Essay about Enron The Smartest Guys In The Room - 1948 Words

Enron’s ride is quite a phenomenon: from a regional gas pipeline trader to the largest energy trader in the world, and then back down the hill into bankruptcy and disgrace. As a matter of fact, it took Enron 16 years to go from about $10 billion of assets to $65 billion of assets, and 24 days to go bankruptcy. Enron is also one of the most celebrated business ethics cases in the century. There are so many things that went wrong within the organization, from all personal (prescriptive and psychological approaches), managerial (group norms, reward system, etc.), and organizational (world-class culture) perspectives. This paper will focus on the business ethics issues at Enron that were raised from the documentation Enron: The Smartest Guys†¦show more content†¦The company’s stakeholders include primary groups of customers, employees, shareholders, owners, suppliers, etc. and secondary groups of community. All stakeholders have their own self-interests. While em ployees want secure jobs with high earnings; customers want quality products with cheap prices, which may eventually result in the company and employees’ low income. Being said that, the corporation owes all stakeholders the obligations to meet their interests. That brings in the ethical issue of conflicts of interest, one of key problems at Enron. CFO Andrew Fastow created financial partnership to hide Enron debt, from which he allegedly collected $30 million in management fees. The action obviously made Enron financial data look good, but at the same time deceived the company’s investors about the real performance. Many investors may make their investing decisions based on those false data. And that’s when the collapse begins. Prescriptive Reasoning Approach According to the documentation, those Enron people who faced ethical issues used different prescriptive reasoning approach to resolve their dilemma. Take Andrew Fastow as an example, he might not start all the fraudulent financial activities in the first place; however, he decided to do so in order to please the boss, when Ken Lay wanted to see neat financial disclosures. It seemed that FastowShow MoreRelatedEnron, the Smartest Guys in the Room.1229 Words   |  5 PagesEnron, the Smartest Guys in the Room. Enron was involved in American’s largest corporate bankruptcy. It is a story about people, and in reality it is a tragedy. Enron made their stock sky rocket through unethical means, and in reality this company kept losing money. The primary value operating among the traders was greed, money, and how to make profits under any circumstance. The traders thought that a good trader is a creative trader and the creative trader can find any arbitrage opportunityRead MoreEnron Smartest Guys On The Room1573 Words   |  7 PagesThe movie ENRON smartest guys in the room is about one of the biggest corporation corruptions in the United States. In 1985, ENRON Corporation, was a company that delivers pipeline for natural gas and electricity, while mergering with Houston Natural Gas and Internorth. ENRON quickly grew into a reputable company that generated enormous profits. In a short period of time ENRON was considered one of the top global trading company for natural gas, commodities, and electricity. According to the statistic;Read MoreEnron : The Smartest Guys Of The Room Essay1549 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Enron was a Houston based energy, commodities and services company. When people hear the name Enron they automatically associate their name with one of the biggest accounting and ethical scandals known to date. The documentary, â€Å"Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,† provides an in depth examination of Enron and the Enron scandal. The film does a wonderful job of depicting the downfall of Enron and how the corporate culture and ethics were key to Enron’s fall. As the movie suggests, Enron is â€Å"notRead MoreEnron: the Smartest Guys in the Room1989 Words   |  8 Pages it took Enron 16 years to go from about $10 billion of assets to $65 billion of assets, and 24 days to go bankruptcy. Enron is also one of the most celebrated business ethics cases in the century. There are so many things that went wrong within the organization, from all personal (prescriptive and psychological approaches), managerial (group norms, reward system, etc.), and organizational (worl d-class culture) perspectives. This paper will focus on the business ethics issues at Enron that wereRead MoreEnron: The Smartest Guys in the Room Essay1889 Words   |  8 PagesThe thing I liked most about this documentary was the fact that it focused on the guys at the top, the self-proclaimed smartest men in the room, the so-called geniuses who knew the energy business so much better than the rest of the industry. And what a piece of work these men were. