Addressing American Drug Culture
So I spent this State Patty’s Day as any Penn State freshman should: at the Common Place deliberating some pressing issues. I will be honest, I did not exactly attend because I care deeply about how to curb the increasingly prevalent drug culture in America but because it was my friend’s deliberation and that’s what friends are for. That being said, attending did open my eyes to different approaches to address this issue and the various opinions people held on them.
The first approach was legalization and decriminalization. Currently $15 billion dollars are being spent towards the War on Drugs and it has obviously not been very effective. This approach hinges on the idea that people will continue to find ways to abuse drugs, so the government should legalize possession of drugs and find a means to regulate usage in order to maintain safer standards for citizens. Legalization would be an effective means to deter violent activity related to illegal drug trade and dramatically cut back spending with the War on Drugs. Decriminalization would also effective lower time and money spent on incarceration. The question with this approach really lies on whether is will promote or deter drug activity. Perhaps because the deliberation was in a very academic setting, no one really answered the question on if they would participate in drug activity if it were legalized. A few stated that they would not, because certain drugs are not too difficult to come by and is they did not do it now, legalization would do little to change their mind. However, personally I believe in a more candid setting some would admit to participating with at least marijuana if the consequences were not present.
The second option was the complete opposite, instead focusing on increasing punishment and law enforcement. Not many people in the deliberation were on board with this approach. One student brought up Singapore in reference to the extremely strict policy the government holds towards drugs to prove the effectiveness of harsh measurements. This example was immediately shot down because of the difference in cultural mindset and population size between Singapore and America. Others asked where the funding for such a solution would come from, as the billions of dollars being spent currently have not created meaningful change. Finally, many felt that the incarceration rates were high enough as is, and placing more people in prison would simply be ineffective and expensive.
The final solution examined during this deliberation was creating improvements within drug education programs and the rehabilitation system. Almost every one in the room agreed that the D.A.R.E. program that they took in fifth grade was ineffective with the heavy reliance on scare-tactics and little factual information. I definitely believe that the program needs to re-worked in a way so that students are properly informed of the actually effects of certain drugs, and learn how to make decisions of their own. Having the choice of “no” shoved down out throats certainly did not help my peers from making informed decisions, but rather just encouraged them to rebel.
Overall, I’m glad that I did attend this deliberation because I got more out of it than simply munchkins; I now have a deeper understanding of the drug culture in America, and the solutions to combat it.
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2 Responses to “Addressing American Drug Culture”
While I definitely am not sure of the best solution for the problems with the drug culture we have today, I definitely agree with the points you made for option 2 that increasing the punishments and rate of incarceration would be less than effective. I also can remember my D.A.R.E. class from fifth grade, and I definitely do not believe that I learned much of value from it. Most likely something in the middle would be the best option to combat this issue.
Drugs are a concern in today’s society, maybe not so much as it was during the high of the drug wars. I personally did a project on the division between those who want to ban marijuana and those who want to legalize it for my HPC project last semester. I found out that there was merit on both sides of the argument and that it wasn’t as clear cut as it seemed it would be. However, for other drugs that are actually more addictive and detrimental, these options highlighted in the deliberation may prove successful in curbing the problem.