I love these songs. Dogmatic patriarchal religions have caused so much destruction and death over the centuries, you would think we would learn from history and stop worshiping and honoring these religions and gods but we do not.
Sunday, March 8, 2020
Monday, March 2, 2020
THE DANGERS OF BULLYING
Author’s Note:
This study of bullying started out as a term paper and survey project at Klamath Community College in Klamath Falls, Oregon for a criminal justice class on violence but it turned into something so much more. I have over the years added more information to the project and it no longer is in full term paper format. As I have studied the crime of bullying it has enlightened and educated me on this crime against others and yes it is a crime. Bullying is both psychological and physical violence and should be prevented and/or stopped wherever it is happening. I hope this blog will help people understand it even more, helping the victims and maybe the bullies themselves and I also hope this helps those researching the crime of bullying.
Introduction
Countless children, teenagers, and adults struggle with bullying each and every day in the home, classroom, the workplace, and beyond. This socialized maltreatment from others can occur in the form of verbalized, written, and physical cruelty, and its long-term effects can scar the victims emotionally, psychologically, and sometimes even physically for the rest of their lives. Bullying makes victims of the bullied, stealing away their dignity and trust and their belief in others. And in the worst case scenarios, sometimes it even steals away their lives. Either when bullying turns to physical violence or when the victim feels their only escape is through suicide or revenge.
In the past bullying was viewed as a traditional and accepted part of growing up, and interacting and interrelating with an individual’s peers. It was considered a hazing for life, a harmless and important educational instrument for the hypothetical real world and its many hard-knocks. An adolescent or an adult that could not cope with this peer abuse was considered immature and emotionally weak; someone that is a wimp and a tattletale. If the victim turned to an instructor for assistance they would receive punishment instead of support for not standing up for themselves. The victim of childhood and teenage bullying discovered it was just easier to conceal and deal with the abuse. If an adult victim of workplace bullying went to their superiors for assistance, they would be told they were not a team player. The victim of adult bullying found it was just simpler to remain silent and maintain employment. On the other hand, the bullies, were perceived as being strong and independent, never crying for help from other colleagues or their superiors. Today, even with bullying laws and regulations in place throughout the United States and the world, unfortunately, bullying is still seen as just a part of life; the natural order of being a member of the human race. The theory here is some of us will be bullies and some of us will be bullied.
Defining Bullying
Bullying has been around as long as the human race has existed, and it does not stop after childhood or even young adulthood. Wherever there is a perception of power versus powerlessness, status quo versus different, or victimizer versus victim, someone will be the target of a bully. “Bullying includes behaviors that focus on making someone else feel inadequate, or focus on belittling someone else. Bullying includes harassment, physical harm, repeatedly demeaning speech and efforts to ostracize another person. Bullying is active, and is done with the intention of bringing another person down” (Teenage Bullying: http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/teenage-bullying.html.) Bullying is classified in two major categories. Indirect bullying, which uses verbalized and written communications to humiliate and intimidate, and direct bullying, which uses vocalized threat, physical force, and bodily harm to degrade, control, and terrorize. Bullying can occur anywhere but it is especially problematic in elementary school, middle school, and high schools or at the workplace. A bullying survey in 2011, at Klamath Community College in Klamath Falls, Oregon showed that bullying affects children, teenagers, and adults, male or female, gay or straight equally. It does not matter your societal status, religious affiliation or your ethnic or racial background. Anybody can be a victim and anyone can be the victimizer. Bullying is a form of violence that is an aggressive behavior involving the imbalance of power between the one being bullied (the victim) and the bully (the perpetrator). Bullying should never be ignored or condoned; it is not a natural way of interrelating with others. “It can define a person as an adult. It can cause people to kill themselves over it or kill others” (anonymous person Klamath Community College (KCC) Bullying Survey (2011).
Indirect Bullying:
Indirect bullying comes in the form of articulated or written communications. It is the use of derogatory name calling and aggressive taunting that goes beyond the average to degrade and emotionally annihilate an individual. Racist, sexist, homophobic, and other offensive terminology is utilized to humiliate and ostracize the victim of these verbal and written confrontations. The indirect bully uses this derogatory name calling and hostile taunting to isolate and to dominate his or her victim into a type of non-physical submission; control without actual physical interaction. Indirect bullying can also come in the forms of sexual harassment and spreading rumors and allegations about and against the targeted victim, to recruit additional people into the bullying act. This constructs a circle of hatred and segregation around their target; to generate an even more antagonistic environment for the victim. Indirect bullies may blackmail their victims for money or other favors, making their victim their benefactor. An indirect bully might even at some point of the bullying progression threaten the life of their victim; at this point it begins to be direct bullying. Indirect bullying can affect a victim emotionally and psychologically, altering the way they interconnect with others and how they perceive themselves. Indirect bullying is harder to prove and prevent than physical bullying because there are no physical indications it ever occurred without a cooperative witness. Written communications can be thrown away or deleted and verbal communication may or may not be overheard by a third party. Most victims deal with this type of abuse in silence because they feel no one will believe what is happening or they do not want to be humiliated even more by repeating what the bully or bullies have said about them. “Being bullied ruins the lives of victims short-term and long-term. Words can kill” (anonymous person Klamath Community College (KCC) Bullying Survey (2011).
Direct Bullying:
Direct bullying is the combination of vocalized threat and physical dominance on another person causing them anxiety, physical discomfort, injury, and possible death. This method of bullying is “in your face” violence that is all about power and creating shock and awe. Direct bullying is part psychological and emotional intimidation and part physical threat and assault. The direct bully wants to physically and psychologically control their victim; they want to cause the victim to be terrified of the next attack. The direct bully may start out with threatening communications towards their victim and then escalate to physical control and violence. This physical violence comes in the forms of punching, slapping, and kicking. In the extreme form of this type of physical assault a weapon may be used to cause bodily harm to the victim. Sexual assault also can be used to destroy and control the target of the bullying. They may steal the victim’s possessions or destroy them to demonstration to the victim that they are in complete control. The bully may be the one perpetrating the harassment and physical harm or they may have others do it for them. Direct bullying can become dangerous because it could escalate into the victim or bully getting injured or killed.
