Losing The War On Drugs Essays - Drug Control Law, War On Drugs

Losing The War On Drugs Losing the War on Drugs America is spending millions of dollars to run ad campaigns with teenage waifs smashing up the kitchen with frying pans, brain fried egg commercials, and other inaccurate and misleading ads put fear into our nations youth and adults alike. One such ad showed a flat line brain scan purportedly hooked up to a drug user. It was later proven that it was hooked up to nothing and most of our nations kids now know it. Seeing the Land of the Free turn into a nation that imprisons more of its citizens than any other industrialized nation on earth is neither effective or a good message to send our children. We are building 9 new prisons for every one new university( ). Which do you want built for your children? In this country, we are locked in war we simply cannot win. We strive to protect over 10,000 miles of border, against enemies who are driven by the lure of an obscene really resulted from this war is the overcrowding of prisons, the expansion of law and distrust. If its not obvious already, I am referring to the war on drugs. As time goes on, it becomes more and more evident that the war on drugs is as useless as officials, who use the war as a reelection tool. To study this problem, I visited government web pages for statistics and facts dealing with the war, and was surprised what I found. To most people the fiscal reasons for ending the war are the most convincing. For example, it costs over $30,000 per year to house a prisoner - this does not include processing and legal fees, only the actual prison costs - food, water, electricity and guards ( ). There are over 1.5 million non-violent drug law offenders in prison right now, and this number is increasing daily( ). That means we are spending a minimum of $45 billion per year keeping former tax-paying citizens, most of whom had jobs and were contributing to the economy in some way, locked up with murderers and rapists. When these people get out of jail, they will have criminal records, which will make it nearly impossible to get a decent job, and a grudge against the government and society in general. In addition, we spend $37 billion per year funding the police efforts and interdiction, and recent evidence suggests the CIA has been involved in drug-trafficking to fund its own private wars ().Currently there is over $150 billion worth of drug traffic that remains untaxed ( ).If you figure a tax rate of 15%, that is a total of $22.5 billion of taxes that America doesn't see. The bottom line? The US Treasury estimates America wastes a minimum of $104.5 billion per year fighting a war that can not be won ( ), while crime rates continue to rise (because of the huge profits made possible by the risks involved in the drug trade as drugs remain illegal), and the quality of education, medical care and environmental protection falls due to lack of money in the budget. There are also moral dilemmas in declaring war on drugs and their users. Firstly, drug use or abuse is a medical and social problem not a criminal problem, yet we think we're solving the problem by throwing people in jail. The logic seems to be, maybe if we just take their life away, confiscate all of their personal property, ruin their reputation and self-respect, put them in jail with the worst elements of society - murderers, thieves and rapists, where they will most likely be beaten and/or raped repeatedly they will see the error of their ways. Not a very enlightened sentiment. Also bear in mind, nicotine, caffeine and alcohol are all drugs. Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs known to man, behind substances like heroin. Cigarettes kill over 300,000 people every year. Alcohol kills over 120,000 people every year ( ).Alcohol has been linked to men beating their wives and children. In contrast, marijuana has a recorded history that dates back over 4000 years, and has never killed anyone in the direct way alcohol does ( ). The DEA's own Administrative Law Judge, after reviewing the evidence, called marijuana ...one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man... ( ). It's been said that the first casualty in any war is truth. That sentiment is seen nowhere as clearly as in the

