Skip to main content

Home/ PDS GI Debate Group A '11-'12/ Group items tagged drugs

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Austin Buben

Alcohol, Tobacco Worse Than Illegal Drugs? - CBS News - 0 views

www.cbsnews.com/...main2604653.shtml

alcohol tobacco marijuana

shared by Austin Buben on 26 Sep 11 - No Cached
    • Austin Buben
      Austin Buben on 26 Sep 11
       
      Austin Found this First
  • New "landmark" research finds that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than some illegal drugs like marijuana or Ecstasy and should be classified as such in legal systems, according to a new British study.
  • The Lancet magazine, Professor David Nutt of Britain's Bristol University and colleagues proposed a new framework for the classification of harmful substances, based on the actual risks posed to society. Their ranking listed alcohol and tobacco among the top 10 most dangerous substances.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • "The current drug system is ill thought-out and arbitrary,"
  • "The exclusion of alcohol and tobacco from the Misuse of Drugs Act is, from a scientific perspective, arbitrary,"
  • Tobacco causes 40 percent of all hospital illnesses, while alcohol is blamed for more than half of all visits to hospital emergency rooms.
  • The substances also harm society in other ways, damaging families and occupying police services.
  • Nutt hopes that the research will provoke debate within the UK and beyond about how drugs — including socially acceptable drugs such as alcohol — should be regulated. While different countries use different markers to classify dangerous drugs, none use a system like the one proposed by Nutt's study, which he hopes could serve as a framework for international authorities
  • "The rankings also suggest the need for better regulation of the more harmful drugs that are currently legal, i.e. tobacco and alcohol,"
  • "All drugs are dangerous," he said. "Even the ones people know and love and use every day."
  • Nutt and colleagues used three factors to determine the harm associated with any drug: the physical harm to the user, the drug's potential for addiction, and the impact on society of drug use. The researchers asked two groups of experts — psychiatrists specializing in addiction and legal or police officials with scientific or medical expertise — to assign scores to 20 different drugs, including heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy, amphetamines, and LSD.
  • Heroin and cocaine were ranked most dangerous, followed by barbiturates and street methadone. Alcohol was the fifth-most harmful drug and tobacco the ninth most harmful. Cannabis came in 11th, and near the bottom of the list was Ecstasy.
  • According to existing British and U.S. drug policy, alcohol and tobacco are legal, while cannabis and Ecstasy are both illegal. Previous reports, including a study from a parliamentary committee last year, have questioned the scientific rationale for Britain's drug classification system.
    • Austin Buben
      Austin Buben on 26 Sep 11
       
      Alcohol and tobacco, two legal substances in the U.S. and the U.K. are more harmful than marijuana.
Onurcan Tatman

Drug Control: International Policy and Options - 2 views

www.policyalmanac.org/...ug_control_international.shtml

shared by Onurcan Tatman on 22 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Moreover, over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled. Also, street prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen significantly in the past 20 years, reflecting increased availability.
  • Problem More than 14 million Americans buy illicit drugs and use them at least once per month, spending by most conservative estimates over $60 billion annually in a diverse and fragmented criminal market. Such drugs are to varying degrees injurious to the health, judgment, productivity and general well-being of their users. Total economic costs to U. S. society associated with drug abuse are estimated by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to be $160 billion. The addictive nature of many of these drugs, their high price, and their illegality play a role in more than half the street crime in the United States. The U. S. illicit drug market generates enormous profits that enable the growth of diversified international criminal organizations, and extend their reach into local neighborhoods, legitimate business, and even national governments. Such profits provide drug trafficking organizations with the resources to effectively evade and compete with law enforcement agencies, to penetrate legitimate economic structures, and, in some instances, to challenge the authority of national governments.
  • Despite the military's obvious ability to support drug law enforcement organizations, questions remain as to the overall effectiveness of a major military role in narcotics interdiction. Proponents of substantially increasing the military's role in supporting civilian law enforcement narcotics interdiction activity argue that narcotics trafficking poses a national security threat to the United States; that only the military is equipped and has the resources to counter powerful trafficking organizations; and that counter drug support provides the military with beneficial, realistic training.
  • Onurcan Tatman on 22 Sep 11
     