Types of Bullying:
Child and teenage bullying effects millions of youth every day worldwide. School bullying can be found throughout elementary school, middle school, and high school in the United States. Statistics show that: “…each day 160,000 students miss school for fear of being bullied… {and}… 100,000 students carry a gun to school” (Ambassadors 4 Kids Club, Bullying Statistics: http://www.a4kclub.org/get-the-facts/bullying-statistics.) The victimization can take the form of either indirect bullying or direct bullying, and can become dangerous for both the victim and the victimizer. School bullying can be pack bullying, in which a group harasses the victim, or one-on-one individual bullying. Racial, ethnic, religious, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socio-economical differences create the atmosphere that causes the majority of bullying in schools, but in some cases the reasons are unclear why it happens. The victims are usually perceived as being weaker, different, and somehow an outsider. The bully will be more dominate, popular, and part of the perceived “in crowd”. Socialization problems or having a disability can set the victim apart from their fellow students; this can make them more susceptible to being a target. Teachers and parents may or may not be aware of the seriousness of school bullying, considering it as just a normal part of growing up. The victim is sometimes even blamed for the bullying, when adults condone the behavior. In Klamath County the T.A.P Survey showed that: “7.7 percent of adolescents in middle school and high school were absent because they felt unsafe at their schools” (Klamath County T.A.P study).
Even when people become adults they can be tormented by a bully, especially at their place of employment. “Workplace Bullying is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators…” (Definition of Work Place Bullying: http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/workplace-bullying.html.) Just like in a school setting prejudice, personality differences, relationship conflicts, jealousy, and revenge play out in the form of bullying in the workplace. Unlike school bullying those targeted at the workplace are usually not the loners or suffering from low self-esteem. Sometimes the victim may be new or have a disability that sets them apart from the other employees. A victim of a workplace bully is usually seen as a threat to the bully or bullies and their environment. The victim can be targeted because they are achieving more at the workplace than the bully. The harassment comes in the form of verbal and nonverbal abuse and interference in the victim’s work. The bully may use sabotage to prevent their target from getting projects done, creating an environment of hostility from other coworkers that believe that the victim is not doing their job. The victim may deal with the abuse, complain to their superiors, quit the job or in many cases, get fired for being the trouble maker. “According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, up to a third of workers may be the victims of workplace bullying. About twenty percent of workplace bullying crosses the line into harassment” (Workplace Bullying: http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/workplace-bullying.html.)
In 2010 Tyler Clementi, age eighteen, jumped to his death off a bridge, because two fellow university students made him believe that they were going to share and post a video online of him and another male student having sex in his dorm room (The Tyler Clementi Foundation http://www.tylerclementi.org/tylers-story/.) Today’s technology has furnished the modern bully other instruments that are available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to locate and harass their victims. The tools are the Internet, World Wide Web, Blackberries, cellphones and other devices; this type of victimization is called cyber-bullying. Victims of cyber-bullying may know or be acquainted with the bully or the bully may be a complete stranger they have never meant before. The use of social networks including, Facebook and Twitter have given a multimedia playground for a contemporary type of bullying. The combination of degrading and threatening messages, rumor spreading, and uploading humiliating pictures and videos, creates a hostile environment for the victim. The victim’s password information can be hacked into, enabling the bullying to hurt others through the victim’s network site and to place even more humiliating and degrading messages, pictures, and videos on the victim’s account. This can affect the victims of cyber-bullying both in the online world and the physical world. And once these messages and pictures have been uploaded to the World Wide Web, millions can see them and they cannot just be simply erased. Texting and emailing also furnishes a modern bully a conduit to torment and demeaning their victim. One text message or one email can be communicated to a thousand people in just a few seconds, generating a lightning fast rumor mill that cannot be controlled or immobilized. A bully can also hack into the victim’s email and text accounts, sending others hate filled messages, making it look like the victim is the one sending these communications. This can create complications for the victim, both socially and legally. “Over half of adolescents and teens have been bullied online, and about the same number have engaged in cyber bullying… Fewer than 1 in 5 cyber bullying incidents are reported to law enforcement” (Cyber Bullying Statistics: http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html.)
The Bullied
Anyone can be a victim of bullying; bullying is an equal opportunity sport. “A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself” (Recognizing Bullying: http://www.violencepreventionworks.org/public/recognizing_bullying.page.) Those at risk of being bullied characteristically do not correspond to some type of standard that their contemporaries pursue. A person that does not fit into this standard or norm must be somehow excommunicated and often intimidated to reinforce, vindicate, and safeguard this mythological representation of normal. Bullying is executed to either instruct the victim in a message that demonstrates the standard behavior desired, so the victim can conform, or to illustrate to the victim that they will never be capable of conforming to the caricature of the standard behavior wanted.
The victim can be perceived as not being friendly enough or is not a team player because they have different interests or do not have time enough to interact with their peers. A victim might be identified as a nerd or a geek if they take school or work too seriously or if they achieve too much. A victim can be in a different socio-economic group than the bully, making them somehow on a lower social level at school or the workplace than their wealthier peers. A victim may be selected by the bully because they just dislike them or have the impression that they have somehow disrespected them. This strange conflict might never be truly comprehended by the victim or even the bully. A bullying victim could be new to the school or workplace, and deemed as an outsider or a threat to the existing clique. In South Hadley, Massachusetts Phoebe Prince, age fifteen from Ireland, committed suicide in 2010 (Teens Who Admitted to Bullying Phoebe Prince Sentenced, By Kayla Webley: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/05/05/teens-who-admitted-to-bullying-phoebe-prince-sentenced/.) She was bullied for being new to the country and the local high school and various other reasons; her case became criminal when the bullies were charged with statutory rape and civil rights violations. Victims of bullying can also be overweight, be a jock or even have red hair. Anything can make a victim of bullying different and a target of those that want to control their environment.
Those with intellectual, psychological or physical disability that cause them to appear or act differently than their peers can be targeted for bullying. The victim might not be capable to participate in school or workplace activities like their contemporaries because of these health problems and disabilities. They may require specialized equipment, educational assistance or other tools to totally participate in school or work. Teachers, superiors, fellow students or coworkers may believe that the person with the disability is getting some kind of special treatment. Someone that is disfigured from a birth defect, injury or other health problems can also be a target of bullying because the bully sees in them a difference that makes them feel uncomfortable. A bully may have never been around someone with a disability, health problem, or disfigurement that affected them physically, mentally or cosmetically. They may have been raised in a family that taunted those with disabilities and deformities.
A bullying victim can be a member of a different religion, ethnic, or racial group. The victim is viewed by the bully as peculiar and even foreign. The victim’s distinctive customs, rituals, religious beliefs, ceremonies, diet, dress or other differences is seen by the bully as farther proof of their alien differences. A victim’s skin color and language may also make them a target of a bully. The victimizer may have some kind of racial prejudice or hatred towards immigrants. These prejudices can come from the bully’s upbringing, political and religious beliefs, or personal dislikes.