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room shows us how basic human nature does not change, whether its in the easy fall into killing as a means to resolve disputes, or in the incessant human obsession to acquire forRead MoreEnron Case : The Smartest Guys Of The Room1149 Words   |  5 Pages In review of the Enron case, executives higher up exploited their privileges and power, participated in unreliable treatment of external and internal communities. These executives placed their own agendas over the employees and public, and neglected to accept responsibility for ethical downfalls or use appropriate management. As a result, employees followed their unethical behavior (Johnson, 2015). Leaders have great influence in an organization, but policies will not be effectiveRead MoreEnron: the Smartest Guys in the Room Essay1834 Words   |  8 Pagesthis paper is consider three possible rationales for why Enron collapsed—that key individuals were flawed, that the organi zation was flawed, and that some factors larger than the organization (e.g., a trend toward deregulation) led to Enron’s collapse. In viewing â€Å"Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room† it was clear that all three of these flaws contributed to the demise of Enron, but it was the synergy of their combination that truly let Enron to its ultimate path of destruction. As in any organizationRead MoreEssay on Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room5209 Words   |  21 Pagesï » ¿Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room The  Enron scandal, revealed in October 2001, eventually led to the  bankruptcy  of the  Enron Corporation, an American  energy company based in  Houston, Texas, and the de facto dissolution of  Arthur Andersen, which was one of the  five largest  audit  and accountancy  partnerships  in the world. In addition to being the largest bankruptcy reorganization in American history at that time, Enron was attributed as the biggest audit failure. Enron was formed in 1985 by  KennethRead MoreA Film Review of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room666 Words   |  3 PagesAbstract This is a review of the movie, Enron: The Smart Guys in the Room. The paper analyses the themes that contributed to the downfall of Enron. It also considers steps that Human Resources would have taken given the chance, in addressing the issues that contributed to the collapse of the Company. Factor That Led To Enrons Downfall According to the documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, it seems that one major reasons that led to Enrons down fall was; unethical corporate behaviorRead MoreThe Smartest Guys At The Room : The Amazing Rise And Scandalous Fall Of Enron1654 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"The Smartest Guys In the Room† the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron goes into great detail of what happens when a company has no ethics. It could be said that ethics was the last thing on the minds of the executives that worked at Enron. People employed at Enron cared about two things the stock price of the company, and the money they could put in their own pockets. This was what caused the fall of one of the biggest energy companies in the U.S†¦ Enron failing did not happen overnight it

Obesity A Nationwide Epidemic That Is Affecting Children...

In today’s society obesity has become a nationwide epidemic that is affecting children and adults daily. Dietitians have an essential role in the health field to treat patients with nutrition problems such as obesity, but every patient is different and how the dietician decides the course of treatment is as well. For example, there are many ways the dietician can treat the patient like goal setting, self-monitoring, meal preparation, and other strategic plans that lead to the best health of the patient. When making a plan to treat the patient many detailed factors come into play. For example, patients age, occupation, family history, and most importantly social environment. I had the pleasure of observing a counseling session between Mrs. Natalie Porta, RD, LDN and a twelve year old male with his mother. The male’s pediatrician was concerned that the patient had gained a tremendous amount of wait from his last visit. The boy wanted to lose weight and change his eating h abits. He mentioned that during the week at school he eats the schools lunch they provide and he brings a snack from home. He also mentioned that sometimes at home he has to cook whatever is available because his parents work a lot. Mainly he said he eats fast food a lot due to availability and the convenience for his parent’s busy schedules. The main strategy’s Mrs. Porta chose was goal setting and educating him and his parent on ways he can diet. After counseling the patient, the boy agreed to change hisShow MoreRelatedChildhood Obesity Analysis1473 Words   |  6 PagesCaretakers Obesity in America is literally a growing problem, affecting every age group. Children are the most venerable group because they have no control over where they have dinner or how often they have fast food. Parents and guardians make decisions about food and are responsible for the health of children. Childhood obesity has more than doubled in the last twenty years. This is concerning because Type Two diabetes is a horrible, crippling disease that is affecting children and teens dramaticallyRead MoreObesity Invasion Of The United States1247 Words   |  5 Pages Obesity Invasion An invasion is occurring right under America’s nose, it’s has spread like wildfire through the vast mountains of California. What is this invasion I speak of you may inquire? Well, it is expansion of the American’s waistlines that is soaring at such alarming rate it astounding. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention concedes that â€Å"obesity is affecting 1 out of every 3 adults and 1 in 4 children.† A study conducted by Ramon Martinez, a technical specialist in health metricsRead MoreThe Battle Against Obesity Is A Health Issue Of Great Importance1237 Words   |  5 Pageshealth nurses alike, the battle against obesity is a health issue of great importance. Obesity is shown to be directly responsible for many of the negative health issues we see today. It contributes to higher risk of having chronic disease and poor health (which will be explained). Obesity is a nationwide epidemic stretching across the whole human development spectrum: from ch ildhood obesity, adolescent obesity and adult obesity. The prevalence of children being overweight is growing and movingRead MoreThe Fat Tax Should Not Cure Obesity901 Words   |  4 PagesThe fat tax in America; an attempt to improve the obesity epidemic using the legislature. The fat tax will not cure obesity in America however, one idea is it will be used as an incentive to help improve the eating habits of Americans. The revenue collected can be used to enhance education as well as implement programs to teach healthy lifestyle tips such as exercise, and even implementing gyms in places like community centers. Another suggestion is to reduce cost of healthy foods using some of theRead MoreWhy has Childhood Obesity Become a Paramount Problem in the United States?1609 Words   |  7 PagesPrevention, â€Å"Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years,† (â€Å"Childhood Obesity Facts†). The monumental question that researchers seem to be asking is why the increase now? Childhood obesity has become a paramount problem in the United States in recent years due to various social, biological and technological factors that ultimately requires immediate assistance in order to promote a healthier lifestyle for children as they transition intoRead MoreHigh Fructose Corn Syrup : The Diabetic and Obesity Dangers Essay1280 Words   |  6 PagesHigh Fructose Corn Syrup: The Diabetic and Obesity Dangers Abstract: The use of high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener in various food and drink products has drastically affected the American people in the last three decades. Dominating 55% of the sweetener market because of its industrial benefits, HFCS’s increased use has caused dramatic effects in its consumers, including upsetting normal hormonal functions, destroying vital organs, nerves, and throwing off the body’s mineral balance. As theRead MoreCaloric Calorie Free Fat Calorie Content1446 Words   |  6 Pagesa strategy made by, The Department of Health and Human Services, that â€Å"In 2004 FDA s Obesity Working Group (OWG) developed an action plan to address the overweight/obesity problem within the scope of FDA s regulatory authorities. The OWG recommendations centered on the scientific fact that weight control is primarily a function of caloric balance and therefore calories count when combating overweight/obesity (â€Å"FDA Receives Keystone†). With this kind of recommendation based on scientific evidenceRead MoreObesity And Its Effects On Society1303 Words   |  6 PagesObesity and its Effects on Society ‘America is fat’, this statement repeated by numerous people in and out of healthcare profession and if someone don’t believe this statement, maybe the following statistic will change our mind. According to (CDC) Center for Diseases Control and prevention, obesity rate grew 65% between 1990 and 2002(Su). Still not convince? When most Americans read that statistics they have single question is ‘Why?’ How is the rate of obesity growing so fast? Is this the way weRead MoreThe Consumption Of Fast Food1600 Words   |  7 PagesThe number of kids affected by obesity has tripled since 1980, and this can be traced in large part to lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet (Pedro et al.). Caloric intake has increased enough since the 1970’s which explains the rising trend in obesity, while caloric output has remained essentially unchanged. Americans are eating more unhealthy food and intaking more calories, causing this nationwide epidemic. The big fast f ood chains market their foods to Americans constantly. On average, teensRead MoreWhy Is Obesity An Issue?1877 Words   |  8 PagesWhy is Obesity an Issue? Obesity has significantly increased across our country affecting our state, our communities, and society as a whole. Two out of three American adults and well over 9 million young children and adolescents struggle with issues of obesity and being overweight (CDC, 2013). Obesity and being overweight are direct risk factors for heart disease, high blood pressure, certain cancers, diabetes, and even premature death. Obese and overweight children and adolescents are especially

Health Literacy Personality and Socialization

