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Today’s society appears unprepared for many of the consequences associated with drug use. Legalization of controlled substances may lead to the downfall of mankind. Normal citizens of America demand to live a healthy and productive life. Many of those who frequently use narcotics have destroyed their lives and hopes for future accomplishments. The world continues to constantly fight the war against drugs. These drugs endanger our community and in order to prevent a rise amongst teenagers, society requires multiple modifications. Over the years, drug users have made it easier for the government to find a reason to keep drugs illegal. If drugs did not go beyond a respectable use, they would have remained legal. Bertolt Brecht feels that, “The law was made for one thing alone, for the exploitation of those who don’t understand it, or are prevented by naked misery from obeying it” (Anderson 15). LSD, Heroin, and MDMA (Ecstasy) stay classified as DEA Schedule I which means that these drugs fall under the categories of having a high potential for abuse, no currently excepted medical use in treatment, and have a lack of accepted safety under medical supervision. Opium and Cocaine, however, stay classified as DEA Schedule II which means that these drugs have a high potential for abuse. They do have a currently accepted medical use in treatment with severe restrictions, but if abused, the drug or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence (12). Contrary to popular belief, almost 100,000 Americans continue to get arrested for drug charges. Minorities constitute a large amount of these drug offenders. “Blacks and Hispanics are often targeted for arrest, yet three times as many whites are users. Blacks make up twelve percent of the nation’s population, but account for forty percent of all drug arrests last year” says Zucchino (Zucchino 1). The drug effort against these offenders has put thousands of minorities in jail, yet almost nine million Americans regularly use illegal drugs. Together, Blacks and Hispanics drug users make up only one-third of that, approximately 3.1 million. Some law enforcement officials say that this occurs because they concentrate on dealers, not users. However, two-thirds of the arrest in the United States last year came from possession, not sales (1). A September report by the nonprofit National Center on Institutions and Alternatives (NCIA) in Alexandria, Virginia said, “The so-called war on drugs...is racially biased on all fronts and has made young black men its energy and the entire African American community its victim (1).
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