Study Document
Drugs What Argument Can You Make for Essay
Drugs
What argument can you make for either the prohibition of or the continued legalization of caffeine and nicotine? What are some of the implications of either move?
Both caffeine and nicotine are legal drugs, and they should remain legal just as all drugs of all types should be legal. Caffeine is a "psychoactive stimulant drug," and it can be found in common foods and beverages such as coffee and soft drinks (p. 274). Nicotine is described as a "toxic, dependence-producing psychoactive drug found exclusively in tobacco," (p. 254). Although caffeine and especially nicotine are not necessarily healthy substances, using these drugs is a matter of personal choice. Similarly, using alcohol, cannabis, and doctor-prescribed medications is also a matter of personal choice and should be so. The implications of keeping caffeine and nicotine legal include allowing people to enjoy delicious beverages like coffee, which has a long and entrenched cultural history. Caffeine also "relatively benign" even if signs of dependency can be shown in clinical trials and in case study (p. 274). There is no reason to ban caffeine, any more than there is a reason to ban alcohol. Nicotine might be more harmful than caffeine due to the fact that the most common intake method for nicotine is cigarettes, which also contain tar, carbon monoxide, and other toxins. Banning nicotine is not the best method to create a healthier society; awareness and the trend towards making smoking socially unacceptable is a far more effective means of promoting public health. Prohibition of drugs and alcohol has proven to be ineffective, and until all drugs are legalized, there will continue to be contradictory politics and programs related to addictions. Addiction is treated both as a mental health issue and a criminal justice issue, and if caffeine and nicotine were added to the list of controlled substances, most of the American population would be in prison.
Should a pregnant woman who uses them be guilty of…
Sample Source(s) Used
Reference
Levinthal, C.F. (2012). Drugs, Behavior, and Modern Society. 7th ed. Pearson.
Related Documents
Study Document
Drug Legalization Is a Highly Controversial Issue,
Drug legalization is a highly controversial issue, which has been given top priority in political agenda. Many oppose legalization of cocaine but there are just as many people favoring legalization on various grounds. It is important to study both sides of the problem to see if legalization is practical or not. Those who oppose legalization of drugs maintain that cocaine is a dangerous drug which if legalized will send the
Study Document
Drugs at a Friend's House the Ethical
Drugs at a Friend's House The ethical dilemma of this scenario revolves around the question of what an officer's duties are when he or she is technically 'off-duty.' There is little question that when someone's life is at stake, such as during an armed robbery, that an officer has a moral obligation to intervene. However, the terms of this scenario are far more ambiguous. There is no immediate, obvious risk to
Study Document
Argument for or Against the Debate on Ending or Continuing the War on Drugs...
War on Drugs The concept of the 'War on Drugs' was first coined by President Nixon back in 1971 in an effort to discourage the illegal trafficking of drugs. The primary motivation for this was the way that many states were falling victim to the dynamics of the drugs and terrorism links prevalent in the region. There have many studies conducted that show various authentic connections between the drug business and
Study Document
Drug, Tysabri, That Was Tested
According to these authors, the fatal tragedy could easily have been avoided by taking more time for more focused and carefully planned clinical trials. According to this view, it was unethical to test Tysabri in the way it has been done, and furthermore irresponsible to enter it into the market before all side-effects were ascertained. 3. Interested parties: The interested parties in this case include Walter Smith, Anita's widower, as
Study Document
Legalizing Drugs
Drug Legalization This week, Columbian drug smugglers surgically opened six Labrador retriever and Rottweiler puppies and stuffed packets of heroin inside their bellies. Countless human beings have willingly stuck packages of illegal substances into any available bodily orifice or swallowed unknown quantities only to pass them out later. These instances indicate the grimly extreme lengths drug smugglers are willing to go in order to circumvent American drug prohibition laws. Drug trafficking
Study Document
Drugs and Addiction
Drugs and Addiction Prolonged drug use produces compulsive seeking of the drugs. Drugs affect the functioning of the brains' functioning, and that has behavioral implications on the drug addict. Drug addiction leads to chronic relapses, which may lead a person to face problems of disconnection. Prescription drugs are becoming the most abused drug types regardless of the negative influences they produce to the lives and behavior of users. University students in