Why Is the Aral Sea Shrinking

The Aral Sea is located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and was once the fourth largest lake in the world. Scientists believe it was formed about 5.5 million years ago when geologic uplift prevented two rivers—Amu Darya and Syr Darya—from flowing to their final destinations.   The Aral Sea used to have an area of 26,300 sq miles and produce thousands of tons of fish for the local economy annually. But since the 1960s, it has been catastrophically shrinking. The Main Cause—Soviet Canals In the 1940s, the European USSR was going through a widespread drought and famine, and as a result, Stalin launched what is known as the Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature. Its purpose was to improve the overall agriculture of the country. The Soviet Union turned lands of the Uzbek SSR into cotton plantations—which operated on a system of forced labor—and ordered the construction of irrigation canals to provide water to the crops in the middle of the plateau of the region.   These hand-dug, irrigation canals moved water from the Anu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, the same rivers that fed the freshwater into the Aral Sea. Even though the irrigation wasnt very efficient and a lot of water leaked or evaporated in the process, the system of canals, rivers, and the Aral Sea were fairly stable until the 1960s.   However, in that same decade, the Soviet Union decided to expand the canal system and drain more water from the two rivers, suddenly draining the Aral Sea considerably. The Destruction of the Aral Sea Thus, in the 1960s, the Aral Sea began shrinking quite rapidly, with the lakes level dropping 20-35 inches yearly. By 1987, it dried up so much that instead of one lake, there were now two: the Large Aral (south) and the Small Aral (north).   While up to 1960, the water level was about 174 ft above sea level, it suddenly dropped to 89 ft in the Large Lake and 141 in the Small Lake. Yet, the world wasnt aware of this tragedy up until 1985; the Soviets kept the facts secret. In the 1990s, after gaining independence, Uzbekistan changed their way of exploiting the land, but their new cotton policy contributed to the further shrinkage of the Aral Sea. At the same time, the top and bottom waters of the lake were not mixing well, which caused the salinity levels to be highly uneven, thus allowing the water to evaporate from the lake even faster. As a result, in 2002, the southern lake shrunk and dried up to become an eastern lake and a western lake, and in 2014, the eastern lake completely evaporated and disappeared, leaving behind the desert called Aralkum, instead.   End of the Fishing Industry The Soviet Union was aware of some of the threats their economic decision posed to the Aral Sea and its region, but they regarded the cotton crops as far more valuable than the areas fishing economy. Soviet leaders also felt the Aral Sea was unneeded since the water that flowed in basically evaporated with nowhere to go. Prior to the evaporation of the lake, the Aral Sea produced about 20,000 to 40,000 tons of fish a year.  This was reduced to a low of 1,000 tons of fish a year at the height of the crisis. And today, instead of supplying food to the region, the shores have become ship graveyards, a curiosity for occasional travelers. If you happen to visit the former coastal towns and villages around the Aral Sea, youll be able to witness the long-abandoned piers, harbors, and boats. Restoring the Northern Aral Sea In 1991, the Soviet Union was disbanded, and Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan became the new official homes to the vanishing Aral Sea. Since then, Kazakhstan, along with UNESCO and a multitude of other organizations, have been working to resuscitate  the Aral Sea. Kok-Aral Dam The first innovation that helped save part of the Aral Sea fishing industry was Kazakhstans construction of the Kok-Aral Dam on the southern shore of the northern lake, thanks to support from the World Bank. Since the end of its construction in 2005, this dam has helped the northern lake to grow. Before its construction, the sea was 62 miles away from Aralsk, a port city, but it started growing back, and in 2015 the sea was only 7.5 miles away from the port town. Other Initiatives The second innovation has been the construction of the Komushbosh Fish Hatchery at the northern lake where they raise and stock the northern Aral Sea with  sturgeon, carp, and flounder. The hatchery was built with a grant from Israel.   Predictions are that thanks to those two major innovations, the northern lake of the Aral Sea could produce  10,000 to 12,000 tons a fish a year. Low Hopes for the Western Sea However, with the damming of the northern lake in 2005, the fate of the southern two lakes was nearly sealed and the autonomous northern Uzbek region of  Karakalpakstan will continue to suffer as the western lake continues to vanish.   Nonetheless, cotton still continues to be grown in Uzbekistan. As if following in the old USSR traditions, the country comes near a standstill during the harvest season, and almost every citizen is forced to volunteer each year.   Environmental and Human Catastrophe Besides the sad fact that the Aral Sea has been disappearing, its huge, dried-up lakebed is also a source of disease-causing dust that blows throughout the region.   