Someone with a different sexual orientation, gender identity, or someone that does not fit the characteristics of their biological sex can be the target of homophobic bully. These perceived differences are seen as a threat to the norm. If a biological male is a homosexual, bisexual, or identifies as a female in gender, they are seen as weak and not fulfilling the male role in society. This role is to be strong physically, aggressive, and masculine. If a biological female is a homosexual, bisexual or identifies as a male in gender, they are seen as trying to be too strong or not fulfilling the female role in society. This role is to be physically weak, submissive, and feminine. If a male or female does not fit these stereotypes of biological sex, it creates a conflict between them and their peer group. Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community and those that are perceived to be members are at risk of indirect bullying and direct bullying in both the workplace and school setting. In Springfield, Massachusetts Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, age eleven, hung himself in 2009, because of homophobic bully (Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover Foundation: http://carljoseph.org/.) He was targeted just because he was perceived as homosexual. In Tehachapi, California 2010 Seth Walsh, age thirteen, an opening gay teenager, tried to commit suicide by hanging himself and a week later died from his injuries (The Bullying of Seth Walsh: Requiem for a Small-Town Boy By Bryan Alexander: http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2023083,00.html.) He was targeted because he was a homosexual. Both these tragedies show the dangers of bigotry and bullying. According to the 2009 National School Climate Survey:
“88.9% of students heard “gay” used in a negative way (e.g., “that’s so gay”) frequently or often at school, and 86.5% reported that they felt distressed to some degree by this.
72.4% heard other homophobic remarks (e.g., “dyke” or “faggot”) frequently or often at school.
62.6% heard negative remarks about gender expression (not acting “masculine enough” or “feminine enough”) frequently or often at school.
61.1% felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation and 39.9% because of how they expressed their gender.
84.6% were verbally harassed (e.g., called names or threatened) at school because of their sexual orientation and 63.7% because of their gender expression.
40.1% were physically harassed (e.g., pushed or shoved) at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation and 27.2% because of their gender expression.
18.8% were physically assaulted (e.g., punched, kicked, injured with a weapon) because of their sexual orientation and 12.5% because of their gender expression.
52.9% of LGBT students were harassed or threatened by their peers via electronic mediums (e.g., text messages, emails, instant messages or postings on Internet sites such as Facebook), often known as cyberbullying.
This high incidence of harassment and assault is exacerbated by school staff rarely, if ever, intervening on behalf of LGBT students
62.4% of students who were harassed or assaulted in school did not report the incident to school staff, believing little to no action would be taken or the situation could become worse if reported.
33.8% of the students who did report an incident said that school staff did nothing in response” (The 2009 National School Climate Survey, Problem: Hostile School Climate, pg. xvi, files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED512338.pdf.)
Bullying against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community can become so severe that it hazes the lines between bullying and a hate crime.
The Bully
Those who become bullies originate from all walks of life and age groups. A bully might not have any reason or a thousand reasons that can be explained for bullying or selecting their particular victim. These motives can be shaped from what their family, religion or peers have taught them; or what their family, religion or peers have not taught them. The target of a bully may be a member of a group they have a prejudice against or someone they personally do not like. A bully might have underlying emotional, mental, and psychological disorders that have been under-diagnosed, undiagnosed or ignored. The bully may have suffered emotional, psychological, physical or sexual abuse at some period in their lives. The abuse may have come from the bully’s family, peers, or even strangers or the bully may have witnessed this abuse. Being a bully allows the individual that suffered or witnessed the abuse to be in control and take out their aggression on another person weaker than themselves, replaying the abuse they have suffered or witnessed through a type of revenge or reenactment.
A person who intimidates others through bullying is someone that needs to be in control of their environment through the use of aggression at home, school, or the workplace. A perpetrator of bullying wants to create an imbalance of power by psychological, emotional, and physical force. This antagonistic behavior can take the form of indirect bullying or direct bullying of their intended target. A bully usually likes to test limits with their social interactions with their peers and superiors. Testing the limits tells them how far the bullying can be taken and if they can recruit others in the bullying activities. Testing these limits also becomes a challenge to the perpetrator, almost like a sporting event, points are celebrated. They will also be good at manipulation when recruiting others in their bullying activities, using another person’s dislikes, prejudices, or inadequacies. These perpetrators have many similarities to cult leaders when it comes to their followers. The use of reward and punishment creates both an emotional and psychological control of those that want to be a part of the bullying pack.
In many cases a bully is usually rewarded somehow for their behavior; this reward can come from their peers, parents, religious leaders, teachers or superiors. The reward may only happen once or many times. In many cases bullying is a generational condition, in where bullying is seen as a normal way of interacting with those you do not like or those who are different then you. Someone raised in a racist environment will usually target someone of another race or ethnic group. Another person raised in a home that has a deep religious belief that homosexuality is a sin, may target those in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. “Although some students who bully are less likely to be trusted and may be seen as mean and manipulative, a bully who learns aggression toward others garners power and may find the behavior a difficult habit to break. Some acts of bullying results in suspension or expulsion of students and translates into child abuse and domestic violence in adulthood. “Research shows that 60 percent of males who bully in grades six through nine are convicted of at least one crime as adults, compared with 23 percent of males who did not bully”(California Department of Education, Bullying Statistics 2009).
Signs and Side Effects of Bullying
The signs and symptoms of bullying can be barely noticeable or extremely obvious. These signs and symptoms depend on the form of bullying and the individual that is being bullied. Physical signs of bullying are ordinarily very visible, unless the victim conceals the evidence because of embarrassment and fear. These physical signs include unexplainable injuries like wounds, contusions, and even broken bones that did not come from school activities, occupational responsibilities, athletics, or other basic daily duties and hobbies. Damaged, lost or missing items of clothing and other belongings that have no explanation can be an indication of bullying. Emotional and psychological symptoms and indicators of bullying can be challenging to detect and easier for the victim to hide or explain away. These indicators include inadequate grades in school or unsatisfactory work performance. The victim loses interest in school or their work and will make excuses to avoid going there; this is partly from fear and partly from frustration. Even though the victim may have been once an excellent student or employee; the effects of being bullied can create an environment where the victim is expelled or fired do to absenteeism. This can create more psychological and emotional stress on the victim whose educational and financial future is at stake. The victims can lose interest in activities with friends and family, withdrawing from human interaction completely. They may even lose interest in their hobbies and pastimes, pulling deeper into an emotional crisis. This emotional crisis can become a danger for the victim or the bully, causing low self-esteem and depression, and for some suicide or revenge on those who bullied them.
The dangerous side effects of bullying come from the perpetrator’s unrelenting cruelty and rage. But the victim can also become a danger to themselves and others, when the daily abuse becomes unbearable to live with. The victim can turn into the bully, taking their vengeance out on someone younger or weaker than themselves, creating a circle of abuse. The victim may take out there revenge on the bully themselves, this can endanger both the victim and perpetrator, and in some cases innocent bystanders. Examples of this is Columbine and other school shootings, where the perceived outsiders want to get retribution on those that have tormented them. Suicide of the victim or even the perpetrator can also be the final end to the torment. The victim loses all hope that the bullying will stop, losing faith in others that have not helped them. The emotional and psychological pain becomes just too much. In the past few years there have been many cases in the news of children, teenagers, and young adults being bullied to death. Victims like Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, Seth Walsh, Phoebe Prince, and Tyler Clementi, have been the fatalities of uncontrolled bullying. In rare cases the bully may also choose suicide, in these cases the bully was usually abused at home or was being bullied themselves.