Question: Discuss about the Health Literacy for Personality and Socialization. Answer: Introduction: Health literacy is an important aspect that every individual should develop in their lives. This is important because it helps the individual to identify what kind of disorders that he himself is facing. It also helps the individual to understand the significance of approaching to the healthcare sectors to ask for service. However, many cases are often reported where development of health literacy is completely absent and this lead to different types of issues in living a healthy quality life. Absence of knowledge about the efficacy of health interventions results the person to not only suffers from various diseases but also makes him apathetic towards healthcare (Simpson et al., 2017). It altogether leads to a compromised life full of negativity affecting the happiness that every individual human being should experience. Large number of psychologists has stated that each and every aspect of the human life is often shaped by different psychosocial stages that an individual goes throu gh (Komenaka et al., 2014). Any obstruction in the particular stages results in creation of personalities that may not attain full maturity required to lead a health ad happy life. The essay will mainly portray a case study that will help us to know how development of stages in the psychosocial development of an individual affects a human being. It will also show how this personality may make him accept lifestyle factors which are unhealthy. His view over health literacy wills be viewed and proper interventions will be proposed for him. Brief Overview: From the entire case study, it was analyzed that Bill was a patient of chronic hypertension who was quite satisfied with his own life. However, from an outsiders perspective, he was not at all healthy and maintained a lifestyle that was not proper. He had many bad habits of eating high calorie fast food which was one the main contributing factor for his obesity. He has a BMI of 34.7 which describes the fact that he is obese and he needs to follow healthcare interventions to maintain a quality lie. On close analysis, it was also seen that his personality is not liked by his wife as she describes him to be irritable but this does not concern him. He thinks himself to be self satisfied and does not care much about anyone else other than his own wishes and interests. If one looks over the psycho- sociological aspect, it can be seen that his development of personality has not gone through different stages as mentioned by Erikson successfully. This had resulted in poor development of socia l skills and an altogether different outlook towards family life. Erikson has explained 8 important stages which are needed of be completed successfully by every individual to lead a healthy life (Snow and Dibner, 2016). Personality of Bill inevitably shows that he might have faced severe issues which have resulted in poor development of social skills required to maintain a healthy family life. Moreover, during such stages of his mental and physical development, it was also seen that he had poor conception about healthcare systems and considered them as dog boxes. Health literacy is extremely important for every individual to develop successful access to care and also use services, for self care and also for chronic conditions. This would help in the maintenance of health as well as wellness for the individual. Health literacy is also important so that an individual can develop more active roles in decision mailing and management of his symptoms (Nakamura et al., 2014). However no s uch knowledge was found in him that lead him to the development of apathy towards healthcare. The perfect model of healthcare that he needs at this moment to make him experience a better life not only physically but also mentally, emotionally and socially is the trans-theoretical model which will mainly depends in individuals decision making as well as a model of intentional change. Factors Affecting health Decisions and Behaviour: From the early period of development in the adolescent as well as the young adulthood, Bill has been unfortunate to particularly undertake successful developments in his personality that had resulted in huge impact on his social as well as physical life. Due to improper development in creating the right attributes required to make a health relationship with partner, he had failed miserably in his marriage and does not even intend to take in initiatives that will help in the development of a better relationship with his wife (Prakash et al., 2015). Moreover he is too apathetic about his own life while he follows a lifestyle very harmful for his health. His diet is one of the most important risk factor that makes him vulnerable to any kind of heart diseases. He is suffering from obesity as his BMI is 34.7. As the case says that he has the habit of eating takeaways food which is mostly highly in calories. Now, as he is lazy and is not ready take to take in any exercise that would burn h is calories, he is gaining weight. Moreover it is also seen that he wants to reduce weight for his wifes request but not due to his own will which clearly states that he is completely illiterate about how his food habits are harming him. Moreover disrespecting healthcare as dog boxes also makes one understand that he has no idea about how healthcare interventions would not only cure him but will also help him to provide a quality life. Besides, the entire case study gives an impression that he maintains a lazy life by gardening most of the times, fishing and others. Inactivity level is high in case of the patient