The dried remnants of the lake contain not only salt and minerals but also pesticides like DDT that were once used in huge quantities by the Soviet Union (ironically, to make up for the lack of water). Additionally, the USSR once had a biological-weapons testing facility on one of the lakes within the Aral Sea.  Although now closed, the chemicals used at the facility help to make the destruction of the Aral Sea one of the great environmental  catastrophes  of human history. As a result, the entire ecosystem is affected, and it will take years to restore. Few crops grow in this region, furthering the use of pesticides and contributing to the vicious cycle. The fishing industry, as mentioned, has almost completely disappeared, also affecting other animals that used to live in this location. On a human level, because of the poor economy, people were forced into heavy poverty or they had to move. Toxins are present in the drinking water and have entered the food chain. Coupled with the scarcity of resources, this puts at risk the most vulnerable groups, and women and children of the region tend to suffer from many diseases. However, in 2000, UNESCO published a Water-Related Vision for the Aral Sea Basin for the Year 2025. It is considered to be the basis for positive actions that would lead to securing a bright and sustainable future for the Aral Sea region. With the other positive developments, there is perhaps hope for this unusual lake and the life dependent on it. Sources â€Å"UNESCO Launches New Aral Sea Basin Initiative.†Ã‚  UNESCO.Micklin, Philip, and Nikolay V. Aladin. â€Å"Reclaiming the Aral Sea.†Ã‚  Scientific American, vol. 298, no. 4, 2008, pp. 64–71.â€Å"Kazakhstan: Measuring the Northern Aral.†Ã‚  Stephenmbland, 2015.Greenberg, Ilan. â€Å"As a Sea Rises, So Do Hopes for Fish, Jobs, and Riches.†Ã‚  The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Apr. 2006.â€Å"Water-Related Vision for the Aral Sea Basin for the Year 2025.†Ã‚  Unesdoc.unesco.org, UNESCO, Imprimerie Des Presses Universitaires De France, 2000.

Positive And Negative Impacts Of Youth Sport - 2482 Words

Each year, millions and millions of American children participate in one or more organized youth sport, both in the public and private sector (Coakley 2009). Youth sport has become an important part of our society as more and more children get involved in the complexity of sports. There are many benefits that come with the participation in youth sport including an increase in self-esteem, increase in confidence, moral development, better grades earned, reduced dropout among participants, fewer problems outside the classroom, increase in physical activity and decrease in obesity and health problems among others (Donaldson and Ronan 2006). With participation in youth sport also comes an increase in sports-related injuries, burnout, increased stress, and a need to achieve unrealistic expectations placed upon by parents and coaches (Coakley 2009). The goal of this paper is to examine the impacts, both the positive and the negative impacts, of participating in youth sport on the social re lationships of the children who participate in youth sports. The positive and negative impacts of participating in youth sports on a child’s social relationships will be further discussed. A child’s social system, in relation to this paper, includes the relationships with his or her parents, coaches and fellow teammates as a result of their participation in youth sport. It is important to note that a child’s participation in youth sport may affect the relationship that child has with his or herShow MoreRelatedYouth Sports Help Children Develop Values, And Teach Children1092 Words   |  5 Pagessomething. No matter how good you are, you will not always succeed. Youth sports help children develop values, and teach children resilience. Not only do they teach children values, but they teach children why it is important to be physically active. Youth sports teach children how to transfer values into the classroom and become a better student. However, there should be guidelines in place to support youth development and increas e a positive experience. Finally, we need to make sure our athletes are beingRead MoreThe Wearing Celebrity s Transgression And If Any Negative Implications Allotted By Purchasers1333 Words   |  6 Pagessee the wearing celebrity’s transgression and if any negative implications allotted by purchasers will stretch out to their brands. However this sample additionally demonstrates that those backers whose relationship with Woods was focused around his non-item characteristics, (for example, his uprightness, unwavering quality, trustworthiness and so on) were speedy to force their help, while those whose sponsorship is focused around the golfer’s item related traits (his playing golf achievement)Read MoreChallenge The Justice System Essay1341 Words   |  6 PagesServices, the dynamic is strictly Aboriginal. 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The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx - 864 Words