Fire Prevention Essays

Fire Prevention Essays Fire Prevention Essay Fire Prevention Essay Essay Topic: To Build a Fire Fire Prevention Name Institution Date : Fire Prevention For purposes of this study, I chose to analyze the article ‘Fire Safety Handbook for Apartment Managers’ by the Seattle Fire Dept. This article attempts to outline fire safety and prevention measures regarding fire tragedies that occur in apartments and residential settings. According to the article, Fires in residential buildings are most prevalent because the dense nature of these buildings that allow heat, smoke, and fire. Fire is common accident and in most cases cannot be anticipated. In case this tragedy strikes, response should involve fast action and quick decisions (Seattle Fire Department, 2010). Being prepared in such cases can save lives and property. For purposes of preventing fires, the Seattle and Washington state laws designed regulations for fire safety on multi-residential housing. This publication was established to endow property managers with the necessary knowledge regarding fire tragedies and their prevention. The publication by the Seattle and Washington state provides information about fire safety and prevention for staff and tenants. The publication also highlights recommendations for the development of procedures in case of a fire emergency. In a year, the fire department in Seattle responds to about 150 fire emergencies that occur in multi-residential houses. The article endeavored to investigate the reports in most of these fires, establish the common causes of these fires, and design relevant prevention measures. Upon analyzing this article, I was able to establish that it is in agreement with the material I study in my course. According to my study course, I am able to understand that cooking accidents are the main cause of fires in the United States. According to the article, Seattle in particular registers more fires resulting from cooking than any other cause. More than a third of fire accidents in multi-residential buildings are caused by cooking errors. In this case, most of the fires resulted from unattended food in the kitchen. Prevention of these fires should then involve more responsibility when cooking and proper maintenance of cooking apparatus (Seattle Fire Department, 2010). Additionally, the article outlined heating apparatus as the second factor that causes most fire accidents in America. The winter months in particular record the most usage of heating devices. While the use of these devices is imminent, the article stresses due care when using them and ensuring that they are safe to use. Additionally, the article report also outlined smoking as another major cause for fires. These fires as mostly caused by leaving cigarette unattended or near chairs and sofas (Slater and Smith, 2009). However, other than highlighting responsibility as a factor for preventing fires caused by cigarettes and heating devices, I think that the article should have included smoke alarms as a means preventing these fires. These devices would help detect fires in their early stage and hence stop them before they spread. Conclusively, fires occurring in residential buildings are the most common in the United States registering a remarkable 52 percent. The article by the Seattle Fire Department endeavors to investigate residential building fires, and in particular, those in Seattle. My thoughts on this article and its relation to my course study maintain that the most effective way preventing fires involves identifying and removing fire hazards. Some of these preventive measures involve exercising more responsibility when performing household activities such as cooking and using heating devices. Ultimately, I was able to establish that the article complements my course study apart from majoring only in household fires. References Seattle Fire Department. (2010). Fire Safety Handbook for Apartment Managers. Seattle: Scholastic Press. Slater, T., Smith, J. (2009). Fire prevention. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Philosophy of Skepticism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Philosophy of Skepticism - Essay Example Being born in the 80s made me very much aware of the traditions, beliefs and fads during that time. My personal interests depended on the interests of the people I live with. If I have lived during the time of slavery, my interest would have been related to freedom and equality. There is no absolute freedom but I have the free will to choose which information and beliefs I would want to base my life upon. I would prefer not to get everything that I ever wanted. Suffering is part of man's life which is destined to be imperfect and man has to strive to make the best out of what we have been blessed with. Man always wants what he does not have. 3. Plato's cave-dwellers discover that the source of their so- called knowledge, their senses has been giving them false information about the world. How reliable are our senses as a source of knowledge Plato rejects the senses as a source of knowledge. Do you agree with him Why or why not In consonance with his theory of Idealism, Plato propounded the view that man, in his present earthly existence is only an imperfect copy of his real, original self, the perfect man, in the realm of ideas. In such a perfect state as pure mind, man knew all things by direct intuition. Thus, according to Plato, man was omniscient, all-knowing, before he came to be born into this world. With his separation however from the paradise of truth and knowledge and his long exile on earth, he forgot most of the knowledge he had. To Plato the ideas are inborn, already present in the mind of man from birth, but these are partly forgotten memories obscured owing to man's life term confinement on earth, in the prison house of the senses. They only have to be revived and recalled. The things that we perceive on earth, according to Plato, are merely shadows, pale reminders of the truths man already knew truly and fully before his terrestrial imprisonment. I disagree with Plato on his idea about the senses. I believe that through sensation and perception, man is able to learn and acquire knowledge and ideas. When we sense something, it can be considered as first-hand information because that is something that can be empirically proven. 4. Does Descartes ever prove in his first meditation that we are not dreaming Why or why not We might appreciate the philosophical viewpoint that Descartes develops to be discernible and defined by the skepticism and cynicism he communicates in the First Meditation. He starts by asking how he can be certain or sure of anything and then develops all kinds of imaginative and outlandish reasons as to why he have to to mistrust his senses. Philosophy ever since has been known a constant skepticism toward knowledge claims, and the very question of how we can come to know anything with certainty has been much argued. Skepticism also informs the mind-body predicament which has come to identify our formation of the human mind. Descartes develops a conception of the mind where the senses and the imagination are also mental faculties. Further, he states that we are essentially thinking things that can be acquainted with our minds clearly and distinctly, but must exert much effort and strive harder to come to an understanding of our bodies. Most significant, he comes up with a very intelligent distinction between mind and body. Mind is essentially think