and therefore he is highly vulnerable to different types of heart diseases (Baltes and Schaie, 2013). Moreover, he is a patient of hypertension and only asks the prescribers to recommend it to save money. He is lazy as in the sense as in his free time he goes and plays poker in place of undergoing severe rigorous exercises that he need to lessened down his weight. Absence o f proper health literacy skills had made him to remain contended only with his pills for hypertension but his concern about his obese nature is yet not understood by him and it is extremely important for him to make him understand his risk factors and make him change his lifestyles. Psycho-Physiological Aspects of health: 400 While describing the psycho-physiological aspect of the entire case, one can explain it from the perspective of the theory given by Erikson. The concept of psychophysiology mainly deals with the relationship between the mental (Psyche) and physical (Psychological) processes (Schwartz et al., 2014). Mainly it helps in the approaching of the scientific study that deals with the interaction of the mind with that of the body. Mainly these kinds of disorders are influenced by different types of emotional stresses and different types of mental disorders also get reflected in their physical health as well. As one can see in this case, that the mentality of the individual is quite different as he is not a believer of healthcare interventions thereby referring the healthcare sectors as dog boxes. He only wants to take slimming sessions not because of his feeling that he needs it but because he thinks his wife would create issues. One can here represent Ericksons theory to discuss it. In his t heory, he had stated a stage called industry versus inferiority where children learn the importance of new topics with specific skills (Srigley et al., 2015). If this initiative is not encouraged by teachers and seen parents, the learning directives of the children gets entangled resulting in confused situation (Darling-Fuscher and Leidy, 2015). In this case instead of feeling industrious, the child becomes inferior developing feelings that result to doubting their own abilities. This prevents them from reaching their own potential. This makes the child feel that society is demanding and they tend to fail to meet expectations. In this old age, Bill therefore feels that there is no need to look over his weight as he feels it to be the demand of society. He has not developed the knowledge that it is helpful for him to protect his health from uncertain fate. Moreover his second stage also discusses about the transition from childhood to adulthood when a person learns the concept of fid elity. The new adults explore their possibilities where they begin their own identity that depends on their outcomes of explorations (Corace et al., 2016). They tend to develop their career, families, housing and others governing sexual and occupational importance. This stage of fidelity thereby helps the individual to commit himself to others by accepting others in spite of ideological differences. Any crisis in this stage results in altogether different stages in the personality affecting his sexual and occupational life (Florindo et al., 2014). Mainly because of severe issues, it might have been possible that Bill had developed a personality that does not maintain the fidelity nature as he had been very neglecting to his wife in later stages. Ericksons theory of stagnation and despair is also found among Bill. Therefore we see that a large number of factors are associated that had remain intricately associated with his poor knowledge development in healthcare. He has very little wish of developing his health system and only takes his pills since it helps him in gardening and not because it helps him to keep check on his hypertension. Therefore it is extremely important for the nurse to take up a model of healthcare to make him understand the importance of quality living. Prevention of Illness and Promotion of health: The best method that can be considered for treatment of patients who are apathetic and have very poor knowledge about the contribution of healthcare is the Trans-theoretical model. It mainly helps in developing the knowledge of an individual in integrating new behaviors as well as goals and programs that can be carried on at various levels. It mainly contains six important stages and at each stage different interventions will help the patient to overcome his issues and manage progress (Abdi et al., 2016). This theoretical approach already believes that people do not change behaviors quickly and decisively. They believe that changes in behaviors especially habitual behavior takes place with the help of a cyclical procedure. In the first stage which is called precontemplation. The nurses should understand that the patient is unaware of the behavior that is creating problems in his personal life as well as his physical health. The patients in this place usually pressurize the nurse abou t saying the various cons of the changing behavior and underestimate the different positive aspects of the changing behavior (DeMezes et al., 2015). After continuous counseling from the nurse with prior education and discussion, in the second stage called contemplation, patient usually