Marx’s ideals of communism were drawn from the realization that the cycle of revolutions caused by the class struggles throughout history lead society nowhere. Society as a whole was more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes that were directly facing each other—bourgeoisie and proletariat. According to Marx, in order for society to further itself a mass proletarian revolution would have to occur. The bourgeois, who were the employers and owners of the means of production, composed the majority of the modern capitalists. It was these individuals that controlled the capitalist society by exploiting the labor provided by the proletariats. For example, the bourgeoisie make property into a right†¦show more content†¦Such a large employee workforce was no longer needed, but man was not completely replaced. The machines still needed to be operated which left many people with continued employment, only the addition of competi tion was added to the mix. However, the means of production were still present and that continued to let the bourgeoisie remain in power which Marx viewed as injustice of exploitation. Marx views capitalism in a multitude of ways, one of which was the theme of injustice of exploitation. The capitalist system is grounded, independently of this or that political economy, on the unpaid surplus labor of workers, giving rise to, through â€Å"surplus value,† all forms of rent and profit. The extreme manifestations of this social injustice are the exploitation of children, miserable wages, inhuman working hours, and the sordid conditions of working class life. To the bourgeoisie, the family was merely another factor of production. The bourgeoisie viewed his wife as property to be exploited. They viewed their children to be property and factors of production. 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Later in his life he became a newspaper editor and his writings ended up getting him expelled by the Prussian authorities for its radicalism and atheism (Perry 195). He then met Fredrich Engels and together they produced The Communist Manifesto in 1848, for the Communist League. This piece of writing basically laid out Marx’s theory of history in short form (Coffin 623). The Communist Manifesto is mainly revolved around how societyRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx Essay1374 Words   |  6 PagesKarl Marx is undoubtedly one the the most influential and controversial writers in modern history; Robert Tucker, a noted political scientist at Princeton University, once asserted, â€Å"[Marx] profoundly affected ideas about history, society, economics, ideology, culture, and politics [and] about the nature of social inquiry itself. No other intellectual influence has so powerfully shaped the mind of modern left-wing radicalism in most parts of the world.† (9). 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His ideas are regarded as failures and, by some, are seen asRead MoreKarl Marx And The Communist Manifesto993 Words   |  4 PagesKarl Marx published The Communist Manifesto in 1848, and with it a public warning to capi talists that the entire economic, social and political systems would soon crumble. His prediction continues by stating where society was headed as a result of bourgeoisie economics: a revolution by the workers and the eventual ushering in of socialism. Soon after Marx publicized the reasons communism would come to conquer capitalism, riots, strikes and general unrest surfaced in France – just as he predicted

Corporate Social Responsibility for Apple iphone - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theCorporate Social Responsibility for Apple iphone. Answer: Apples supply chain management has provided the company with flexibility for meeting the fluctuating demand, as ninety percent parts of Apples iphone were being manufactured overseas. Offshore outsourcing however, helped in reducing operation costs of Apple, but it decreased the companys control as well as monitoring over the manufacturing practices and processes. Due to the absence of monitoring, the work procedures of suppliers and employees were very difficult to look after. It also hampered the corporate social responsibilities of the company. With different stakeholders and expectations, it became difficult to manage the consumers demands and satisfaction. It also became hard to manage the buyer and supplier relationship which hampered the companys progress. Moreover, challenges arose when differences in the organizations procedures, questioned its objectives (Fontaine, 2013). Apple was responsible for violating human rights. Foxconn was one of the oldest and biggest suppliers of Apple, which came into limelight when a worker committed suicide due to some issues related to the company. Later that incident, more eighteen workers attempted to commit suicide and fourteen died. Poor working conditions and ill labor practices were the main reasons for this. After the Foxconn incident, another supplier of the company, Pegatron also faced crisis when they used juvenile workforce. Moreover, women rights were violated which was assisted by excessive hours of working, poor working conditions and environmental pollution (Josephs, 2012). It is reasonable for the company to apply various ethical standards in different countries to cut the costs. However, the company must correspond to the countries ethical standards rather than doing whatever they like. The ethical standards of different countries vary because of their different legal, political, social and cultural environments. In the developing countries people mostly care about their welfare and to earn money for feeding their family. Therefore, the company needs high ethical norms