Short-term health effects can include more frequent headaches, gastrointestinal problems, tremors, breathing disorders, and dizziness that have no other health explanations. Long-term effects of bullying can cause victims to suffer from psychological, emotional, and physical health problems, caused by the repeated daily stress and anxiety. Depression, panic attacks, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is common in victims of bullying. There is proof that stress and repeated anxiety can change the brains chemical makeup and even cause permanent brain damage including hippocampus shrinkage. This condition can cause memory loss and other cognitive disorders. The victim may suffer from other long-term and progressing health problems associated with stress including immunological deterioration, cardiovascular complications, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, skin conditions, and various other illness and diseases. “Stress is a biological human response. It is physiological and real, not just imagined. Low-level stress may be necessary to compel people to act. However, severe stress, which prevents rational, controlled action, has overwhelming negative consequences” (The Workplace Bullying Institute, Stress-Related Health Impairment: http://www.workplacebullying.org/individuals/impact/physical-health-harm/.) Bullying makes a warzone for the victim, whether it is a school playground or the office. It also affects the family and friends of the victim, either through watching them suffer from the torment and the health and mental conditions it causes, or losing them forever to suicide or homicide. Sirdeaner L. Walker states: “…her son’s 11-year-old tormentors were worse than the breast cancer she had survived four years ago” (When Words Can Kill: That’s So Gay by Susan Donaldson James: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/Story?id=7328091&page=1.)
Preventing Bullying
School bullying prevention can be done through programs that teach children how to deal with anger and prejudices problems. Proven programs like Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) and the Hands and Words Are Not For Hurting Project, show that if caught early children and teenagers will respond to these programs. P.B.I.S uses a three tiered system that includes primary intervention that is school wide, secondary intervention that is set in the classroom, and tertiary intervention which focuses on the individual. Each part of the system teaches students positive behavior and its rewards. The program also teaches students how to respect others and how to deal with daily stressors. The organization Hands and Words Are Not For Hurting Project was founded in 1997 by Dr. Bob Kelly and his wife Ann Kelly in Salem, Oregon. Bob, an emergency room doctor and Ann, a women’s self-defense instructor, had seen too much violence and wanted to do something about it. Their mission statement is: “To educate each person in every community about their moral and legal right to live free of abuse and violence.” Their goal is to: “End abuse and Violence in our homes, schools, and communities around the world” (Hands and Words Are Not For Hurting Project: http://handsproject.org/.) Both these programs have helped schools around the country. Workplace bullying prevention is more difficult to control and monitor. Sensitivity training and other programs that teach respect and anger management can help change the working environment.
Federal and state regulations for the disabled and other civil rights laws need to be reinforced in schools and the workplace. State laws on bullying are needed in all fifty states. These laws should be followed not ignored. Local governments and community leaders can participate in national and local organizations to prevent bullying and other violence in schools, the workplace, the home, and the community. In the Klamath Basin there are so many resources that are not being utilized. One anonymous person wrote: “Start an anti-bullying campaign with large employers like Sky Lakes, JELD-WEN, NEW, Klamath County government, city schools and county schools, Running Y, and Etc… and community leaders to end bullying in Klamath County”(anonymous person Klamath Community College (KCC) Bullying Survey (2011). Sadly, other areas of the world ignore the need to stop bullying also. This surveyor’s advice would work in other communities as well. To get local businesses and government involved in stopping bullying in the school systems, at the college and university levels, and at the workplace.
Conclusion
Bullying is a violent behavior that is hard to prevent. A bully is influenced by many factors that come from their family, religion, politics, peers, abuse, and mental illnesses and personality disorders. These factors are either learned or are a side effect of abuse or mental problems. If a child comes from a home that teaches intolerance and hate, and this is reinforced by their religious leaders and peers. This child will target those groups that they have been taught to hate. If a child comes from a home of excepted abuse, where there is daily emotional, psychological, and physical pain. This child will repeat the abuse on another person, causing them the same pain they are in. In the 2011 bullying survey at Klamath Community College, the majority of participates both male and female, ages eighteen to fifty-eight, agreed that these influences create a breeding ground for bullying.
To change these attitudes we must first change people’s views on violence and prejudices. We also need to reteach ourselves as human beings compassion and empathy for others. This all starts in our own homes, places of faith, and our public institutions. Laws against bullying are very important but if we do not reinforce them or really believe in them, they are useless. This crime of violence needs to have a real solution to help and save its victims and even its perpetrators before it takes more lives.
INTERNET TROLLS: IGNORE, BLOCK, AND REPORT
Every person has at least been victimized once by those that are called internet trolls, on various types of social sites, some with faces and some without faces. Definition of an internet troll: “An Internet troll is someone who posts offensive, controversial, or divisive material on an Internet community.” (What is an Internet Troll? http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-internet-troll.htm.)
An internet troll’s purpose is not to socialize, make friends or love connections. A basic discussion on any topic to them is an open invitation to cause a hate storm or the internet troll will create his/her own post to get other people into fighting with them and each other. They will completely go off topic and attack someone on just about anything they write. Your blog or forum could be about kittens and puppies, the troll will turn it to a hate fest. An internet troll will attack someone’s biological sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, political views, appearance…their goal is to start augments and hate between other members on the social website. The purpose of the attack is to cause infighting and to target one member at a time, getting other members to attack the individual too. These attacks will happen on your posts and comments, other people’s posts and comments, and through your email (through the website’s email or even your own personal email, if they somehow get it). Internet trolls will support things like sexism, racism, homophobia , classism or even subjects like pedophilia, human trafficking…to get a major rise out of those that have basic human compassion and empathy for other human beings. Their goal is either to make it so unpleasant that an individual leaves or even deactivates their profile or they fight back against their horrid treatment and break a rule of the group or social website. All the while the troll is enjoying the drama that they have started, getting members to hate each other and the internet troll will keep saying things to fuel the flames of discord. In both ways the troll has won, the victim is gone and then they move on to their next victim. This is a sport to an internet troll.
Most of these internet trolls will have multiple profiles both having a picture profile and/or various faceless profiles on a social website that have little or no information about the member, this is a red flag. These internet trolls will disappear and reappear in another persona or various personas to wreak havoc again, over and over. These internet trolls will break various rules of the site and are banned only to come back as someone else. Most social website will try to control this extreme behavior by banning them from the social website but some social websites NEVER punish them for these violations because the moderators are NOT doing their jobs or the owners of these social websites believe the drama brings more members in, like an online parody of the Jerry Springer show, anything goes.
