Timeline Illustrating the Government's Involvement in the Drug Trade
Drug trafficking can be traced back to the 19th century. A range of illegitimately smuggled substances have been sold and dispersed in various place in the USA, usually with adverse consequences. In the 1800s, Chinese settlers arrived in California and taught Americans how to smoke opium. Transaction, retailing and delivery of opium then spread to other American regions. Opium burrows were designated zones for buying and selling of the drugs. From that point onward, drug trafficking has been on a constant rise.
Timeline
Harrison Act, 1914 outlawed opium and cocaine utilization for non-medicinal reasons. However, the circulation of prohibited drugs never came to a halt. In 1925, opium black markets cropped up in various places in the USA, leading to more than 200,000 addicts. In the 1930s, cannabis usage and other substances came under intense scrutiny from the government security agencies such as FBI. The government effort to get rid of recreational drugs was motivated by the fact that drug abuse increased violent crimes (Jones et al., 2019). In 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act was put in place to fight the misuse of marijuana for recreational reasons. The Act combined strict legal requirements with taxation stamps to help combat the spread and use of marijuana hence criminalizing anyone who was no licensed to use marijuana.
Between 1938 and 1939 Mexican government attempted to control narcotics production. The USA’s reacted by restricting medical products from Mexico. Due to this reaction, the Mexican government permitted the narcotics industry to exist aided by the army and other governmental departments. Between 1939 and 1945, World War II prevented Turkish and Europeans from importing opium, heroin and other reactional drugs, hence stopping the morphine production. Also, Mexican increased its generation of poppy and hemp (Rozenshtein, 2018). In 1959, the USA government out Stepan company in charge of the importation of cocaine. Stepan Company imported a total of 100 trillion worth of coca plants from Peru each year. The cocaine was extracted from the coca plant and later sold to pharmaceutical companies. In the 1960s, recreational drugs increased, forcing the government to form the Bureau of Narcotics in 1968. In 1969 medics conduct a urinalysis of prisoners and finds that 44% of them use heroin. Then the Mayor is convinced to offer methadone as a way of dealing with heroin addiction. To decrease marijuana smuggles through the Mexican border, the customs department insisted that vehicles passing through the Mexican border should be subjected to inspections. The operations would be carried out for two weeks and suspend any economic activities on the border regions. The US Bureau farmers would get an income which was 40 times higher than any other legitimate crop. In the 1970s, ‘The National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws’ was established. The group aim was decriminalizing marijuana use. However, in the same year, Congress enacted ‘the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act’. This regulation combined initial drug regulations and reduced punishments from marijuana ownership. It also reinforced laws by permitting law enforcers to perform ‘no-knock’ explorations (Milanlouie et al., 2017). In 1971, President Nixon recreational drug as a public enemy and began the war on narcotics. Reports show that the USA government spent more than $ 51billion on fighting drugs. During Nixon’s presidency, finances were allocated for treating drug addicts rather than law enforcement.
Disadvantages and Advantages of These Laws
These regulations, most of the time only deal with one aspect while ignoring other components. They are only made to restrict or penalize drugs. This way, the people responsible for drug trade find alternatives to bypass the regulations. Issues covered in each law sometimes are not relevant to the actionable steps taken to implement the rules as per the required terms. While evaluating the economic and social impact of illegal drugs, the laws usually provide a solid framework which impedes the problem from affecting most parts of the country (Milanlouie et al., 2017). The government must protect its citizens from any medication that would prevent the standard functionalities of the nation. Hence through the legislations, the government gets the chance to fight off the drug trade. Secondly, most of the government's laws have conceptual clarity that naturally maps out the consequences of the drug trade. As per the perspective offered through these regulations, rules provide a particular framework which ensures that specific requirements are fulfilled hence slowing down on the menace caused by these illegal drugs.
In summary, the government has put in place regulations to fight off drugs. Apart from enacting rules, the government has set restrictions and taxations that have reduced the distribution of illegal drugs in most parts of the world. Evidence that illicit drugs pose dangers to the society hence forcing the government to regulate its use among public people. The industry's secretive nature forces the government to come up with more complex ways of preventing the smuggling of these drugs into USA borders and inhibit growth. Internationally, there are accepted drug production amounts. However due to political and economic interest these productions are sometimes surpassed and it is the role of the government to bring into account the extra amounts.
References
Jones, M. R., Novitch, M. B., Sarrafpour, S., Ehrhardt, K. P., Scott, B. B., Orhurhu, V., ... & Simopoulos, T. T. (2019). Government legislation in response to the opioid epidemic. Current pain and headache reports, 23(6), 1-7.
Milanlouie, O., Mirkhalili, S. M., Darabi, S., & Sheidaeian, M. (2017). Sociological and criminological analysis Decriminalization of minor drug related crimes. Iranian journal of educational sociology, 1(6), 173-180.
Rozenshtein, A. Z. (2018). Surveillance intermediaries. Stan. L. Rev., 70, 99.