in developed countries like United States, Japan and others. For example; they must offer higher rates to the employees. However, in developing countries, with lower social norms and ethics, the company should apply lower standards of ethics and meet the lowest levels of the country (Savitz, 2013). Media plays a key role in shaping Apples corporate social responsibility expectations. Moreover, with the advent of social media it has become much easier. The strategies of media and social media have helped in shaping as well as reshaping the companys CSR expectations. Through transparent and authentic conversations via media and social media, it has become easier to understand the consumers behavior and attitude. It has also become easier to influence them by maintaining a good relationship. Media and social media help in promoting the good works of the company, which in turn proves beneficial for the companys success and growth. Moreover, online networking helps in improving the image of the brand externally. It also boosts the companys morale (Fontaine, 2013). Apple took many steps regarding its corporate social responsibility challenges which are face in the companys supply chain. The company is even working on their issues in order to improve their working conditions and procedures. It is engaging more in monitoring and tracking activities, in order to keep a track on the offshore operations. To regain the control, the company is focusing more on bringing its manufacturing units back to United States. Furthermore, they are trying to stress on robotization and automation in future. They would like to engage in more CSR activities in order to improve their customer base and attain their loyalty (Kesavan, Bernacchi Mascarenhas, 2013). References Fontaine, M. (2013). Corporate social responsibility and sustainability: the new bottom line?.International Journal of Business and Social Science,4(4). Josephs, H. K. (2012). Production Chains and Workplace Law Violations: The Case of Apple and Foxconn.Global Bus. L. Rev.,3, 211. Kesavan, R., Bernacchi, M. D., Mascarenhas, O. A. (2013). Word of mouse: CSR communication and the social media.International Management Review,9(1), 58. Savitz, A. (2013).The triple bottom line: how today's best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success-and how you can too. John Wiley Sons.

Langston Hughes Essays (2254 words) - Harlem Renaissance

Langston Hughes "Hughes' efforts to create a poetry that truly evoked the spirit of Black America involved a resolution of conflicts centering around the problem of identity" (Smith 358). No African American poet, writer, and novelist has ever been appreciated by every ethnic society as much as Langston Hughes was. Critics argue that Hughes reached that level of prominence, because all his works reflected on his life's experience, whether they have been good or bad. He never wrote one single literary piece that did not contain an underlying message within the specific work; in other words, all his works had a definite purpose behind them. Providing that the reader has some insight about the life of this great poet, he can readily arrive to the conclusion that Hughes' life effected his works to the fullest extent, even when only breezing through Langston Hughes' works. Langston Hughes, "one of the most original and versatile of twentieth-century black writers" (Shirley 1), was born on February 1st, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. When Hughes was still a baby, his father, James Nathaniel Hughes, abandoned the family and left for Mexico. As soon as she divorced her husband, his mother, Carrie Langston Hughes, a schoolteacher struggling to acquire a permanent job position, had to place him under the caring arm of his grandmother, Mary Sampson Patterson Leary. Hughes' grandmother "helped inspire in him a devotion to the cause of social justice" (Rampersad 55), for her first husband died fighting at Harpers Ferry under John Brown, and her second husband became a fierce abolitionist. Being always a lonely child, Hughes turned to reading and poetry early in his life. Developing a great respect for writers like Paul Dunbar and Carl Sandburg, he soon began writing his own poems. Shortly after submitting a few poems to the school's magazine editor, Hughes' poems could be read by everyone at Central High School, a local Cleveland school he was attending. After his graduation, Hughes attempted to peacefully reunite with his father, who was now a wealthy lawyer in Mexico, in order to ask for money so he could pursue a quality post-high school education. After his unsuccessful attempt, Hughes returned to the United States, deciding that his faith will lie only in his hands. On his way back, Hughes wrote one of his most famous poems "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," readily admitting that he wrote the best when he was sad and depressed" (Early 26). In 1921, Hughes spent a year at Columbia University, however, just to find out that he did not make the right choice, for colleges were still discriminating regularly. Looking for jobs, he landed a position as a seaman on the SS Malone that brought him closer to his own race emotionally, by traveling to Africa and Europe. "Although he was almost constantly at sea, his poems got published regularly in African-American magazines such as the Crisis." (Rampersad 118). By