5:45:00 AM
Is There Really a War on Drugs?
A
In our contemporary
society, the media
constantly bombards us
with horror
stories about drugs
like crack-cocaine. From
them, and probably
from no other
source, we learn that
crack is immediately
addictive in every
case, we learn
that it causes corruption, crazed violence, and
almost always leads
to death. The government tells
us that we are
busy fighting a
war on drugs
and so it
gives us various
iconic models to despise and detest: we learn to stereotype
inner-city minorities as being of drug-infested wastelands and we
learn to "witchhunt" drug
users within our
own communities under the belief that they represent moral
sin and pure evil. I believe that these
titles and ideals are preposterous and
based entirely upon unnecessary and
even detrimental ideals promoted by the government to achieve
purposes other than those they claim.
B
In Craig Renarman's
and Harry Levine's
article entitled "The
Crack Attack: Politics and Media in America 's Latest Drug Scare,"
the authors attempt to expose and to
deal with some of the societal problems that have resulted
from the over-exaggeration of crack-cocaine
as an "epidemic problem"
in our country.
Without detracting attention away from
the serious health
risks for those
few individuals who
do use the
drug, Renarman and Levine demonstrate how
minimally detrimental the
current "epidemic" actually
is.
C
Early in the article, the authors summarize crack-cocaine's
evolutionary history in the U.S.
They specifically discuss how the crack-related deaths of two star-athletes
which first called wide-spread attention
to the problem
during the mid-1980's.
Since then, the government has
reportedly used crack-cocaine
as a political
scapegoat for many
of the nation's larger inner-city
problems. Thefts, violence, and even socioeconomic
depression have been blamed on crack. They assert that the government has
invested considerably in studies
whose results could
be used to
wage the constant
"war on drugs"
while to politicians, that war
has amounted to nothing more than a perceptual war on poverty and urban crime.
D
Since
politicians have had
little else of
marketable interest to
debate over the
years, this aggressive attack on drugs has existed as one of
their only colorful means by
which to create debate, controversy, and campaign fuel. In other words, when balancing the budget
and maintaining an
effective foreign policy
became too boring
to handle, Reinarman and
Levine assert that
the "crack epidemic" became
the focus of
politicians with the intent of luring public interest to their flashy anti-drug
campaigns.
E
Finally, in addition
to the media's
excess attention on
the 'war against
drugs,'
Reinarman and Levine make the point the constant coverage of
crack in the news media
has only been
counterproductive to the
alleged goals of
any anti-drug program. With descriptions of the "crack
high" that glorify it considerably-the politically-charged media campaigns to
fight drugs have
worked somewhat ironically
as huge advertising campaigns for
crack-increasing public awareness
and stimulating the interests
of venturous junkies.
F
While Reinarman and
Levine are rather
adamant about their
findings, they do
maintain an overt
respect for the
reality that crack
has had other
causal factors and outcomes besides those described by
them. Their main concern seems to be
calling for a more realistic spotlight to be placed upon the problem-so that we
can begin to deal with it as no more and no less than what should be.
G
The "war on drugs" is indeed based upon an
exaggeration of facts. Although it is also evident that substances such as crack-cocaine
may serve to pose great health risks to those
that use them,
there is not
any widespread "epidemic" use
of the drug
nor any validity to
the apparent myths
that it causes
such immediate devastation
and is life-wrecking in every single case. It is
obvious that we do indeed need to maintain a greater and more focused emphasis
on the important and more widespread problems in society. Important energies and well-needed monies are
being diverted from them tofight in an almost-imaginary battle against a
controlled substance. Conclusively, we
should allow drugs like crack-cocaine receive their due attention as social
problems, but let them receive no more than that!.
Questions
Choose the appropriate letter A – D and write your answers
in boxes 1 –
answer sheet.
1. From the media we learn that crack-cocaine ...
A. gives us various iconic models to despise and detest.
B. represents moral sin can evil.
C. is addictive in every case, causes corruption and
violence and almost always leads to death.
D. bombards us with horror.
2. According to Craig Renarman and Harry Levine, ...
A. crack-cocaine is an
‘epidemic problem‘ in our country.
B. crack- cocaine does not pose serious health risks for
users.
C. the current ‘epidemic‘ is really very serious.
D. the current ‘epidemic‘
is not so serious despite the serious health risks for the few individual
users.
3. Based on Paragraph C, we know that ...
A. crack-cocaine became widely know as a problem since the
mid - 1980s.
B crack-cocaine has caused many problems – from thefts,
violence to socio-economic depression.
C. the government has invested little fighting the ‘war on drugs’.
D. drugs have led to political as well as social problems.
4. Politicians use the drug issue ...
A. to attack the drug dealers at the market.
B. to lure the public interest to their flashy anti-drug
campaign.
C. to balance the budget and maintain an effective foreign
policy.
D. to attack drug users only
Questions
Complete the table below describing the causes and effects.
Write your answers in boxes 5
–
CAUSES
|
EFFECTS
|
Example:
crack-cocaine
|
Answer:
corruption, violence and deaths
|
media‘s excess attention on the ‘war
against drugs’
|
5……………
|
Politically-charged media campaigns to fight drugs
|
6……………
|
Questions
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer
in Reading
In boxes 7
–
YES if the statement agrees with the
writer
NO if
the statement does not agree with the writer.
NOT GIVEN if
there is no information about this in the passage
7. In our contemporary society, people all over the world
should launch a war on drugs.
8. Drug users within our won communities represent moral sin
and pure evil.
9. The ̳war on drugs‘
waged by the government is really a perceptual war on poverty and urban crimes.
10. Drug uses may lead to poverty and divorce.
11. We should spend more money and maintain a more focused
emphasis on the importance and more wide-spread problems in society rather than
on an almost-imaginary battle against drugs.
12. We should not pay too much attention to drug users,
instead, we should fight against the drug dealers.
13.
Drugs like crack-cocaine has received much more attention than is necessary.
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