Its Time to Decriminalize Marijuana :: Marijuana Drugs Argumentative Persuasive Essays

It's Time to Decriminalize Marijuana Currently, drugs remain high on the lists of concerns of Americans and are considered one of the major problems facing our country today. We see stories on the news about people being killed on the street every day over drugs. To many people drugs are only an inner-city problem, but in reality they affect all of us - users and non-users. I believe that the negative affects we associate with drugs would be greatly reduced if the United States adopted a policy towards the total decriminalization of marijuana. The current drug policy of our government is obviously failing. Drug laws have created corruption, violence, increased street crime, and disrespect for the criminal justice system. Current drug legislation has failed to reduce demand. It's just too hard to monitor illegal substances when a significant portion of the population is committed to using drugs. (Inciardi and McBride 260) Marijuana comes from the hemp plant, which can readily be grown on fields across the nation and was cultivated heavily in colonial period. After 130 years of being legal, the potential problems of marijuana were brought into the public eye by Harry J. Anslingler, the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and author of Marijuana: Assassin of Youth (Goldman 88). In his book, Anslinger portrayed images of Mexican and Negro criminals, as well as young boys, who became killers while under the influence of marijuana. With the added public pressure, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. This law made the use and dale of marijuana federal offenses. At this point marijuana was removed from the public eye, and heavy users included poor Negroes, migrant Mexicans, and Jazz Musicians (Himmelstein 3). Marijuana reappeared in the mid 1960's with the emergence of the "Hippie." Widespread objection to the use of marijuana remained because of the set of valued and lifestyles associated with it, but use appeared in colleges and among middle-class youths in the suburbs (Himmelstein 103). Marijuana became a symbol of a counter-culture, and youthful rebellion. As a consequence, marijuana use rose for the next ten years. Marijuana was becoming more accepted across the nation. As the users of Marijuana changed, the attitudes about the danger of Marijuana broke down. In 1970, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act reduced the classification of simple possession and non-profit distribution from felonies to misdemeanors (Himmelstein 104).

Lord of the Flies Essay example -- Lord of the Flies Essays

INTELLIGENCE, CIVILIZATION, AND INSTINCTS   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Often times, authors use characters in their novels and stories as symbols. The characters may be symbolic of the tangible as well as the non-tangible. In addition, characters can often be looked at with a psychological approach to literature in order to better determine or understand their symbolic significance. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, special symbolic significance may be found in the characters, Piggy, Ralph, and Jack.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Piggy, the heavy, asthmatic, nearsighted boy, was often teased and ridiculed, however Golding made it obvious to the reader that Piggy was indeed the super ego. Piggy symbolizes all the hate and discrimination in the world. If it was not for Piggy’s bizarre appearance, he may have been made ruler of the island, and he certainly was the most suited for the job. He also symbolizes intelligence. He was analogous to sanity and reason. â€Å"Piggy’s role as a man’s reasoning faculties him as a father† (Rosenfield 264). Piggy always used ideal judgment and was the island’s only adult-like figure. He demonstrated this at a tribal meeting after the boys nearly burned down the island: â€Å"I got the conch! Just you listen! The first thing we ought to have made was shelters down there by the beach. It wasn’t half cold there in the night but the first time Ralph says ‘fire’ you goes howling and screaming up this here mountain. Like a pack of kids!†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  By now they were listening to the tirade. â€Å"How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper?† He took off his glasses and made as if to put down the conch; but the sudden motion towards it of most of the older boys changed his mind. He tucked the shell under his arm, and crouched back on a rock. â€Å"Then when you get here you build a bonfire that isn’t no use. Now you been and set the whole island on fire. Won’t we look funny if the whole island burns up? Cooked fruit, that’s what we’ll have to eat, and roast pork. And that’s nothing to laugh at! You said Ralph was chief and you don’t give him time to think. Then when he says something you rush off, like, like—â€Å"   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He paused for breath, and the fire growled at them. â€Å"And that’s not all. Them kids. The ... ...he id is also associated with basic human instincts. This further identifies the symbolic significance linked with Jack. After reading Lord of the Flies, it is obvious to one that Jack symbolizes natural human instincts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After reading this essay and Golding’s novel, one now has a better understanding of the symbolic significance or the characters: Piggy, Ralph, and Jack. Piggy, symbolic of intelligence and prejudice, can be most closely compared to a modern-day â€Å"geek.† The geek may not seem to be of importance because of their awkwardness, but may be extremely intelligent. Ralph is the chief, leader, and symbol of civilization. He is the President of United States. He leads the society and governs the people. Finally, Jack, the barbaric hunter who symbolized human instincts is like the ancient cave man that hunted the wholly mammoth. Both survived solely on instinctive motives. When one understands the symbolic significance in a novel, they are able to better interpret the novel and understand it to a much fuller and broader extent. WORKS CITED Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Perigee Books, 1954. Rosenfield. â€Å"Men of a Smaller Growth.†

