Stevie Kitchens English 1010 August 5, 2013

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Annotated bibliography

Angell, tom. Franklin, neil. Fried, bill. Rowland, Ethel. Sterling, Eric. Title U.S. Department of Justice. National Drug Intelligence Center. (February 2010). National Drug Threat, Shaeleen Assessment 2010. http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs38/38661/38661p.pdf. Summary: This is a report full of facts and information on why we should end the war on drugs. It talks about how President Obama stated that its time to make a change to our drug policies, and treat drug abuse as a health issue rather then a crime. Obama has made very few changes to the drug policies. Evaluation: This was put together by different law enforcers that call there self L.E.A.P. (law enforcers against prohibition) they are all officers that have served on the front lines of the War On Drugs. There first hand witness to this subject makes them very credible. Reflection: This report is one of the most convincing thing I have found when it comes to the War On Drugs. If I was to get into a debate about tis subject it would definitely be something I would show others. To me it is important because the people who put it together have seen first hand the damage done by the War On Drugs.

Nadelmann, Ethan A. Has The War On Drugs Reduced Crime? Thirteen.org Summary: In this opinion piece, Nadelmann was asked, if the war on drugs reduced crime rates? He answers no, he explains how more crime is created by the black market for illegal drugs. The black market wouldnt be there if drugs were legal, if there was an issue they would settle in court instead of on the streets. Evaluation: You can find out a lot about Ethan A. Nadelmann on the internet he is ., is founder and director of The Lindesmith Center, a drug policy research institute with offices in New York and San Francisco. He previously served, from 1987 to 1994, as assistant professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University. His opinion is very credible. Reflection: After reading his article I found out a lot of new information. I didnt know that Switzerland had legalized drugs, and after researching that I found a lot more information for my essay. I was in shock to find out there are 400,000 people in jail for drug charges, which is an eight times increase of the 50,000 in 1980.

Page 2 Peterson, Robert. Has The War On Drugs Reduced Crime? Thirteen.org Summary: In this article Robert Peterson expresses his opinion that to him the crime rates have dropped because of the War On Drugs. He states that we dont need to make a change in any of our policies, but in fact have a Zero tolerance policy. He says we have already had permissive drug laws and that was a failure and thinks if we were to legalize drugs the crime rates would get worse and worse. Evaluation: Robert Peterson ., is an attorney and former director of drug control policy for the State of Michigan. His company, Drug Facts, provides research and presentation materials on drug law enforcement, marijuana, and legalization matters. Although I cant find much information about him or his company, being an attorney his opinion in credible. Reflection: This was the hardest one for me because of my view point on the War On Drugs. He obviously disagrees, he has a few points that I could almost understand, saying that when the drug laws before werent very strict the crime rates went up. He challenged me to do more research on the subject.

Vastag, Brian. 5 Years After: Portugal's Drug Decriminalization Policy Shows Positive Results. ScientificAmerican.com. April 7th 2009. Summary: In this article Brian Vastag tells about Portugal decriminalizing drugs in 2001. After so many over doses and deaths from HIV they decided to decriminalize drugs and focus on treatment and prevention. Five years later, the number of deaths from street drug overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 yearly, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject drugs dropped from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006. The laws towards drug trafficking is unchanged. Evaluation: Brian Vastag is a science reporter at The Washington Post, where he covers general science. He was a freelance writer for many publications for several years. He does research professionally I feel like he is a reliable source. Reflection: After learning about Portugal decriminalizing drugs, and seeing the dramatic rate drop from overdoses and deaths from H.I.V. in such a short amount of time, I was amazed. I think its a great example of the good that can come from legalizing or at least decriminalizing drugs.

Suddath, Claire. War On Drugs. Time.com Wednesday, Mar. 25, 2009 Summary: In this article Claire Suddath talks about the government has spent over 2.5 trillion dollars on the War On Drugs. She explains how the drug violence in Mexico is spreading over to our country. There are kidnappings and ransoms. She also gives a brief history on the war on drugs. The term "War

page 3 on Drugs" was not widely used until President Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 1973 to announce "an all-out global war on the drug menace." Suddath also showed the statistics of the D.A.R.E. program which showed the rate of younger people doing drugs has just risen. Evaluation: Claire suddath is Claire Suddath is times music and culture writer. She graduated from Vanderbilt University and Columbia Universitys Graduate School of Journalism. Claire has been at TIME for three years; before then, she worked at an alt-weekly newspaper in Nashville. I think she is a credible source. Reflection: There is a lot of information in this article it was interesting to me to hear about the D.A.R.E. program because I remember that in elementary school. There is to much drug violence that comes from mexico. If the drugs were legal that most likely wouldnt happen because people could get it from our country not the drug cartels.