intend to start the healthy behavior in the foreseeable future. At this stage they learn to recognize that their behavior is problematic and they tend to consider of accepting the intervention. The third stage is the preparation phase where the patient will promise to take actions within 30 days and contributes to small steps towards adopting the behavioral changes. The fourth step is the action stage where the patient had already changed the behavior by modifying it or adopting new changes. The fifth stage is the maintenance stage where the nurse will ensure that the patient is maintaining the changed behavior and carrying it forward with the last stage being termination. In this stage, the patient d evelops a feeling where he no longer wants to go back into the previous unhealthy behavior. The nurse should thereby raise his consciousness and help him in emotional arousal of the health behavior whether positive or negative. The nurse should also help the patient in self reappraisal that the healthy behaviour us helping him. She would also help in social reappraisal making him see how his changes are helping others (Valpied and Hegarty, 2015). The nurse also helped him in social liberation making him see that society is supportive of the behavior along with self liberation making him belief that changes are for his better good. Counseling with his relations, help him to overcome different issues in personal relationship so that they can also support her wishes. Counter conditioning would help him to remove his bad thoughts and incorporate his positive thoughts. Reinforcement management is also important like providing rewards for positive behavior and reducing rewards for negative behavior. The nurse should also make sure that there would be stimulus control which can be achieved by reengineering the environment. This would help in development of cues and reminders to encourage and support the healthy behavior and remove unhealthy behavior. Conclusion: Bill is an individual with a chronic hypertension as well as obesity who is highly apathetic to healthcare. This is mainly due to lack of knowledge about health literacy that had mainly caused a sense of disbelief in him. It is therefore extremely important for the healthcare professionals to make him go through a health care system that would not only help him recover physically by diet charts and exercises but also thorough a behavioural changes. These are extremely important for making him lead a quality life. References: Abdi, J., Eftekhar, H., Mahmoodi, M., Shojaeizade, D., Sadeghi, R. (2015). Lifestyle of the employees working in Hamadan public sectors: application of the trans-theoretical model.Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal,17(2). Baltes, P.B. Schaie, K.W. eds., (2013).Life-span developmental psychology: Personality and socialization. Elsevier. Corace, K.M., Srigley, J.A., Hargadon, D.P., Yu, D., MacDonald, T.K., Fabrigar, L.R. Garber, G.E., (20160. Using behavior change frameworks to improve healthcare worker influenza vaccination rates: A systematic review.Vaccine,34(28), pp.3235-3242. Darling-Fisher, C., Leidy, N. (2015). The Modified Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory. de Menezes, M.C., Mingoti, S.A., Cardoso, C.S., de Deus Mendona, R. Lopes, A.C.S., (2015). Intervention based on Transtheoretical Model promotes anthropometric and nutritional improvementsA randomized controlled trial.Eating behaviors,17, pp.37-44. Florindo, A.A., Costa, E.F., Sa, T.H., dos Santos, T.I., Velardi, M. Andrade, D.R., (2014). Physical activity promotion in primary health care in Brazil: a counseling model applied to community health workers.Journal of Physical Activity and Health,11(8), pp.1531-1539. Komenaka, I.K., Eubanks, R.X., Nodora, J., Martinez, M.E., Hsu, C.H., Bouton, M. Weiss, B.D., (2014). The feasibility and time required for routine health literacy assessment in surgical practice.Journal of the American College of Surgeons,219(4), p.e36. Nakamura, J., Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). The motivational sources of creativity as viewed from the paradigm of positive psychology. InThe Systems Model of Creativity(pp. 195-206). Springer Netherlands. Prakash, R. S., Voss, M. W., Erickson, K. I., Kramer, A. F. (2015). Physical activity and cognitive vitality.Annual review of psychology,66, 769-797. Schwartz, S.J., Benet-Martnez, V., Knight, G.P., Unger, J.B., Zamboanga, B.L., Des Rosiers, S.E., Stephens, D.P., Huang, S. Szapocznik, J., (2014). Effects of language of assessment on the measurement of acculturation: Measurement equivalence and cultural frame switching.Psychological assessment,26(1), p.100. Simpson, S., Clifford, C., Quinn, M.G., Ross, K., Sefton, N., Owen, L., Blizzard, L. Turner, R., (2017). Sexuality-related attitudes significantly modulate demographic variation in sexual health literacy in Tasmanian university students.Sexual Health. Snow, C. E., Dibner, K. A. (2016). Science Literacy: Concepts, Contexts, and Consequences.National Academies Press. Srigley, J.A., Corace, K., Hargadon, D.P., Yu, D., MacDonald, T., Fabrigar, L. Garber, G., (2015). Applying psychological frameworks of behaviour change to improve healthcare worker hand hygiene: a systematic review.Journal of Hospital Infection,91(3), pp.202-210.