this time, Hughes already established himself as the young star of the New Negro Renaissance. As time passed, a young, unskilled, position-seeking Hughes became a bus boy at the prominent Wardman Park Hotel in Washington D.C.. After Vachel Lindsay recited three of his poems, which Hughes intentionally left by Vachel's plate, he received slight attention from different publishers. When Hughes won his first poetry award in 1925 through a contest by a journal called Negro Life, his award winning poem got him further recognition, that would eventually lead to his first book, The Weary Blues. Soon enough, "through his poetry, from a kind and generous woman who had shown interest in his work, came a scholarship" (Smith 359). Four years later, in 1929, Hughes graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania with a B.A.. Never even thinking about his young age, other authors selected Hughes to become the leader of the Harlem Renaissance, a literary circle of black writers focusing on the social problems blacks had to endure. Along with writers like Countee Cullen, Wallace Thurman and others, he struggled to prove that the great spirit or skill of writing tremendous pieces of literature lies within the white and the black mind and body. When jazz stepped into the picture, being the most popular music of that time, Hughes effectively turned a bit more toward jazz, writing his poems in a distinctive rhythm and beat. "I can not recall the name of one single person, who at the age of twenty-seven, has enjoyed so picturesque and rambling existence as Langston Hughes" (Smith 363). Hughes also started writing short novels, plays and songs. His play The Mulatto,

Decriminalization is “the reduction or abolition of criminal penalties in relation to certain acts; The WritePass Journal

Decriminalization is â€Å"the reduction or abolition of criminal penalties in relation to certain acts; Introduction Decriminalization is â€Å"the reduction or abolition of criminal penalties in relation to certain acts; IntroductionConclusionBibliographyRelated Introduction Decriminalization is â€Å"the reduction or abolition of criminal penalties in relation to certain acts; while decriminalized acts are no longer crimes, they may still be the subject of regulation†.Decriminalization eliminates jail time for drug users but maintains criminal penalties for dealers. Penalties for people caught dealing and trafficking drugs are unchanged; dealers are still jailed and subjected to fines depending on the crime. This essay discusses the some of the issues involved in the proposition that the supply of Class A opiate containing drugs should be decriminalized. In the last 40 years the United Kingdom has developed a way of regulating drugs using a complex legislative framework. There are two major acts of parliament regulating drugs; the Medicines Act 1968 and the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Many of the drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 are also controlled under the Medicines Act 1968 as they are also used in clinical medicine. There is no known statistically significant correlation between intensity or harshness of prohibitive law enforcement on drugs in different countries and the levels of drug use in said countries.   Nevertheless despite massive enforcement efforts likened to a war, the use of â€Å"high harm causing drugs† has risen dramatically over the last few decades. A 2008 World Health Organisation study comparing drug use and different enforcement regimes across the world shows the marginal role for enforcement levels in drug taking decisions. The study’s headline conclusion was: â€Å"Globally, drug use is not distributed evenly and is not simply related to drug policy, since countries with stringent user-level illegal drug policies did not have lower levels of use than countries with liberal ones.† The main benefits described by supporters of prohibition is that prohibition will reduce levels of drug use, firstly by restricting availability of drugs and secondly through the purposed deterrent effect of the criminal consequences of using illegal drugs. These effects are however poorly supported by evidence. Prohibition protects suppliers by keeping the distribution in the black market and it also creates the risk that makes smuggling illegal drugs very profitable. Therefore after the demand for drugs has been established the profits from supplying such drugs are so great that they incentivize supply despite the risk of criminal consequences. The associated risks end up being factored into the price increase that results from it. The main benefits described by supporters of decriminalization are based on the hypothesis that the legally regulated supply of drugs will draw its trade out of illegality and therefore reduce crime rates related to such illegal trade. By providing quality-controlled drugs under the guidance and supervision of licensed individuals, the health of the drug users would improve. It is also hypothesized that decriminalization would improve access of and increase uptake of addiction treatment. In Portugal drug use was decriminalised nearly 10 years ago. Despite warnings by the opposers of decriminalization of drug use in Portugal, reported rates of drug usage have been declining. This decline however has not been found in the 19-24 age group as a large proportion of this group had