    Rensselaer Lee and Raphael Perl, Congressional Research Service Updated October 16, 2002 Efforts to reduce the flow of illicit drugs from abroad into the United States greatly have so far not succeeded. Moreover, over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled.
  • Onurcan Tatman on 22 Sep 11
     
    this is a really good source that talks about the effectiveness of the military and how the US could cut down on drug trafficking.
Ellen Mischinski

http://publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/policy-review/2011v4/content/merida-initiative.pdf - 1 views

publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/...merida-initiative.pdf

pros treatment merida initiative

shared by Ellen Mischinski on 22 Sep 11 - No Cached
    • Ellen Mischinski
      Ellen Mischinski on 22 Sep 11
       
      The United States has five percent of the world's population, yet it has seventeen percent of the world's drug addicts
    • Ellen Mischinski
      Ellen Mischinski on 22 Sep 11
       
       the closure of methamphetamine labs in the United States has led to significant increases of methamphetamine production in Mexico
    • Ellen Mischinski
      Ellen Mischinski on 22 Sep 11
       
      after President Calderon's declaration of a war on drugs, an estimated 28,228 drug trade related deaths have been reported.
  • ...1 more annotation...
    • Ellen Mischinski
      Ellen Mischinski on 23 Sep 11
       
      A paradigm shift will be necessary to lessen violence in Mexico. The Obama administration's approach of collaboration and shared responsibility is a welcome departure from that of past administrations, but insufficient attention is given by it to the problem of US demand for drugs. The United States has five percent of the world's population, yet it has seventeen percent of the world's drug addicts. US drug policy should reflect these numbers. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported that the closure of methamphetamine labs in the United States has led to significant increases of methamphetamine production in Mexico. Rather than a decline in the quantity of methamphetamines, production has simple moved to a new location.40 Counterdrug programs must focus on and fund drug addiction eradication programs and anti-drug education with the zeal demonstrated by counternarcotics military operations in order to effectively reduce drug demand and drug violence. This approach would meet the criteria of lessening demand and reducing supply in the long run; by attacking drug demand, drug supply would be significantly affected over time
Ellen Mischinski

http://www.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/16/3brewer.pdf?rd=1 - 0 views

www.wcl.american.edu/...3brewer.pdf

pros treatment

shared by Ellen Mischinski on 22 Sep 11 - No Cached
    • Ellen Mischinski
      Ellen Mischinski on 22 Sep 11
       
      p.11, paragraph 2 and on. Survey of Mexican residents says that military stuff isn't working
    • Ellen Mischinski
      Ellen Mischinski on 22 Sep 11
       
      "wholesale illicit drug proceeds [in the US] reach tens of billions of dollars each year. As long as this demand exists, drugs will continue to flow north regardless of the level of deterrence that the security forces deploy."
    • Ellen Mischinski
      Ellen Mischinski on 22 Sep 11
       
      Clinton's words, "Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs [in the U.S.] fuels the drug trade."3
  • ...5 more annotations...
    • Ellen Mischinski
      Ellen Mischinski on 22 Sep 11
       
      The U.S. must instead prioritize domestic demand reduction and halt the flow of assault weapons over the border if it is to cease exporting both the motive and the means for violent drug trafficking to Mexico.
    • Ellen Mischinski
      Ellen Mischinski on 23 Sep 11
       
      1 Yet an examination of the current Mexican and regional context leads to the conclusion that without a paradigm shift in design, the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars earmarked for the Mérida Initiative and other anti-drug aid to Mexico will fuel a dysfunctional approach to public security-one that is characterized by widespread human rights violations within the framework of an ineffective war against criminals that has not reduced drug-related violence.
    • Ellen Mischinski
      Ellen Mischinski on 23 Sep 11
       
      One could argue that the United States can avoid fueling human rights violations in Mexico by withholding funding from certain military or police units shown to be responsible for such abuses or by waiting to disburse assistance until Mexico has met certain human rights requirements.
    • Ellen Mischinski
      Ellen Mischinski on 23 Sep 11
       
      In addition to these concerns, the consistently ineffective track record of frontal-combat approaches to reducing drug trafficking leave little doubt that supporting such an approach now will not end the drug trade, despite any short-term increases in the number of arrests or amount of drugs seized
    • Ellen Mischinski
      Ellen Mischinski on 23 Sep 11
       
      In February 2009, the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, composed of leading political figures including former Presidents of Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil, issued its conclusions on this subject. It strongly criticized as ineffective the U.S.-led drug war paradigm of the past 30 years and called for a public health approach to drug policy centered on treatment and demand reduction.
Austin Buben