Should Drugs Be Legalized Essays - Drug Culture, Drug Control Law

Should Drugs Be Legalized? For several decades drugs have been one of the major problems of society. There have been escalating costs spent on the war against drugs and countless dollars spent on rehabilitation, but the problem still exists. Not only has the drug problem increased but drug related problems are on the rise. Drug abuse is a killer in our country. Some are born addicts(crack babies), while others become users. The result of drug abuse is thousands of addicts in denial. The good news is the United States had 25,618 total arrests and 81,762 drug seizures due to drugs in 1989 alone, but the bad news is the numbers of prisoners have increased by 70 percent which will cost about $30 million dollars. Despite common wisdom, the U.S isn't experiencing a drug related crime wave. Government surveys show between 1980 - 1987 burglary rates fell 27 percent, robbery 21 percent and murders 13 percent, but with new drugs on the market these numbers are up. One contraversial solution is the proposal of legalizing drugs. Although people feel that legalizing drugs would lessen crime, drugs should remain illegal in the U.S because there would be an increase of drug abuse and a rapid increase of diseases such as AIDS. Many believe that legalizing drugs would lessen crime. They point out that the legalization of drugs would deter future criminal acts. They also emphasize and contrast Prohibition. When the public realized that Prohibition could not be enforced the law was repealed. From this, one may infer the same of legalizing drugs. Legalizing alcohol didn't increase alcoholism, so why would drugs increase drug abuse? However, drugs should not be legalized because there would be an increase in drug abuse due to its availability. Once legalized, drugs would become cheaper and more accessible to people who previously had not tried drugs, because of the high price or the legal risk. Drug abuse would skyrocket! Addicts who tend to stop, not by choice, but because the drugs aren't accessible would now feed the addiction if drugs were made legal. These drug addicts would not be forced to kick the habit due to the availability of the drug they would partake eagerly. The temptation to use drugs would increase when advertisements for cocaine, heroin and marijuana are displayed on television. Instead of money used by employed addicts, you will see welfare funds used to purchase drugs. If welfare funds were being misused, this would cause a major problem in the economy. Drugs must not be legalized. It puts our country at a terrible risk. Health officials have shown that the legalization of drugs would cause a rapid increase of diseases such as AIDS. AIDS poses a growing threat to addicts, and thus to society as a whole. The virus that causes AIDS is growing, due to drug addicts who share needles and syringes. The sharing of such needles by intravenous drug users helps increase the spread of AIDS. "Infection among IV drug abusers is continuing to occur at a very steady rate," warn Richard E. Chaisson director of the AIDS service at John Hopkins University. In the U.S gay men still make up the primary risk group, although 750,000 to 1 million drug addicts are believed to be at risk to AIDS nationally. The problem here is the sharing of needles, which is causing the spread of AIDS. IV drug abusers are killing our nation at an amazingly fast speed. AIDS which surfaced in the 80's is now on the rise and even more deadly to IV drug users. The sharing of needles must be stopped. Drugs should not be legalized. Although people feel that legalizing drugs would lessen crime, drugs should remain illegal in the U.S because there would be an increase of drug abuse and a rapid increase of diseases such as AIDS. The United States can not afford this problem. It has become a world power by strengthening its people not by killing them. Drug abuse has gotten worse, with its effects on crack babies, drug addicts, and the I.V user. There must be education for the survival of this nation, not legalization.