Success and Failure in the US-Mexico War on Drugs Essay -- Essays Pape

Illegal narcotic drugs represent a $60 billion market in the U.S., and this year alone the State and Federal governments will each spend roughly $20 billion in attempting to stifle this market. The amount of money involved in the drug trade, substantially inflated due to prohibition, makes both systemic corruption and violence inevitable. The illegal drug trade is a sophisticated international network, and while no nation’s involvement is limited to one economic function, one relationship is crystal clear: Mexico serves as a high-volume channel of drugs into the United States, and drug traffickers will go to great lengths to continue serving the American consumers as long as their demand exists. A 1997 article stated that narcotics funnel as much as $30 billion into the Mexican economy each year, â€Å"more than the country’s top two legitimate exports combined.†[1] Despite decades of attempts to control this illegal activity, the public perception is that the United States’ war on drugs has failed to substantially reduce both the supply and demand of illegal drugs. Supply-side efforts have been plagued by conflicting political priorities and corruption in both American and Mexican administrations, while the costly anti-drug advertising campaigns and increased incarcerations of drug users have had only limited success in decreasing the demand for drugs. Furthermore, the inherent difficulty of international coordination in such an effort has hindered the success of the drug war. As James Finckenauer, Ph.D. of the National Institute of Justice states, â€Å"The complexity of the worldwide drug market and the vast resources available to narcotic producers and traffickers requires afflicted countries to collabor... ...] â€Å"Healthy People 2000 Final Review.† Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Center for Health Statistics. October, 2001. [15] â€Å"News from the DEA.† Speech by Asa Hutchinson, September 16, 2002. Baylor University. [16] Community Epidemiology Work Group. â€Å"Epidemiologic Trends in Drug Abuse: Advance Report.† National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse. December, 1999. [17] www.drugsense.org [18] â€Å"Gangster Cops,† a lecture by Joseph McNamara, Stanford University. Engineering 297, April 30, 2003. [19] â€Å"Gangster Cops,† a lecture by Joseph McNamara, Stanford University. Engineering 297, April 30, 2003. [20] â€Å"Vicente Fox on the Transition, NAFTA, Corruption, Drugs, the Economy...† Business Week: July 17, 2000.

Southern Hospitality

Imagine living near your entire family in your hometown. Imagine that one of those people is your 6 months pregnant fiancee. Now imagine the fact that you have just received a job opportunity some 900 miles away, and the best thing for your future family is to take that job. What would you do? There are three major things that affect you and your life when you move away from home. Those three things are, missing your family, adapting to new living conditions, and expanding your responsibilities as a person and eventually a parent. When you live any distance away from your family, you will miss them with varied amounts of difficulty. Some of us have no problem missing our families, however. When I was eighteen years old I joined the United States Air Force. My first duty assignment was RAF Mildenhall, England. After the first year I became accustomed to missing my family. The largest difference about this move from Michigan to Georgia was, in fact, that I was engaged and that my fiancee was six months pregnant with my son, Derek. This was the most difficult thing I had ever had to endure as a person. When I first moved, she didn’t immediately want to move with me because it was much easier to move by myself, because we had no money, and no place to live. Eventually, after about three months and the birth of our son, she moved down with the help of her parents, and grandparents. When I first arrived in Georgia, it was much hotter than Michigan. Remember now, that I’ve lived in two different places in my life. The first place was Michigan, with its icy and brash winters and mild to medium summers. The second place, being England, with is bone chilling still aired winters and extremely mild summers. Now we move to Georgia with its extremely tolerable winters and scorching hot summers. Think about the differences here and imagine how much anyone would have to adapt to those differences. When I first moved here I had a ratty old Ford Explorer with no air conditioning and only two windows that worked. There was an immediate difficulty trying to regulate body temperature when such extremes are encountered. One thing that helped adapt to it was the friendly people that the â€Å"south† is so famous for. Everywhere you went, someone would say, â€Å"How are you hun? † or â€Å"Can we get you something sweetie? † This is one thing that anyone could get used to experiencing every day. All of these things have helped me grow into a better person. When I found out that my fiancee was in labor, it was an unbearable situation to deal with. I was able to take off of work for two weeks so I could make the sixteen hour drive back to Michigan to be with my family and see the birth of my son. When I made it back, I was able to witness the birth of my son. It was the single-handed most exciting moment and day of my life. After the two week â€Å"vacation† I had to make the trip back to Georgia, again, without my family. Now if that doesn’t make your stomach churn, I’m not sure what will. That was the most difficult thing I’d ever had to do. Think about the things that make you who you are. If I am having difficulty with anything in my life, I think of my children and one simple verse. Philippians 4:13 which reads, â€Å"I can do all things in God who gives me strength. †

Laws of Manu vs. Code of Hammurabi Essay - 1330 Words

Laws of Manu vs. Code of Hammurabi The Laws of Manu and The Code of Hammurabi were both discovered documents of two different ancient civilizations. These documents basically told the people of the civilizations what is expected of them and what will happen if they don’t follow them. The Laws of Manu were the laws made for the people of India while the Code of Hammurabi were the laws made for the people of Babylon. Both the Laws of Manu and the Code of Hammurabi concentrated a majority on the aspects of marriage, family, and laws of the land. In my opinion, The Code of Hammurabi was harsher than The Laws of Manu. The Code of Hammurabi was for all the people no matter what class they were classified in, even though slaves and women†¦show more content†¦It also put all Brahmanas on a high pedestal and a lot of the laws do not apply to them. In Chapter 10, number 103, â€Å"By teaching, by sacrificing for, and by accepting gifts from despicable (men) Brahmanas (in distress) commit not sin, for they (are as pure) as fire and water. The Laws of Manu has more religious purpose behind it than, the Code of Hammurabi. The Code of Hammurabi was made more to put order in the Babylonian civilization and it also is more straight forward. Even though it has religious reasons and was made by a very religious man, it was still mostly made to keep order in the civilization. The Code of Hammurabi even addresses how much things can be bought and sold for. Number 239, â€Å"If a man hire a salor, he shall pay him six gur of corn per year†, another example is number 243, â€Å"As rent of heard cattle he shall pay three gur of corn to the owner. The Code of Hammurabi also has more of a revenge seeking tone to it. Just in number one is the perfect example for people to get revenge. â€Å"If any one enshare another, putting a ban upon him, but he cannot prove it, then he that ensured him shall be put to death.† Another example of revenge is number 218, â€Å"If an physician make a la rge incision with the operating knife, and cut out the eye, his hands shall be cut off.† This document for the most part was mostly a way to punish people or bring justice to the people. It also talks about goingShow MoreRelatedEssay about Drinking Water Sustainability2634 Words   |  11 Pagesadvanced theoretical and computational models with remotely sensed data and field measurements to facilitate management of sustainable water resources in the context of the complete water cycle† (University of South Florida). Water Conservation: Today vs Yesterday Water conservation is also a valid argument in the struggle for water sustainability. â€Å"In the past, if there was a water shortage, we built new dams and aqueducts. If there was an industrial pollution problem, we built a treatment plant