I have experience this behavior and seen others being attack also. Recently, I have been in Facebook groups and other social media sites that have NO control over the hundreds of internet trolls that have attached themselves to these groups and sites like life sucking barnacles. These trolling members attack daily on these groups and sites getting people kicked out for responding to their bad behavior because administrators will not stop the harassment and in fact some administrators are internet trolls themselves. The minute you become a member the trolling begins. It starts with inappropriate attacks about anything you say, your sex, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, political views…are also attack, and sometimes emails for sex or hate messages are sent, personally attacking you all over again. These internet trolls would attack me and get valid members also to attack me. This created an environment that I could not interact with anyone without the internet trolls attacking them or me on the posts and blogs. The moderators were not doing their job or enjoyed the drama, either way it ended on one singles website a few years back with a man writing a homophobic death threat blog against me and I was the one kicked off the social site for making him mad. Fun times indeed.
So since not all social website and groups have good moderators. And some owners of these websites enjoy the whole Jerry Springer online parody and the internet troll behavior. Members of social website need to be the vehicles of change for basic human decency on these social websites. And remember disagreeing on a subject should not be a reason to attack someone viciously about their biological sex, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, political views, appearance…this is an off topic internet troll attack. This is a disagreement not a war, always remind yourself of this, internet trolls want to be entertained.
Steps To Stop Internet Trolls:
Ignore an internet troll if possible. I know this is hard because you feel the need to defend yourself or another person. But this is what the internet troll feeds off of. DO NOT feed them. Let them go on their meaningless moronic rant and know that you are more mature than they are.
Block an internet troll whenever possible. Yes, the internet troll and their best friends will attack you like rabid psychopaths on their own and other people’s profiles and blogs but ignore them. On some websites like Facebook they cannot see you and you cannot see them, which can be a blessing or a curse because you do not know what they are writing about you (which could cause you more issues with other users). But blocking them is still the healthiest thing you could do for your own well-being and creating a safer space for your thoughts and opinions and also on most websites with a blocking feature it blocks them from sending you nasty little private messages. DO NOT feel bad about blocking an internet troll they DO NOT want to be your friend only your enemy and they ARE NOT looking for a love connection either. Make them move on. Remember a social or dating website or group is not a battlefield; people join to meet friends and maybe find a romantic connection and to have adult sharing of ideas, information, and non-hateful discussion. Concentrate on that, not them.
DO NOT allow internet trolls to attack someone on your own profile, group, blog, website… Just delete their comments and block or ban them if possible and tell people to ignore their comments if they appear while you are offline and to report it to either you (if you are running the main site) or the person running the main site. If the internet troll has no outlet for their hatred and controversy, they will leave the website. Because that is the only reason they became a member in the first place, to start trouble.
Report an internet troll. Most social websites have real rules that are enforced but there are some that do not. But always report. Yes, we know it probably will have little impact on these social websites that like Jerry Springer online parody behavior. But if enough people show they are tired and disgusted by this behavior it may be stopped. The fear of financial loss can make “the powers that be” make changes very quickly. Money talks make them listen.
If an internet troll threats you in any way, saying that they can harm you in the internet world or the real world. Report them and change all your passwords on emails, social sites, and other internet based outlets, including online banking. Some internet trolls are very technologically savvy and can hack into any account on the internet. If you find out someone has hacked into any of your accounts, report it to the authorities and give them the information of where you believe the hacker (A.K.A internet troll) found you. If you have trouble in the real world and feel you are being stalked physically, report it to your local authorities and give them the information of where you believe the stalker (A.K.A internet troll) found you. Social websites can be dangerous, especially ones that t have NO real safety measures. You must watch out for yourself, online harassment can go into the real world.
Internet trolls are like the ghost in the system, most are faceless fake accounts made especially for trolling, to harass, degrade, and cause trouble for people online and even in the real world. Be your own Ghostbusters and protect yourself, which in turn, protects other people, making the internet a more pleasant environment for everyone.
An internet troll’s purpose is not to socialize, make friends or love connections. A basic discussion on any topic to them is an open invitation to cause a hate storm or the internet troll will create his/her own post to get other people into fighting with them and each other. They will completely go off topic and attack someone on just about anything they write. Your blog or forum could be about kittens and puppies, the troll will turn it to a hate fest. An internet troll will attack someone’s biological sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, political views, appearance…their goal is to start augments and hate between other members on the social website. The purpose of the attack is to cause infighting and to target one member at a time, getting other members to attack the individual too. These attacks will happen on your posts and comments, other people’s posts and comments, and through your email (through the website’s email or even your own personal email, if they somehow get it). Internet trolls will support things like sexism, racism, homophobia , classism or even subjects like pedophilia, human trafficking…to get a major rise out of those that have basic human compassion and empathy for other human beings. Their goal is either to make it so unpleasant that an individual leaves or even deactivates their profile or they fight back against their horrid treatment and break a rule of the group or social website. All the while the troll is enjoying the drama that they have started, getting members to hate each other and the internet troll will keep saying things to fuel the flames of discord. In both ways the troll has won, the victim is gone and then they move on to their next victim. This is a sport to an internet troll.
Most of these internet trolls will have multiple profiles both having a picture profile and/or various faceless profiles on a social website that have little or no information about the member, this is a red flag. These internet trolls will disappear and reappear in another persona or various personas to wreak havoc again, over and over. These internet trolls will break various rules of the site and are banned only to come back as someone else. Most social website will try to control this extreme behavior by banning them from the social website but some social websites NEVER punish them for these violations because the moderators are NOT doing their jobs or the owners of these social websites believe the drama brings more members in, like an online parody of the Jerry Springer show, anything goes.
I have experience this behavior and seen others being attack also. Recently, I have been in Facebook groups and other social media sites that have NO control over the hundreds of internet trolls that have attached themselves to these groups and sites like life sucking barnacles. These trolling members attack daily on these groups and sites getting people kicked out for responding to their bad behavior because administrators will not stop the harassment and in fact some administrators are internet trolls themselves. The minute you become a member the trolling begins. It starts with inappropriate attacks about anything you say, your sex, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, political views…are also attack, and sometimes emails for sex or hate messages are sent, personally attacking you all over again. These internet trolls would attack me and get valid members also to attack me. This created an environment that I could not interact with anyone without the internet trolls attacking them or me on the posts and blogs. The moderators were not doing their job or enjoyed the drama, either way it ended on one singles website a few years back with a man writing a homophobic death threat blog against me and I was the one kicked off the social site for making him mad. Fun times indeed.
So since not all social website and groups have good moderators. And some owners of these websites enjoy the whole Jerry Springer online parody and the internet troll behavior. Members of social website need to be the vehicles of change for basic human decency on these social websites. And remember disagreeing on a subject should not be a reason to attack someone viciously about their biological sex, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, political views, appearance…this is an off topic internet troll attack. This is a disagreement not a war, always remind yourself of this, internet trolls want to be entertained.