already begun consuming drugs before decriminalization. However, younger people growing up since decriminalization, appear less attracted to illicit drug use when compared to their elders who grew up when possess ion and use was criminalised. Other statistics demonstrate a similar picture; there was a marked decline in the number of convictions for supply-related offences, the incidence of HIV and AIDS among intravenous drug users declined and newly reported infections of Hepatitis B and C declined. Drug-related deaths have also decreased significantly. Evidence from several different sources all points to decreasing drug use in Portugal since decriminalization rather than the feared increase; a very persuasive argument against decriminalization. The decision to completely prohibit a good or service that is in demand can generally only be justified in economic terms if the net cost of prohibition will be less than the alternative regulatory policy options. Thus the effect of enforcement efforts on drug availability and price, and how they impact on levels of drug consumption, needs to be considered. The market value of illegal drugs increases greatly as they travel along the various links in the supply chain ; the closer it gets to the consumer the more the price increases. There are three main factors that together determine the harm associated with any drug of potential abuse: the physical harm to the individual user caused by the drug, the tendency of the drug to induce dependence, and the effect the drug use has on families, communities, and society.   In general drugs that lead to intense intoxication are associated with huge costs; costs to systems of health care, social care, and the police. In 2003 Tony Blair commissioned a report on United Kingdom and International Drug policy from the number 10 Strategy Unit (SU). What emerged in Phase 1 of the reporting process, titled ‘Understanding the Issues’, was a â€Å"thorough and clinical analysis by some of the best policy minds in the UK†.   It stated that â€Å"supply-side enforcement interventions are actively counterproductive†. In summary the SU report demonstrated that: Prohibition has failed to prevent or reduce the production of drugs Prohibition has failed to prevent or reduce the trafficking and/or availability of drugs Prohibition has failed to reduce levels of problematic drug use Prohibition has inflated prices of heroin and cocaine, leading some dependent users to commit large volumes of acquisitive crime. Even if such supply interventions could further increase prices, this could increase harms, as dependent users commit more crime to support their habits. The SU report also noted that patterns of use often rise and fall independently of price. Price changes tend to have different effects on different populations; lower income users will in general be more responsive to price changes, as they have a proportionally bigger impact on disposable income. Dependent users will show consumption patterns that are generally more price in-elastic. Based on the SU report it can be concluded that prohibitive legislation comes at great financial cost to the United Kingdom. It therefore makes sense to look at the financial costs associated with legal state regulation. The Home Office published a report in 2002   (which was updated in 2006 ) that estimated the economic and social costs of Class A drug use to be  £15.4 billion in 2003/04. The cost of drug-related crime was 90% of this total. The Transform Drug Policy Foundation (TDPF) published a report in April 2009 describing an initial analysis supporting   legally regulated drug supply. This TDPF paper on cost-effectiveness estimated that the total crime, health and other social costs of Class A drug use (in this report heroin and cocaine only) in England and Wales in 2003/04 was  £16.785 billion under the current prohibitionist regime. The most striking conclusion of the TDPF report is that â€Å"prohibition of drugs is the root cause of almost all drug-related acquisitive crime, and that this crime constitutes the majority of drug-related harms and costs to society.† The Report also states that legal regulation   would â€Å"deliver substantial benefits to the treasury and wider community, even in the unlikely event of a substantial increase in use.†Ã‚   The TDPF paper on Cost-Effectiveness estimated the net annual benefit of a move from prohibition to legal state regulation and control of drug markets, using four scenario’s varying from a â€Å"50% fall in use† to â€Å"100% increase in use†, to give a net benefit between  £13.943 billion and  £4.616 billion.   So even in the highly unlikely event of heroin and cocaine use increasing by 100%, the net benefit of a move to regulation and control looks to be substantial. These figures do not seem to be widely known though. According to the TDPF Summary and Briefing paper on the SU report, the findings were â€Å"not made public because its findings undermined the tenets of global drug prohibition†.   The SU report would have put the United Kingdom Government in an awkward position as it is a signatory, and therefore supporter, to the UN’s 1998 10-year drug strategy, whose stated goal is â€Å"A Drug Free World – We Can Do It!