Organization Strategy and Structure Essay

By now, it should have been clear that there is no such thing as the one right organization. There are only organizations, each of which has distinct strengths, distinct limitations and specific applications. It has become clear that organization is not an absolute. It is a tool for making people productive in working together. As such, a given organizational structure fits certain tasks in certain conditions and at certain times. Given this perspective, as organizations tend toward more efficiency and effectiveness, so does the structure. For example, one hears a great deal today about â€Å"the end of hierarchy. † This is blatant non-sense. In any institution, there has to be a final authority say, the boss – someone who can make the final decision and who can then expect to be obeyed. But, what is the right organization to handle crisis is not the right organization for all tasks. Sometimes the team approach is the right answer. In fact, the pharmaceutical industry used this strategy long before â€Å"team† became a buzzword in the organization community.

Lady Macbeth Analysis

The characters in Shakespeare’s are strongly developed by the use of soliloquies. Through them, introspection of the characters is revealed. Lady Macbeth, in particular, is very dynamic, and her nature grows throughout the play. Her changes are often highlighted through her soliloquies, thus giving the audience a clear idea of her development. When Macbeth told his wife of the witches’ prophecy, Lady Macbeth wanted nothing else but to make it true.She asked the spirits to â€Å"Unsex me here, and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top full of direst cruelty! † (Act 1, Scene 5) She asks for the power to convince and control her husband’s mind with her ambition to become the queen. In this soliloquy, Lady Macbeth reveals to the audience her evil nature; however, this trait is hidden from the characters around her as the minute Macbeth enters and her soliloquy finishes, she softens into a loving wife, calling Macbeth â€Å"My dearest love,† and comfor ting him of Duncan’s visit.Right before the scene ends, she tells him that â€Å"To alter favor ever is to fear. Leave all the rest to me. † This should send Macbeth a signal of her blooming nature. Lady Macbeth enters the courtyard of the castle after drugging the king’s guards with alcohol and says to herself that â€Å"what has quench’d them hath given me fire. † (Act 2, Scene 2) She is bold and ferocious, and she drunk not only on the alcohol, but her greed and her evil desires fuel her.Her soliloquy shows the audience the climax of her growth. She confidently admits to herself who she is and is happy about what she’s done. After meeting with Macbeth and seeing his weakness, she calls Macbeth â€Å"Infirm of purpose† and takes matters into her own hands to complete the deed. Lady Macbeth’s growth is revealed to both the audience and to her husband in this soliloquy. The last of Lady Macbeth’s soliloquies is during he r sleep walk.She is admitting her crime, and trying to wash blood off her hands. She believes that ‘’all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand,† (Act 1, Scene 1) obviously crumbling under the guilt. Her fear is also torturing her, through her unresolved reassurance to herself that â€Å"Banquo’s buried. He cannot come out on ‘s grave. † There are no traces of her evil nature left, and her soliloquy reveals her weakness, and her regret as she admits to herself that â€Å"what is done cannot be undone. Lady Macbeth is portrayed as the fierce minded wife of Macbeth, unlike most women of her time. She is strong willed, however, not stronger than her guilty conscience, as she is eventually crushed and killed by her own evil nature. Shakespeare shows the development of Lady Macbeth through three soliloquies placed in the beginning, the middle, and the end of the play to give the audience a very clear understanding of both the dyna mics of the character and also the plot of the play.