Steps To Stop Internet Trolls:
Ignore an internet troll if possible. I know this is hard because you feel the need to defend yourself or another person. But this is what the internet troll feeds off of. DO NOT feed them. Let them go on their meaningless moronic rant and know that you are more mature than they are.
Block an internet troll whenever possible. Yes, the internet troll and their best friends will attack you like rabid psychopaths on their own and other people’s profiles and blogs but ignore them. On some websites like Facebook they cannot see you and you cannot see them, which can be a blessing or a curse because you do not know what they are writing about you (which could cause you more issues with other users). But blocking them is still the healthiest thing you could do for your own well-being and creating a safer space for your thoughts and opinions and also on most websites with a blocking feature it blocks them from sending you nasty little private messages. DO NOT feel bad about blocking an internet troll they DO NOT want to be your friend only your enemy and they ARE NOT looking for a love connection either. Make them move on. Remember a social or dating website or group is not a battlefield; people join to meet friends and maybe find a romantic connection and to have adult sharing of ideas, information, and non-hateful discussion. Concentrate on that, not them.
DO NOT allow internet trolls to attack someone on your own profile, group, blog, website… Just delete their comments and block or ban them if possible and tell people to ignore their comments if they appear while you are offline and to report it to either you (if you are running the main site) or the person running the main site. If the internet troll has no outlet for their hatred and controversy, they will leave the website. Because that is the only reason they became a member in the first place, to start trouble.
Report an internet troll. Most social websites have real rules that are enforced but there are some that do not. But always report. Yes, we know it probably will have little impact on these social websites that like Jerry Springer online parody behavior. But if enough people show they are tired and disgusted by this behavior it may be stopped. The fear of financial loss can make “the powers that be” make changes very quickly. Money talks make them listen.
If an internet troll threats you in any way, saying that they can harm you in the internet world or the real world. Report them and change all your passwords on emails, social sites, and other internet based outlets, including online banking. Some internet trolls are very technologically savvy and can hack into any account on the internet. If you find out someone has hacked into any of your accounts, report it to the authorities and give them the information of where you believe the hacker (A.K.A internet troll) found you. If you have trouble in the real world and feel you are being stalked physically, report it to your local authorities and give them the information of where you believe the stalker (A.K.A internet troll) found you. Social websites can be dangerous, especially ones that t have NO real safety measures. You must watch out for yourself, online harassment can go into the real world.
CYBER-STALKING: THE DANGERS
The majority of the population now that use social networking websites including Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, MySpace…, view them as a way to have harmless communications, interactions, and connection with relatives, friends, business associates, and new and old online acquaintances (the contemporary version of the pen-pal). Social networking websites let an individual maintain contact with family and friends, that may reside across the country or the world, without the cost and aggravation of long distance telephone calls and basic mail (also referred to as snail-mail). They can share thoughts, pictures and albums, videos, instant messaging, and e-mails. These websites also allow a person to interact in groups that share their same interests, find a prospective companion, and to meet people from around the globe, without the expense of travel. Social networking is like a virtual community for many people, giving them supportive interaction, entertainment, fun, and a place of belonging. But like the physical world, there is a dark side to these virtual communities, with unanticipated dangers that can turn out to be very real and very frightening. Unfortunately, a good number of patrons of social networking websites either do not comprehend these dangers or ignore them all together, putting themselves and others in jeopardy, one of these risks is cyber-stalking.
Much like stalking in the physical world, you can find various types of cyber stalking on the World Wide Web. These behaviors can escalate into very real physical dangers, which can put the victim and those close to the victim in danger. “Stalking refers to harassing or threatening behavior that is engaged in repeatedly. Such harassment can be either physical stalking or cyberstalking” (Are You Being Stalked? https://www.privacyrights.org/are-you-being-stalked.) Stalking in the corporeal world usually begins when someone becomes infatuated or wants to cause harm to another individual that they have known in the past or someone that is a total stranger that they have crossed paths with. The same description is true in the social networking world on the Web; the victim of cyberstalking may or may not know the person who is following them over the Web. The stalker may be someone the victim knew in the past, like a classmate, a past love or even a friend. They also may be a complete stranger that has found them through their interaction on a social networking website and its various connections including online groups, pages, chat rooms, and walls. Stalking can have many motivations including obsession, hatred, discrimination, retribution, predatory behaviors (including pedophilia and other sexual deviance), harassment, and straightforward bullying. Stalkers can be male and female, young and old, and of various ethnic and religious backgrounds. A victim of stalking can be male or female, young and old, Jaishanker and Uma Sankary state: “…a victim may be a member of a targeted minority group or special group” (Jaishanker, K. and Uma Sankary, V., Cyber Stalking: A Global Menace in the Information Super Highway).
Obsessive stalking can be based on delusional sexual attraction or perceived friendship. The obsessive stalker can be someone that the victim has rejected as a friend or a suitor in the past, either in the real world or online. The stalker sees this rejection as unacceptable and a personal insult. Not wanting to terminate the connection to the victim, the stalker will force them self into the victims life. The stalker wants the victim to recognize the importance of their perceived ongoing relationship. Jaishanker and Uma Sankary state: “Their behavior is characterized by a mixture of revenge and desire for reconciliation” (Jaishanker, K. and Uma Sankary, V., Cyber Stalking: A Global Menace in the Information Super Highway)). The obsessive stalker also can be someone that has become fixated on another person that they have never met before or only interacted with in passing. They will perceive a connection of affection with the victim, when there is none. Even if the victim rejects them, they will believe this person is in love with them or that they are their best friend.
A stalker can be a sexual predator, looking for innocent victims male and female, adult and adolescent. “They are motivated purely by the desire for sexual gratification and power over their victim” (Types of Stalkers and Stalking Patterns, Sexual Harassment Support, http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/TypesofStalkers.html.) They will use social networking websites to find their victim or victims. The predatory stalker may get on the victim’s friends list, slowly befriending them over time, trying to gain their total trust. In some cases the stalker will try to be the center of attention and interaction when the victim is online, in other cases they may interact more in the background, studying the victim. Like the obsessive stalker, the predatory stalker will try slowly to get the victims information including email address, phone numbers (home, cell phone, and work), physical address, where they work, and if possible other places the victim goes, either through the victim themselves or through their friends. In the case of predatory stalkers that are pedophiles that are looking for children, they will pretend to be other adolescents looking for friends online, having a fictitious profile. They may also pretend to be an adult that wants someone to mentor, making the adolescent feel important and comfortable with their friendship. The predatory stalker will get the victim to meet them somewhere, at this point the cyber stalking or cyber hunting in this case, has become a physical danger, and has entered into the physical world, it no longer is behind the safety of a computer screen. Though, this type of stalking is the least common, it can be the scariest and scar the victims for life emotionally and physically.