† The UN Strategy supports prohibition as the way forward in the so called War on Drugs†. The SU report however demonstrates the opposite; d ecriminalization appears to be, at least financially, a more favorable approach to the problem. A frequently heard argument against legal state regulation is that decriminalisation will encourage drug use and increase use in current dependants. There is however no evidence that when Class A drugs are made available on prescription to dependent users, that levels of use rise. There is however some evidence that other related factors , such as de-stigmatisation and increased access to and contact with service providers, means that prescribed users are in fact more likely to utilise services and thus reduce or even cease use. In December of 2003 Phase 2 of the SU report, titled ‘Diagnosis and Recommendations’, was produced. The Phase II report focuses on the harms caused by the population of problematic heroin and crack users who are responsible for a disproportionately large number of prohibition-related crimes, rather than questioning how prohibition has created these crimes in the first instance (as identified in the Phase 1 report) .   The Phase II report noted that â€Å"Supply-side interventions have a limited role to play in reducing harm initiation into problematic drug use is not driven by changes in availability or price. Risk factors, particularly relating to deprivation, are the prime determinant of initiation into problematic drug use; price and availability play a secondary role, and there is no causal relationship between drug availability and   incidence.Nevertheless in this Phase II of the report, Phase 1’s critique of supply side interventions was sidelined, and an intensification of demand side measures aimed at high harm causing users (HHCUs) was recommended. The aim was to reduce property crime associated with fundraising to support a habit. This later culminated in recommendations in the new 2005 Drugs Act described by TDPF as â€Å"election-time populist†. A similar approach was seen when Professor Nutt published a report in October 2009 in which he stated that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than many illegal drugs, including LSD, ecstasy and cannabis. The day after publication Professor Nutt was asked to resign as chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). Nutt responded in the press by stating he was; â€Å"disappointed by the decision but linked it to political considerations†.The forced resignation of Nutt raised concerns amongst committee members over the independence of advice to the government and triggered five further resignations. Another two committee members resigned in spring 2010 over the decision of the ACMD to make Mephedrone illegal claiming they felt that the decision was unduly based on media and political pressure†. Early in 2010 David Nutt founded the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, the goal of his new committee is to complement and eventually supersede the ACMD by à ¢â‚¬Å"providing independent advice that is untainted by government interference†. Since the ACMD was set up in 1971, UK governments have nearly always acted upon their advice; in 1978 the recommendation to downgrade cannabis from class B to C was rejected. In 2002 the ACMD looked again at the status of Cannabis at request of the Home Secretary who accepted the recommendation to downgrade Cannabis from B to C. However in 2008 the Home Secretary rejected advice from the ACMD to keep Cannabis at class C, and in 2009 the Home Secretary vetoed the   ACMD recommendation that Ecstasy be downgraded from class A. It is therefore not possible for the government to uphold the claim that the UK’s drug policy is evidence based. Nutt goes a step further by stating it is also not based on ‘harm’; in 2010 Nutt et al published a multi-criteria decision analysis which showed that heroin, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine were the most harmful drugs to individuals, whereas alcohol, heroin, and crack cocaine were the most harmful to others. Overall, alcohol was the most harmful drug, with heroin and crack cocaine in second and third places. Based on these findings Nutt et al conclude that† the present drug classification systems have little relation to the evidence of harm.† Conclusion The decisions taken by successive Governments show that prohibition is being pursued as it is seen as too dangerous politically to promote decriminalisation regardless of the overwhelming arguments to take a different stance. A cost benefit analysis such as described in the different Home Office and TDPF papers is a Utilitarian approach to the problem. It is impossible to ascribe monetary values to what is the heartbreaking suffering of drug dependency and its consequences. Nevertheless as stated in the TDPF report such analysis has its place; it provokes discussion, and also rationalises the debate for policy makers who have to make these seemingly cold and utilitarian policy decisions frequently. The TDPF report concludes that there is a far higher human cost under the current policy of criminally controlled drug markets than would occur under policy alternatives involving state control and regulation. Possibly the time has come for a more utilitarian approach to the human problem of drug-dependency. Given the current economic climate perhaps more politicians will be open to a different viewpoint and solution to a longstanding and to date unresolved problem. Bibliography Brian Vastag.