Stem the violence, make marijuana legal - 0 views

www.azcentral.com/...20090314Valdez15-vip.html

decriminalization marijuana legalization mexico violence

shared by Austin Buben on 26 Sep 11 - Cached
    • Austin Buben
      Austin Buben on 26 Sep 11
       
      Austin Found this First
    • Austin Buben
      Austin Buben on 26 Sep 11
       
      This article basically tells how drug cartels would be hurt if marijuana is legalized.
  • Mexico's drug cartels would continue to be, in the words of the Justice Department's National Drug Threat Assessment for 2009, "the greatest drug-trafficking threat to the United States."
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • "Marijuana is the (Mexican cartels') cash crop, the cash cow," says Brittany Brown
  • Marijuana is cheap to grow and requires no processing. More than a million pounds of it was seized in Arizona in each of the past two years
  • First, Prohibition didn't work. • Second, even though alcohol sales are regulated, back-alley or school-yard sales of moonshine is not a billion-dollar problem. • Third, alcohol, like its addictive killer-cousin tobacco, is taxed, which helps cover its costs to society. Not so with marijuana
  • "People who smoke pot in the United States don't think they are connected to the cartels," Brown says. "Actually, they are very connected."
  • stead of paying taxes on their vice, pot smokers are enriching thugs and murderers
  • The DEA says cartels are "poly-drug organizations" that routinely smuggle cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and precursor chemicals through our state. "(But) marijuana generates the most profit,
  • Legalizing marijuana would not stop pushers from selling other, more lethal poisons. But taking away their most profitable product would hurt criminal organizations that have grown richer, more powerful and better armed during the so-called war on drug
  • While U.S. drug users enrich the cartels, the U.S. government pours huge amounts of money into defeating them.
  • According to a report last fall from the Government Accountability Office, the United States has provided more than $6 billion to support Plan Colombia since fiscal 2000. The goal of reducing processing and distribution of illicit drugs (mostly cocaine) by 50 percent was not achieved
  • Austin Buben on 26 Sep 11
     
    Decriminalizing marijuana reduces the enormous cash flow to drug cartels fueling the drug wars in Mexico. 
Duncan Flippo

Illegal drugs flow over and under U.S. border - US news - Crime & courts - msnbc.com - 0 views

www.msnbc.msn.com/...rugs-flow-over-under-us-border

drugs mexico enter us

shared by Duncan Flippo on 24 Sep 11 - No Cached
    • Duncan Flippo
      Duncan Flippo on 24 Sep 11
       
      This shows how much drugs enter US from Mexico. and I found this article
  • The amount of illicit drugs believed to enter Arizona alone each year from Mexico is easily in the thousands of tons, according to U.S. officials.
  • it only represents an estimated 20 percent of all the marijuana that will enter the United States through Arizona this year. That means another 7 million pounds (3,500 tons) is being smuggled into the U.S. undetected through this state alone.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • “Right now, the volume of marijuana that will be seized in southern Arizona will be approximately, we predict, 1.4 million pounds [700 tons] by the end of this calendar year.
  • Duncan Flippo on 24 Sep 11
     
    this shows how much drugs enter US. how affected we are by Mexican drugs
Neha Kukreja

National Drug Threat Summary - National Drug Threat Assessment 2009 (UNCLASSIFIED) - 0 views

www.justice.gov/...summary.htm

shared by Neha Kukreja on 25 Sep 11 - No Cached
  •   In September 2008 there were nearly 100,000 inmates in federal prisons convicted and sentenced for drug offenses, representing more than 52 percent of all federal prisoners.
    • Neha Kukreja
      Neha Kukreja on 25 Sep 11
       
      Wow.... just wow..... is it possible to even argue against how prevalant drug abuse in the US is with this stat? More than half the 2008 American federal prisoners were jalied on account of convicition of drug offenses!!
  • For 2009 the federal government has allocated more than $14 billion for drug treatment and prevention, counterdrug law enforcement, drug interdiction, and international counterdrug assistance.
  • ...1 more annotation...
    • Neha Kukreja
      Neha Kukreja on 25 Sep 11
       
