Last semester my Social Problems teacher showed our class the movie Scarface and we were assigned a Term Paper about the movie. We weren't shown, say, Traffic, or something more current and better at illustrating the train wreck that is our drug policy. But you have to work with what you are given, so here is mine. You be the decider!
The movie Scarface presents the social problem of drug dealing and the consequences of crime, addiction, and drug money on individuals. The lifestyle of an immigrant Cuban turned drug dealer, and the exploits of he and his cronies, are portrayed in the movie as dangerous and often deadly. Tony Montana is considered "The Bad Guy," and the movie presents the issue in such a way that society takes none of the blame for the conditions that exist that perpetuate crime, and, in particular, crime involving drugs. The following points outline a different way to deal with the difficulties involving illegal drugs, as well as the need for Americans to understand the increasing problems in society involving legal drugs, which can be just as addictive, if not more so, and profitable to giant pharmaceutical companies, and doctors who peddle meds for them, as well as alcohol and cigarette manufacturers, the real bad guys that put the Columbian drug lords to shame.
If we were to legalize drugs, thereby taking all of the money out of the drug trade, it will not pay to smuggle or sell drugs, and those drugs would only be available for free under medical supervision. In the case of certain drugs, such as methamphetamine, there is a need to force the pharmaceutical companies to take pseudophedrine and ephedrine off the market, to facilitate an end to the virtual epidemic of methamphetamine in the United States which they are profiting from. Marijuana is a special case, with a simple plan, which would be to put it in a class with alchohol and cigarettes and decriminalize use.
If addicts were given free drugs through community based, federally-funded programs, noone would need to steal or prostitute themselves to pay for drugs. There would be a noticeable decrease in the profits and job security of countless dealers. If every citizen were to have access to immediate treatment, with no more waiting lists, or access based on income or insurance coverage, many would choose to live a better life without dependence on mind-altering substances.
In the case of marijuana in particular, which is not physically addictive, and is much more natural than smoking cigarettes, which are rolled in asbestos paper and laced with hundreds of chemicals, including arsenic,legalizing the drug would end the dealing and crimes committed to pay for this herb. Allowing people to grow their own supply would prevent the need for any company to grow and market it as another pre-packaged product with addictive additives. No more profit, no more problem. No more marijuana users wasting their lives in prison. Many people might even choose to inhale or ingest this for medicinal purposes, as an alternative to excessive alchohol use, prescription pill abuse, and various other forms of stress management currently popular in America. There are also many proven medical benefits of marijuana use for people with diseases including cancer, glaucoma, and Multiple Sclerosis, to name a few.
As for methamphetamine, also known as crank and ice, is concerned, the best approach would be to eliminate any access to the ingredients necessary to manufacture the drug in the first place. There is a big conundrum known of as "smurfing," which is buying mass quantities of decongestant, including over-the-counter medications like Sudafed, in order to produce this chemical cocktail of mass destruction. If the government was serious about ending the illegal manufacture and sale of methamphetamine, a giant step in the right direction would be to demand that Pfizer remove their drug from the market. However, profits get in the way of this simple solution, and the drug companies continue to get rich off the meth-addicts misery, and do not pay for the considerable cost to society they should take a substantial share of the responsibility for due to continued complicity.
By creating job opportunities and equal access to education, especially among minorities and immigrants, our country could lessen the need to catch and house these people in the prison system when they turn to drug-dealing as a way to the American Dream. Or to feed their kids. As Tony Montana points out in the movie, first you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the, uh, girl. The sad truth, though, is that many people who deal drugs, such as crack cocaine, take on a huge risk of getting arrested and imprisoned while making much less money than the drug lords they work for, and in many cases they are primarily addicted to drugs and simply selling to others in order to finance their own habit.. With the money saved not needing to fight a war on drugs, and members of our own families, which is unwinnable, the social conditions that lead to drug dealing could finally be addressed.
Income disparity in the United States must play a role in a person's decision to turn to dealing drugs as a viable option. More money spent on social programs that benefit everyone and providing full employment and higher wages for every citizen would have a huge effect on fighting the influence of drugs in poor communities. Giving people a chance at a successful, respectable life through legal means decreases the chance that they would ever consider getting involved with drugs in the first place.
By promoting a culture of sobriety, where drug use is not glamourized, and also pushing for a change in the medical profession, and combating the abuse of legal drugs by addicts who treat their M.D.'s just like a corner dealer, the possibilities for change are endless. Our culture of better living through chemistry leads to a mixed message being sent to children about drugs being acceptable and even preferable to being oneself. The abuse of alchohol has a similar and equally detrimental conclusion. Just say no won't work if mom and dad are popping pills and chugging down liquor every night.
Doctors, psychiatrists, and pharmaceutical companies have saturated society with legal drugs. The profits are staggering, and the new trend seems to be television commercials that encourage consumers to ask their trusted physicians about certain "medications" which might be prescribed to alleviate everything from trouble sleeping to the lack of ability to become sexually aroused. A huge percentage of the population is on a variety of mood-elevating pills. Free "samples" are handed out like candy to get the patient hooked. Doctors, drug companies, and probably some politicians are profiting off of every one of them.
The perception of young children must be that some drugs are acceptable and some are not. But the line has become so hard to see that the main message is that everyone takes drugs. This leads to kids finding drugs in grandmas medicine cabinet, discovering they make them feel good, and possibly believing these pills are safer than, say, marijuana, which is illegal and possibly harder for them to access. The problem is that these pills can kill them. A fresh assessment of real and present danger is warranted due to these changing conditions. A comprehensive and effective war on drugs must include all substances that are dangerous and possibly deadly.
It would take a complete change in the way society looks at the drug problem to make any progress in preventing the crime and personal devastation, as well as lack of productivity and health care costs our country suffers. Drug dependent people should be patients, not prisoners. Yhey should be given lots of TLC and psychotherapy, and never simply switched over to new and probably even more dangerous pharmaceuticals from the med-peddlers.
The war on drugs should not focus on punishing the user, but instead on the source of the problem. Profit. As long as individuals and corporations can make money, drugs will be available. A war on members of our communities and in too many cases our own family members has increased prison populations while doing nothing to decrease the supply and demand for illegal drugs to an acceptable level considering the money spent. A transition to legal and prescribed drugs may be the downfall of The Nation. Family doctors, obviously motivated by profit and an insane desire to market pills for these drug reps, may have already become the new Tony Montana. When patients are encouraged to deal with life by numbing themselves and normal children are introduced to daily drug dosages prior to puberty by the millions, it is time to take a step back and consider the motive. Talk about an organized crime syndicate ... These guys take the cake.
I turned that in fall semester 2006
Added a few sentences.
Teacher never said how I did, and I already had an A in the class.
So I am asking you, my friends, for feedback.