† 5 Years After: Portugals Drug Decriminalization Policy Shows Positive Results† The Scientific American (7 April 2009) scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=portugal-drug-decriminalization (accessed 9/2/2011). Christine Godfrey et al. â€Å"Home Office Research Study 249-The economic and social costs David Nutt et al. ‘Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse’ (2007) Lancet 369, 1047-1053. David Nutt et al. â€Å"Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis† (2010) Lancet 376, 1558-1565. David Nutt. â€Å"Estimating drug harms: a risky business?† Eve Saville Lecture 2009. (2009) crimeandjustice.org.uk/opus1714/Estimating_drug_harms.pdf (accessed 03/03/2011). Degenhardt et al. â€Å"Toward a Global View of Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis, and Cocaine Use: Findings from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys.† (July 2008) vol 5, issue 7, 1053-1067. www.plosmedicine.org (accessed 26/02/2011). Douglas N. Husak. â€Å"Guns and Drugs: case studies on the principled limits of the Criminal sanction†. (2004) Law Phil. 23(5), 437-493. Gerald Kennely. â€Å"Regulating the trade in recreational drugs†. (2001) E.J.L. E. 11(1), 69-82. Glenn Greenwald (CATO Institute). â€Å"Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies† (2009) cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/greenwald_whitepaper.pdf   (accessed 25/02/2011). Home Office. Home Office Online report 16/06.   â€Å"Measuring different aspects of problem drug use: methodological developments (2nd edition) (2006) http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/rdsolr1606.pdf (accessed 26/02/2011). Neil Boister. â€Å"Decriminalising the personal use of Cannabis in the United Kingdom: does international law leave room for maneuver† (2001) Crim. L. R. Mar, 171-183. of Class A drug use in England and Wales, 2000† (2002) http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hors249.pdf (accessed 26/02/2011). Rebecca Kuepper et al. â€Å"Continued cannabis use and risk of incidence and persistence of psychotic symptoms: 10 year follow-up cohort study†. (2011) BMJ 342:d738. bmj.com/content/342/bmj.d738 (accessed 05/03/2011) Simon Russell, James McVeigh. ‘Next generation challenges: An overview of harm reduction 2010, IHRA’s 21st Conference’ (2011) Int J Drug Policy, 22, 82-86. Transform Drug Policy Foundation â€Å"Drugs Bill 2005-Lords Second Reading Briefing† tdpf.org.uk/TransformresponseDrugsBill2.pdf (accessed 02/02/2011). Transform Drug Policy Foundation. ‘After the war on drugs: Blueprint for regulation (executive summary)’ (2009) tdpf.org.uk/AboutUs_Publications.htm (accessed 22/02/2011). Transform Drug Policy Foundation. â€Å"A Comparison of the Cost-Effectiveness of the Prohibition and Regulation of Drugs† (2009) tdpf.org.uk/AboutUs_Publications.htm (accessed 07/02/2009). Transform Drug Policy Foundation. â€Å"Number 10 Strategy Unit Drugs Project, Phase 1 Report: â€Å"Understanding the Issues† Transform Summary and Briefing† (June 2003) tdpf.org.uk/Policy_General_Strategy_Unit_Drugs_Report_phase_1.htm (accessed 25/02/2011). Transform Drug Policy Foundation. â€Å"Number 10 Strategy Unit Drugs Project, Phase 1 Report: â€Å"Understanding the Issues†.† tdpf.org.uk/Policy_General_Strategy_Unit_Drugs_Report_phase_1.htm (accessed 02/03/2011)

Choose two books from list and summarize each book and then explain Essay

Choose two books from list and summarize each book and then explain how they compare and or contrast - Essay Example Wolfgang and Ferracuti offer explanations for the factors that drive homicide and other forms of violent criminal conduct. Ultimately the authors provide a generalized concept of the subculture of violence. Wilson and Hernstein argue that many of the theories that explain criminal behavior are based on erroneous conclusions (Wilson and Hernstein 41). For example, theorizing that economic difficulties increases the incidents of crime can encourage expectation of increased crime during â€Å"economic recessions† but will at the same time direct attention away from the possibility that â€Å"prosperity† could increase criminal conduct by loosening â€Å"social bonds† (Wilson and Hernstein 41). The fact is, there are number of factors that influence individual behavior and any realistic approach to theories in criminology must take account of the different factors that drive â€Å"individual decisions† (Wilson and Hernstein 42). It is against this background that Wilson and Hernstein bring together most of what has been gleaned from the practice of criminal justice and academic discourse such as economics, sociology, psychology and philosophy and apply this information to ascertain the underlying contributing factors to crime. The authors then come to the conclusion that there are three root causes of crime. By looking at the statistics on the young male population, Wilson and Hernstein come to the conclusion that boys with low intelligence and anger problems are predisposed to commit crimes. It therefore follows that if boys fitting that criteria increase among the population, an increase in criminal conduct will follow (Wilson and Hernstein, 104-172). In other words, the increased population of unintelligent, ill-disciplined boys in a community corresponds with an escalation in crime. The second set of factors that contribute to the propensity for criminal behavior is the potential