Hate Crimes Essay

A hate crime is an act of violence, a threat, harassment, or property damage motivated by bigotry and prejudice against the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of another group or individual. These acts are not only against the victim(s), but also the particular group as a whole. Hate crimes are very common and often times it is hard to tell whether or not the crime is motivated by hate. I chose this topic because I was watching a TV show call Criminal that told true stories of hate crimes. The one that got me interested was â€Å"Punks vs. Preps,† there had been an ongoing feud between the two groups, which ended in a teen losing his life. This episode showed one of the many cases of hate crimes that have plagued our nation. Watching it caused me to grow curious about how often these terrible events happened, as well as, what is being done to prevent future breakouts of hate crimes. Many people assume that hate crime offenders are hate-filled Nazi’s or â€Å"skinheads†. But research by a clinical psychologist at the University of California shows that out of 1,459 cases in the span of a year less than 5 percent were members of a hate group (http://www.hatecrime.org). Most hate crimes are carried out by, seemingly, law-abiding young people who do not think their actions are wrong. Sometimes drugs and alcohol help initiate these crimes, but the main factor appears to be personal prejudice. Personal prejudice is what blinds a person from seeing the wrong in what they are doing. Most times this prejudice comes from an environment that sees differences as threats. The worst hate crimes are often committed by people with a history of antisocial behavior. One of these examples took place in June of 1998 in Jasper, Texas. Three men, with jail records, offered a ride to a black man with a limp. After beating him to death, they dragged him behind their truck until his body was partially dismembered (http://hatecrime.org). According to the FBI, about thirty percent of all hate crimes in 1996 were crimes against property. They involved robbing, vandalizing, destroying, stealing, and/or arson. Approximately seventy percent involve an attack  against a person. This can range from simple assault (without a weapon) to aggravated assault, rape, and murder. This type of attack has two levels of injury, on a person’s physical self and also on a person’s identity (http://www.stopthehate.org). Educated guesses of the presence of hate crimes in a society are difficult because each state defines and reports these crimes differently. The Hate Crime Statistics Act was enacted in 1990, but federal law enforcement officials did not begin collecting nationwide statistics until the following year. Another obstacle to gaining an accurate count of hate crimes is that many victims are afraid to report the attacks. This comes from the trauma they have experienced and fear of retaliation or future contact with the offender(s). Another reason is that it is difficult to identify a biased motive. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is often caused by hate crimes. Some symptoms are intense feelings of vulnerability, anger, and depression, learning problems, and difficulty with relationships (both physical and emotional). Studies have shown that some victims have taken as long as five years to overcome the feelings. They may heal more quickly if support is available soon after the incident (Punks vs. Preps). Hate crimes not only affect the victim himself, but they also affect the particular group the victim is from or thought to be from. When the result of the attack is serious injury or the loss of a life then it also affects the family and friends of the victim. Racial Hatred is by far the most common type of hate crime with African Americans as the group at greatest risk. In 1996, sixty percent (4,831 of 7,947) of hate crimes were committed because of race; two-thirds of these crimes were targeting African Americans (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr). The type of crimes committed against this group has not changed since the nineteenth century; they still include murder, cross burnings, vandalizing churches, and bombings. As for the other racially motivated crimes, about twenty-five percent were against white people, seven percent against Asian Pacific Americans, less than five percent against multiracial groups, and one percent against Native Americans and Alaskan Natives. Ethnic minorities in the United States are often targeted because they are  thought to be new to the country even if their families have been here for generations. Other times they are targeted just because they are seen as different from the majority population.

Naomi Klein Essay

Naomi Klein’s comparison between Rachel Corrie and Jessica Lynch, particularly the attention she pays to the story of Corrie, illustrate the broad, almost invisible borders that defined Corrie’s conception of political and feminist solidarity. As Theresa Saliba highlights in her essay, Corrie was not merely determined to align herself politically, socially, or based upon her gender but instead sought to reach across all lines of Palestinian society to peacefully stand against the oppression of the Israeli government. Despite her status as an American, Corrie had realized an almost unknown status of human solidarity that had little to do with religion, gender, or nation. However, Corrie did not neglect the needs of the Palestinian women she encountered. Instead, she brought the same notion of political solidarity to her work with the women of Gaza. It is that overlapping of nuances, both political and gender-related, that underline the arguments of not only Corrie’s actions as described by Klein or Saliba’s defense of Corrie but the concept of feminist solidarity throughout the Arab world. Kim Berry’s examination of the misuse and abuse of the Bush Administration’s so-called defense of women’s rights, examines how important the perception of women has become in the â€Å"war-on-terror† but more importantly how such rhetoric can actually undermine these same rights. It creates a politically appealing picture for the public, to illustrate the evils of the Taliban but fails to engage the Afghan women themselves. Similarly, such posturing does little to economically or socially improve the lives of Afghan woman, as noted in the Feminist Majority Foundation’s press release on the need for more funding for the establishment of women’s rights. In the present climate, both abroad and in the U. S. , as shown in Mervat Hatem’s examination of Arab-American relations, feminist solidarity becomes part of a larger construct of human rights.

Week 8 History 2303 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 8 History 2303 - Essay Example The rules that were formulated this time allowed husbands to claim their wives wherever they found them and they could always snatch the women of their wages. There were instances where a widow could be snatched all the husbands’ belongings; fathers could distribute their wealth to all their children disregarding their daughters, women had no property rights. (Stearns and Walkowitz. 57) Also in some cases they had their rights upheld and they could be paid their wages whenever they worked for overtime and also they were not overworked if payments were not necessary. Women in some instances were guaranteed better life in the factories and there were no unjust laws. The mill girls who had their own homes were allowed moderate time to work and also the opportunity to teach in some schools during summer months. Some widows got the opportunity to be housed in corporation houses where the girls were also kept. More so, these girls were given the opportunity to read the novels and the bibles and some other good books that could appeal to them. They participated in critical writings and this was the only avenue they could voice their grievances. Many girls were put in a situation that only enabled them to extend their help to their drunken fathers and widowed mothers. Many girls were forced to work and their wages used to pay school fees for their male counterparts, althou gh the influence of industrialization made them uniformly good in terms of character, religion as well as their health. When wages were significantly reduced, girls challenged it by engaging in industrial strike. (Stearns and Walkowitz.