Cyber bullying, one of the most common forms of cyber stalking, can include psychological intimidation and personal conflicts. “Bullying is aggressive behavior that is intentional, repeated over time, and involves an imbalance of power or strength”(Bullying and Cyber Bullying, InSafe, http://old.saferinternet.org/ww/en/pub/insafe/safety_issues/faqs/bullying.) The victims of bullying and cyber bullying can be adult and adolescent. The bullying may have started at the victim’s school, college, or place of employment. Its motivations can also be sexist, racist or homophobic, which is also listed as a cyber-hate crime. The harassment can include gossip and rumors, hate speech, and the sharing of unwanted pictures and videos to embarrass the victim. Though, the victim may get threats of bodily harm and even death from their stalkers, the biggest risk to some victims of cyber bullying is themselves through the form of suicide. On September 22, 2010 “…18-year-old Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi jumped from the George Washington Bridge after his room-mate, 18-year-old Dharun Ravi, and an accomplice, 18-year-old Molly Wei, allegedly streamed a videotape of Clementi engaging in sexual activities with another male on the internet. Clementi left an ominous and heartbreaking goodbye message on his Facebook profile before leaping to his death; his body was recovered several days later. Ravi and Wei have since been charged with invasion of privacy, jailed, and released on bail” (Three Young Men, Three Suicides, Three Cases Of Anti-Gay Bullying http://www.wgnradio.com/news/top/ktxl-news-gayyouthsuicides0930.) Like Tyler Clementi, victims of bullying (physical or online) can feel so embarrassed by the harassment, and the feeling of being a victim, they may not get help until it is too late.
Many stalkers and cyber stalkers have some type of mental illness or psychological problem, and may have been abused in some way themselves in the past. The predatory stalker may be repeating this pattern of abuse on to their victim. Obsessive stalkers usually lack basic social skills to interact with the people around them, so they become obsessed with someone who is unattainable, thinking that somehow this will change in time. That their victim will become their friend or true love, this fantasy is very real to them. In the case of the stalker who is a bully, the victim is always someone the stalker sees as a threat or someone that has a perceived weakness. The effects of stalking in all its forms, can last a lifetime for its victims and their family and friends. National Center For Victims Of Crime states: “Victims of cyber stalking often experience psychological trauma, as well as physical and emotional reactions as a result of their victimization. Some of these effects may include: changes in sleeping and eating patterns, nightmares, hyper-vigilance, anxiety, helplessness, fear for safety, and shock and disbelief” (National Center For Victims Of Crime, http://www.victimsofcrime.org/our-programs/stalking-resource-center.) In the case of a victim being physically assaulted, murdered, or committing suicide, the healing process may never come.
A person can never truly stop stalking or cyber stalking, but they can take precautions when social networking. Never give too much private information about yourself in your profile and never put photographs up that may show an address, license plate, or other indicators of where you are. If you are going out somewhere, never put this information on your profile, this gives a potential stalker your location. Always keep your profile set on “private”, this makes it harder for a stalker to get into your information and the information of people on your friends list. This protects not only you but everyone in your social networking circle. Never accept a friend request from a total stranger, though they may be harmless just looking for social interaction, you can never be sure. Always use caution when joining online groups, organizations, and fan sites and if an online poll or quiz site asked for too much information avoid them. Children and adults should be educated not to ever be lured out somewhere to meet a stranger; this is the most dangerous part of cyber stalking, where it becomes a potential physical threat. Even if you take all these precautions, you may still become a victim of cyber stalking. “The reality is that both cyber stalking and physical stalking can lead to a physical attack. Always get help quickly, document all stalking incidents and take precautions to protect yourself” (Are You Being Stalked? https://www.privacyrights.org/are-you-being-stalked.)
Much like stalking in the physical world, you can find various types of cyber stalking on the World Wide Web. These behaviors can escalate into very real physical dangers, which can put the victim and those close to the victim in danger. “Stalking refers to harassing or threatening behavior that is engaged in repeatedly. Such harassment can be either physical stalking or cyberstalking” (Are You Being Stalked? https://www.privacyrights.org/are-you-being-stalked.) Stalking in the corporeal world usually begins when someone becomes infatuated or wants to cause harm to another individual that they have known in the past or someone that is a total stranger that they have crossed paths with. The same description is true in the social networking world on the Web; the victim of cyberstalking may or may not know the person who is following them over the Web. The stalker may be someone the victim knew in the past, like a classmate, a past love or even a friend. They also may be a complete stranger that has found them through their interaction on a social networking website and its various connections including online groups, pages, chat rooms, and walls. Stalking can have many motivations including obsession, hatred, discrimination, retribution, predatory behaviors (including pedophilia and other sexual deviance), harassment, and straightforward bullying. Stalkers can be male and female, young and old, and of various ethnic and religious backgrounds. A victim of stalking can be male or female, young and old, Jaishanker and Uma Sankary state: “…a victim may be a member of a targeted minority group or special group” (Jaishanker, K. and Uma Sankary, V., Cyber Stalking: A Global Menace in the Information Super Highway).
Obsessive stalking can be based on delusional sexual attraction or perceived friendship. The obsessive stalker can be someone that the victim has rejected as a friend or a suitor in the past, either in the real world or online. The stalker sees this rejection as unacceptable and a personal insult. Not wanting to terminate the connection to the victim, the stalker will force them self into the victims life. The stalker wants the victim to recognize the importance of their perceived ongoing relationship. Jaishanker and Uma Sankary state: “Their behavior is characterized by a mixture of revenge and desire for reconciliation” (Jaishanker, K. and Uma Sankary, V., Cyber Stalking: A Global Menace in the Information Super Highway)). The obsessive stalker also can be someone that has become fixated on another person that they have never met before or only interacted with in passing. They will perceive a connection of affection with the victim, when there is none. Even if the victim rejects them, they will believe this person is in love with them or that they are their best friend.
A stalker can be a sexual predator, looking for innocent victims male and female, adult and adolescent. “They are motivated purely by the desire for sexual gratification and power over their victim” (Types of Stalkers and Stalking Patterns, Sexual Harassment Support, http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/TypesofStalkers.html.) They will use social networking websites to find their victim or victims. The predatory stalker may get on the victim’s friends list, slowly befriending them over time, trying to gain their total trust. In some cases the stalker will try to be the center of attention and interaction when the victim is online, in other cases they may interact more in the background, studying the victim. Like the obsessive stalker, the predatory stalker will try slowly to get the victims information including email address, phone numbers (home, cell phone, and work), physical address, where they work, and if possible other places the victim goes, either through the victim themselves or through their friends. In the case of predatory stalkers that are pedophiles that are looking for children, they will pretend to be other adolescents looking for friends online, having a fictitious profile. They may also pretend to be an adult that wants someone to mentor, making the adolescent feel important and comfortable with their friendship. The predatory stalker will get the victim to meet them somewhere, at this point the cyber stalking or cyber hunting in this case, has become a physical danger, and has entered into the physical world, it no longer is behind the safety of a computer screen. Though, this type of stalking is the least common, it can be the scariest and scar the victims for life emotionally and physically.
