Can we please have some honesty about drugs

• Main Author: Saad ul Hassan Hashmi
• Other Authors: Olav Benjamin Vassend
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences; DRNTU::Humanities; DRNTU::Science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73887
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The goal of my paper is to show that contextual values have contributed to an incorrect view of drugs, in particular: marijuana, cocaine and opiates. To meet my paper’s objective: I will trace the development of drug policies in a chronological manner, showing the biases behind policy decisions that were enacted either against evidence or based on popular sentiments. In section one, I will present the historical context up until the 1920 when the first prohibitionist legislation came into effect. In section two, I present the role of Harry Anslinger and the upheaval of Marijuana and the causes behind it being made illegal in the 1930s against empirical evidence provided. Next, in section three, I present the period from 1971 when the declaration of the “War on Drugs” was made and its impact on drug research. Finally, in section four, I will discuss contemporary research on drugs. In section five, I consider more objections to the arguments I have made and draw a final conclusion: that policy should be framed based on evidence.