      So we can already see a shift in funding that began in 2009......
Shana Thomas

The Clear Benefits of Decriminalizing Marijuana - 3 views

davidkretzmann.com/...s-of-decriminalizing-marijuana

marijuana

shared by Shana Thomas on 23 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • The Justice Policy Institute argues that locking up drug offenders is an ineffective and inefficient way to address drug abuse
  • With 2,310,984 people being held in local, state, and federal prisons in 2008, the “number of people in prison is nearly 5 times what it was 30 years ago, despite crime rates being at historic lows
  • drug possession is the sole reason 83% of those arrested for drug offenses are charged with a crime and thrown into prison.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Marijuana Policy Project found that between 1995 and 2008 nearly 9.5 million individuals had been arrested due to connections with marijuana (whether it is cultivation, possession, or distribution).
  • Ongoing scientific research has shown tobacco and alcohol to be more addictive, harmful, and socially costly than marijuana.
  • As we have explored, marijuana is proven to be a less dangerous substance than tobacco and alcohol. Not only is it less dangerous in terms of its addictive properties and physical harm to people, it has critical cannabinoid chemicals that may relieve pain and aid the recovery of certain illnesses.
  • Marijuana is essentially in the same situation today that alcohol was in during Prohibition. Government law prevents marijuana from being sold in a legal manner, but it by no means eliminates the suppl
  • Rather than being produced and distributed peacefully through free trade, the marijuana market is limited only to the black market. This artificial legal limitation of the supply raises the p
  • of marijuana to extraordinary heights, thus attracting suppliers to enter the black market.
  • ome argue that criminalizing marijuana is a more harmful endeavor than the impact of the plant itself on society. The Marijuana Policy Project describes the situation: Because of marijuana prohibition, America’s largest cash crop is grown exclusively by unregulated criminals, often in environmentally damaging locations such as national parks and wilderness areas. Such problems are virtually unknown with legal, regulated crops such as tobacco or wine grapes (“Marijuana Prohibition Facts”).
  • Given that marijuana is less harmful to the human body than alcohol and tobacco, it makes little sense to continue the current policy of cannabis prohibition (particularly when you consider the detrimental results of alcohol prohibition).
  • Shana Thomas on 23 Sep 11
     
    why decriminalization is a good thing/ help promote stability and peace
  • Shana Thomas on 23 Sep 11
     
    found this article!
Austin Buben

BalancedPolitics.org - Legalization of Marijuana (Pros & Cons, Arguments For and Agains... - 1 views

www.balancedpolitics.org/marijuana_legalization.htm

marijuana legalization cons pros

shared by Austin Buben on 22 Sep 11 - Cached
    • Austin Buben
      Austin Buben on 22 Sep 11
       
      Austin Buben found this document first.
    • Austin Buben
      Austin Buben on 22 Sep 11
       
      Everything that I highlight is something that is a weak topic.
  • Some c
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • are likely
  • could
  • could
  • could
  • harmfulness of marijuana are inconclusive and contradictory
  • Most doctors would agree that it's not very harmful if used in moderation
  • isn't abuse of almost any bad substance a problem
  • Most doctors believe that marijuana is no more addictive that alcohol or tobacco.
  • All illegal drugs are higher in price because the production, transportation, and sale of the drugs carry heavy risks.
  • chemotherapy
  • if someone in the drug trade screws you over, there's no police to call or lawyers to litigate. You must settle disputes yourself.
  • enormous amount of money is raised through government taxation of alcohol, cigarettes, and other "sins".
  • Austin Buben on 22 Sep 11
     
    This is a basic website that should help lead everyone in a general direction of what they should get started on and further research these subjects.
Neha Kukreja

Clinton Says U.S. Feeds Mexico Drug Trade - NYTimes.com - 2 views

www.nytimes.com/...26mexico.html

shared by Neha Kukreja on 22 Sep 11 - Cached
  • “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade,” Mrs. Clinton said, using unusually blunt language.
    • Neha Kukreja
      Neha Kukreja on 25 Sep 11
       
      And here we have it, ladies and Gentlemen!!
Neha Kukreja

Hillary Clinton on Medical Marijuana and Drug Policy - 0 views

glassbooth.org/...1

shared by Neha Kukreja on 25 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • It is unfair to urge people to get rid of their addiction and not have the treatment facilities when people finally makes up their minds to get treatment.
    • Neha Kukreja
      Neha Kukreja on 25 Sep 11
       
