Drug Law and Policies; A Danger to Our Freedom and Privacy - Essay Example

Drug Law and Policies; A Danger to Our Freedom and Privacy The world have been fighting drugs for the last 50 years, with the aim of promoting society moral and values but it later took a negative twist. Today there is an upsurge in drug use especially among the youth. With little efforts being realized, the government resorted to punitive measure in order to meet the goals that they have failed to achieve in years. Following the illegalization of some drugs, organized crime took over to create order in the industry, which looks “lucrative” to the money-angry drug cartels whose agenda is nothing other than money. The agencies concerned with drug control have acknowledged that there is more problems when some drugs are treated as illegal than when they are legalized (March, Oviedo & Romero, 2006, p27-33) This paper talks about the inappropriate moves that the government have made under the umbrella of protecting as from the harm caused by drugs. Actually, the penalty for smoking a 2-inch long bang is more risky to one’s health than the smoke from the drug. The penalty are in most case related to discrimination, induced stigmatization, exposure to poor health, escalation of drug related crime and negative environmental impact.. Everywhere in the world the public do admit that war on drugs have significant negative impact in their lives, in some minor case the moves succeeds in making a wrong right. Undermining of fundamental liberties and human rights are a common phenomenon that a person found d to be using drugs have to experience in the hands of the law enforcement officers. The inhuman punishments, unfair trial standards and demonization of people are just but a few weapons widely used to fight drugs (David, 2006, p17-36). Technically, the war appears not to be against drugs but the humans. To some extent the officers goes to the extreme ends of shooting down criminals without being subjected to fair trials. Often first pages of public magazines starts with crime scene in which a suspected drug lord have been gunned down at a checkpoint, this means that the war on drug permits the use of orthodox measure including sentence to death without trial at a mere suspicion drugs abuse. The law permits police officers to arrest anyone suspected of committing a crime, but when it come to the case of drug addicts, they are always subjected to harassment that includes beatings and detention for a long period of time pending investigations (William, 2014, p20-24). These detention facilities are not pleasant places, they are more like prison, the only difference is that in a prison one is allowed to see a lawyer often making the detention facilities worse than prisons In order to realize the true cost of drug war, it is necessary to take into account the perceived future if the drugs are legalized. For instance, alcohol was the most abused substance when it was illegal, but its usage dropped fallowing its legalization. Other drugs are more likely to assume the same trend if legalized. Running of prison and detention facilities constitutes a good percentage of the taxpayers’ money; this money can be alternatively used in other productive ways other than in underpinning unproductive efforts made by the governments to fuel drug war. Even though one does not have the right to use drugs, their privacy and health and beliefs are hindered when some of the drugs are illegalized for all usage including correct application of the drug. Victims of drugs may sometimes be implicated falsely with assumption or false statements provided by family members of based on assumption of guilt. This is no difference from a prison environment endowed with inexperienced medical staff that provides low quality services. The staff normally practices unprofessionally with no certified scientific background. The force exerted on the subjects by the military persons in charge is always devastating i.e. denial of treatment, subjects may be subjected to mandatory HIV testing and denial of essential services. The people who are responsible for these always escape resposibity saying that they are acting under order (Unit 6 Slide 7) Various unusual and cruel punishments are usually applied against people suspected to be involved in drug abuse. These usually involve various forms of torture such as beatings and death threats alongside forced confession and extortion in monetary form. This may be conducted in various forms. The forms are denial of access to medicine and unauthorized corporal punishment all in the name of rehabilitation (Costa, 2008, p 8 -10). It is very unusual that US adopts policies that blindly targets alleged drug barons for assassinations despite the policy being illegal with regard to the international law. It is eminent to note the case of a list of 50 Afghan citizens who were considered by The Pentagon as adamant drug traffickers who should be captured or killed. Contrary to the expectation of moral ethics, the list contained both non-combatants and combatants. Any form of torture, inhuman, cruel or degrading punishment is considered by the International law as a breach of human rights. Both the customary law and the international human rights treaty law greatly prohibit such acts. The assistant application of such act on those alleged to be drug traffickers is absolutely illegal. In addition to imprisonment, corporal punishment is applied in many countries. Practices such as caning, flogging or whipping that are particularly meant to humiliate or shame an individual or escalate feelings poses humiliation and may result to physical or psychological damage. The best method of handling cases of drug traffic should be invented, analyzed and implemented in the best way possible while putting into consideration; decriminalization, models for legal regulation and favorable policies (Herris, 2010, p22-25). This will help create, safer goals, more justified and a healthy world to live in. It is therefore upon those involved in fighting for human rights to call upon the UN and the respective governments to look into the kind of war waged on Drugs and victims of drug abuse. Reference. Costa, A., ‘Making drug control “fit for purpose”: Building on the UNGASS decade’, UNODC, 2008. p 8-10 David, L. Terrorism and the Politics of Fear. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press. 2006. p17-36 Harris, G., ‘Conviction by Numbers: Threshold Quantities for Drug Policy’, Transnational Institute, 2010. p 22-25 March, J. Oviedo, J and Romero, M., ‘Drugs and social exclusion in ten European cities’, European Addiction Research, 12(1), 33-41, 2006. p 27-33 Unit 6 Slide 7 William G. Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility in Postmodern Life. 2nd edition. New York: Rowman and Littlefield. 2014. p 20-44 Read More