and   corrupted  ambitions.   Read MoreF. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby1458 Words   |  6 PagesLiterature 12 April 2016 â€Å"The Jazz Age† The iconic novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, utilizes multiple songs throughout the story. â€Å"Fitzgerald’s wok has become automatically identified with an American decade: The Jazz Age (which he named) or the Roaring Twenties or The Boom.† (Fitzgerald, IX). The Twenties was a time full of exploration of alcohol and music and the move from small farms into large cities. â€Å"Since The Great Gatsby is the defining novel of the Twenties, which have becomeRead MoreShortcuts In The Great Gatsby Analysis1448 Words   |  6 Pagesrushed. Throughout The Great Gatsby, one of the most prominent themes is that of the American Dream- a so called sense of achievement and reward free to anyone who works for it. Though this idea is nice, the novel goes to show that this concept is very warped and often either unreachable or grabbed for sloppily by taking shortcuts to happiness. Whether this refers to Daisy and Tom, who use other methods to find entertainment as op posed to working for real relationships, Gatsby, who pines over an unachievableRead MoreThe Roaring Twenties By F. Scott Fitzgerald860 Words   |  4 Pagesthe Jazz Age† Fitzgerald wrote, â€Å"It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire to describe the movement. In his writings Fitzgerald revealed the negative side of the 1920’s happiness and freedom. On April 10, 1925 Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby, the book that became his literary legacy. The Great Gatsby is said to be one of the essential Jazz Age documents; the work most commonly considered an accurate reflection of American lifeRead MoreThe great Gatsby is too concerned with conveying a picture of 1920’s American society to have relevance to modern readers.1129 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿The great Gatsby is too concerned with conveying a picture of 1920’s American society to have relevance to modern readers. With reference to appropriately selected parts of the novel and relevant contextual information on both today’s society and society in the 1920’s, give your response to the above view.† As a heavily contextual literary piece, the great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is regarded as one of the greatest pieces of modern American literature of all time. The book as achievedRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1101 Words   |  5 PagesEnglish 1302 Paper #7 The Great Gatsby 7 May 2015 American Dream Realities In the novel â€Å"The Great Gatsby† by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the story of a man named Jay Gatsby is told through the perspective of Nick Carraway. Gatsby had a special plan for what he thought his life should consist of, and stopped at nothing to make sure that he rose above his poor roots into a wealthy, socially admirable status. With hopes of winning over the heart of his former lover, Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby took every measure he

Bleeding Scenario free essay sample

BEEP†¦BEEP†¦BEEP! At 5:45 am I drag myself out of the cozy cloud I call my bed, stagger out the door, and hurriedly turn on the heater in my car before heading off to state lifeguard training. I arrive at Huntington State Beach at 7 am with my peers, with no assumptions about the next four weeks of lifeguard training. All I know is that May has chilly ocean temperatures and is famous for towering surf†¦but water and waves had no control over my fate. Immediately, I did not fit in. Surrounding me in the classroom were 59 super-athletes, all of whom were taller and stronger than I. How would I finish the swimming races without placing last against these washboard abs and ‘V’ shaped torsos, and with my 5’10† frame, how could I stand a chance against a 6’4† athlete? In an academic setting, size and muscle mass are irrelevant, but this classroom consisted of soft sand and the Pacific Ocean. We will write a custom essay sample on Bleeding Scenario or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I had mentally placed myself out of the race, but I didn’t want to waste a 5:45 wake-up call, so I decided to give it my best shot. The initial swim was 1000 yards open-ocean, with a half-mile run to the finish. If the combination of 57-degree water and six foot waves was not enough, the entire race was done in a paper-thin Speedo. Watching the sculpted bodies nonchalantly jump in the water for the pre-race was like watching Roman statues hop in for a quick ocean cool off: I was intimidated. When a 6’5† professional water polo player jumps into frigid water without flinching, the competition is stiff. After the signal, I charged through the water and had a surprisingly quick swim that landed me a second place finish out of the sixty-person group. I stood on the beach and breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that the pre-race intimidation was utter nonsense. I kept my cool and collected attitude throughout the remaining 100+ hours of training, and earned the respect of my peers on the beach. The â€Å"bleeding scenario† was on the final weekend, and our lifeguard instructors forewarned us that even minor mistakes could steal the dream right from our fingertips. With graduation 24 hours away, it was a key obstacle to pass. A veil of silence surrounded the â€Å"scenario†. We were told not to discuss it, which created a surprise for everybody. I was next in line, and I would be lying to say that I was not dying with curiosity. In my navy blue training uniform, I turned the corner of the brick building, and found a person surrounded by an ocean of blood screaming for help. The setup seeped with realism. My adrenaline was pumping and an endless stream of thoughts started sprinting through my head. I verbalized that I was checking the scene and assessing vital signs, and then suddenly music started blasting from right behind me. â€Å"Onlookers† ran up and hollered jibberish in my ears. Trying to stay calm, I went through the mental checklist, saved the victim, and passed the scenario. I credit my success to the time spent memorizing written instructions and applying them to a real world situation. As one of the youngest trainees in the group, I had to overcome intimidation, which hindered me until I completed that first swim. Finishing lifeguard training with the honors of top 10 in the class has prepared me for obstacles outside of the classroom. Eight weeks later†¦ With a few real world scenarios under my belt, I have seen people at risk, panicking in the ocean, and saved them. When a sixteen-year-old girl is crying and thanking me on the beach while onlookers are clapping at an act of bravery, there is overwhelming pride in the lifeguard purpose. Running back up to my lifeguard tower after a hard day’s work, I am confident in my abilities. Going outside of my comfort zone paid off, and I am ready to take on any challenges regardless of my initial reaction. With the challenges of college, I will charge right through the waves of difficult situations and make quick transitions without intimidation. Even if chilly Eastern weather replaces the ocean and a tree-lined campus replaces the waves, I will remain wholehearted in my lifeguard value of serving others. Standing at the open window with the wind blowing in just the right direction at exactly 7:15 pm on those May evenings, there might be a chance to hear the future lifeguards chant, â€Å"We are NOT the center of the universe, but we are here to SERVE! HOO-RAH!†