      Here, Clinton's suggesting funding for addiction treatment facilities to crack down on our insatiable demand for drugs. 
Shana Thomas

How many people are incarcerated for drug related offenses? - Stephannie Behrens - Open... - 0 views

open.salon.com/...ated_for_drug_related_offenses

marijuana

shared by Shana Thomas on 26 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Approximate number of people incarcerated for drug related crimes: 108,000 people in federal prisons as of April 2010 280,000 people in state prisons across the country as of June 2007 31,500 people in California state prisons as of December 2008 
  • So that means around half of all inmates in federa
  • So that means around half of all inmates in federal
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • 31,529 people were in prison in California for drug offenses at the end of 2008.
Caroline Yevak

The Health Benefits And Risks Of Marijuana | Fox News - 0 views

www.foxnews.com/...benefits-marijuana

marijuana decriminalization

shared by Caroline Yevak on 27 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • the implication that marijuana causes people to try harder drugs is as yet unproven, and indeed it may act as an alternative to more dangerous drugs.
  • There is no existing evidence of anyone dying of a marijuana overdose, but this doesn't preclude the possibility of experiencing adverse or unpleasant effects when it is consumed in large amounts. For comparison's sake, alcohol overdoses claim approximately 5,000 casualties per year.This is often cited as a reason that marijuana is safer than other drugs, like alcohol.
  • marijuana is not physically addictive
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Marijuana does, however, treat symptoms -- pain, nausea -- that are caused by a wide range of illnesses.
miller kinlin

Nation & World | Mexico expected to enact liberalized drug law | Seattle Times Newspaper - 1 views

seattletimes.nwsource.com/...2009366964_mexdrug22.html

shared by miller kinlin on 22 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • It makes sense to distinguish between small-time users and big-time dealers, while re-targeting major crime-fighting resources away from the former and toward the latter and their drug-lord bosses.
  • consumers are not treated as criminals
Mckenzie Hudson

5 Loyola University Chicago International Law Review 2007-2008 Merida Initiative for Me... - 1 views

heinonline.org/...LandingPage

shared by Mckenzie Hudson on 25 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Mckenzie Hudson on 25 Sep 11
     
    This is mckenzie's drug use stats.
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Austin Buben on 25 Sep 11
     
    Mac. Stop stealing other peoples pages. I found this cite on friday. Scroll down to one of the first few pages and you will see this same website, just tagged differently.
  • Mckenzie Hudson on 25 Sep 11
     
    well i don't see it, if i did, sorry. i have a back up source in case.
  • Mckenzie Hudson on 26 Sep 11
     
    yeah i looked again and still don't see anything.
Caroline Yevak

SAFER - Alcohol vs. Marijuana - 0 views

www.saferchoice.org/...53

marijuana decriminalization

shared by Caroline Yevak on 30 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States and is associated with multiple adverse health consequences, including liver cirrhosis, various cancers, unintentional injuries, and violence.
  • Overall, by comparison with other drugs used mainly for ‘recreational’ purposes, cannabis could be rated to be a relatively safe drug.
  • Caroline Yevak on 30 Sep 11
     
    Excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States and is associated with multiple adverse health consequences, including liver cirrhosis, various cancers, unintentional injuries, and violence.
Austin Buben

10 Contemporary Drug Problems 1981 Review of the Effects of the Decriminalization of Ma... - 3 views

heinonline.org/...LandingPage

marijuana pros legalization decriminalization

shared by Austin Buben on 23 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Austin Buben on 23 Sep 11
     
    Good back up organizations to support your quotations.
Austin Buben

Drug Facts | Marijuana - 1 views

www.abovetheinfluence.com/...drugsmarijuana

marijuana cons

shared by Austin Buben on 22 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • Austin Buben on 22 Sep 11
     
    Some cons of marijuana. Unsupported.
Duncan Flippo

John M. Ackerman: U.S. military aid won't solve Mexico's drug problems | Contributors |... - 2 views

www.projo.com/...-21-10_VOJULLP_v6.275b88d.html

Mexico US aid military

shared by Duncan Flippo on 22 Sep 11 - No Cached
    • Duncan Flippo
      Duncan Flippo on 22 Sep 11
       
      This shows some bad parts of troops by the way. this is my article
  • Duncan Flippo on 22 Sep 11
     
    This is an article from a newspaper about US aid to Mexico
1 - 20 of 22 Next ›
Showing 20▼ items per page