Cyber bullying, one of the most common forms of cyber stalking, can include psychological intimidation and personal conflicts. “Bullying is aggressive behavior that is intentional, repeated over time, and involves an imbalance of power or strength”(Bullying and Cyber Bullying, InSafe, http://old.saferinternet.org/ww/en/pub/insafe/safety_issues/faqs/bullying.) The victims of bullying and cyber bullying can be adult and adolescent. The bullying may have started at the victim’s school, college, or place of employment. Its motivations can also be sexist, racist or homophobic, which is also listed as a cyber-hate crime. The harassment can include gossip and rumors, hate speech, and the sharing of unwanted pictures and videos to embarrass the victim. Though, the victim may get threats of bodily harm and even death from their stalkers, the biggest risk to some victims of cyber bullying is themselves through the form of suicide. On September 22, 2010 “…18-year-old Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi jumped from the George Washington Bridge after his room-mate, 18-year-old Dharun Ravi, and an accomplice, 18-year-old Molly Wei, allegedly streamed a videotape of Clementi engaging in sexual activities with another male on the internet. Clementi left an ominous and heartbreaking goodbye message on his Facebook profile before leaping to his death; his body was recovered several days later. Ravi and Wei have since been charged with invasion of privacy, jailed, and released on bail” (Three Young Men, Three Suicides, Three Cases Of Anti-Gay Bullying http://www.wgnradio.com/news/top/ktxl-news-gayyouthsuicides0930.) Like Tyler Clementi, victims of bullying (physical or online) can feel so embarrassed by the harassment, and the feeling of being a victim, they may not get help until it is too late.
Many stalkers and cyber stalkers have some type of mental illness or psychological problem, and may have been abused in some way themselves in the past. The predatory stalker may be repeating this pattern of abuse on to their victim. Obsessive stalkers usually lack basic social skills to interact with the people around them, so they become obsessed with someone who is unattainable, thinking that somehow this will change in time. That their victim will become their friend or true love, this fantasy is very real to them. In the case of the stalker who is a bully, the victim is always someone the stalker sees as a threat or someone that has a perceived weakness. The effects of stalking in all its forms, can last a lifetime for its victims and their family and friends. National Center For Victims Of Crime states: “Victims of cyber stalking often experience psychological trauma, as well as physical and emotional reactions as a result of their victimization. Some of these effects may include: changes in sleeping and eating patterns, nightmares, hyper-vigilance, anxiety, helplessness, fear for safety, and shock and disbelief” (National Center For Victims Of Crime, http://www.victimsofcrime.org/our-programs/stalking-resource-center.) In the case of a victim being physically assaulted, murdered, or committing suicide, the healing process may never come.
A person can never truly stop stalking or cyber stalking, but they can take precautions when social networking. Never give too much private information about yourself in your profile and never put photographs up that may show an address, license plate, or other indicators of where you are. If you are going out somewhere, never put this information on your profile, this gives a potential stalker your location. Always keep your profile set on “private”, this makes it harder for a stalker to get into your information and the information of people on your friends list. This protects not only you but everyone in your social networking circle. Never accept a friend request from a total stranger, though they may be harmless just looking for social interaction, you can never be sure. Always use caution when joining online groups, organizations, and fan sites and if an online poll or quiz site asked for too much information avoid them. Children and adults should be educated not to ever be lured out somewhere to meet a stranger; this is the most dangerous part of cyber stalking, where it becomes a potential physical threat. Even if you take all these precautions, you may still become a victim of cyber stalking. “The reality is that both cyber stalking and physical stalking can lead to a physical attack. Always get help quickly, document all stalking incidents and take precautions to protect yourself” (Are You Being Stalked? https://www.privacyrights.org/are-you-being-stalked.)
THE WAR ON DRUGS
Abstract
Illegal drugs including cannabis, cocaine, LSD, heroin, and opium were once legal and used for recreational purposes. These drugs were also used in various medical and psychiatric treatments and could be found in everyday products. Gradually overtime what was once legal become illegal. The official war on drugs has been going on for over forty years in the United States and globally. It has cost the United States federal and state governments trillions of dollars in resources and manpower. The resources and manpower are used to control the flow of drugs in and out of the country and to arrest, prosecute, and to imprison those that have broken drug laws. The battle between federal and state law enforcement and the drug manufacturers and growers, drug traffickers, drug dealers, and drug users has cost thousands of law enforcement officers and civilians their lives. These deaths have been both in the United States and other countries. However, after all the financial and human costs, the drugs are still being manufacturers and grown. Drug traffickers and drug dealers are still selling their product and the drug users are still addicted to the drugs. There are other solutions to the war on drugs that may save both money and lives and may get the addicts off drugs.
The War on Drugs
The “war on drugs” has failed to stop the production, sales, and use of illegal drugs but has increased the American prison population and has promoted violence, health hazards, and the spread of disease around the world. Today, the war on drugs is a never ending crusade of wills between the United States government and the drug manufacturers, drug traffickers, drug dealers, and the drug users. The international war on drugs cost the United States billions of dollars every year in resources to prevent the drugs from entering its borders and to keep them off America’s streets. The American taxpayers pay for processing and housing of those in the illegal drug trade that have entered the state and federal court and penal systems. The war on drugs endangers thousands of civilians and law enforcement officers every year in the United States and globally. This is due to altercations between federal, state, and foreign law enforcement agencies, the United States military, and those in the illegal drug trade. Competition between those in the illegal drug trade to produce and sell their products also endangers thousands of lives because of “turf wars.” Those that are arrested for drug use rarely get adequate treatment for their addiction and are exposed to violent criminals in the prison system, creating the possibility of more violent criminals and crime in the future. Even after spending trillions of dollars to combat the drug issue in the United States and beyond and at the price of human life and safety, it still continues with no end. The drugs are still being cultivated, manufactured, sold, and used and enriching the pockets of drug cartels, organized crime, and terrorism organizations. The illegal drug users are still addicted to the drugs and are exposed to violence, health hazards, and disease because of the prohibition on drugs. The prohibition on illegal drugs and their use is not working or helping those addicted to drugs. The war on drugs is a failure.
The History of Drugs in the United States
The position of the United States towards drugs and drug use has not always been so black and white. This viewpoint has had many transitions over the centuries, with conflicting voices. Duke (1995) states: “The idea that government should determine for its people which psychoactive drugs they are free to consume and jail them for using others is a fairly recent arrival in the United States. Except for an occasional fling with prohibition at the state level, Americans were free until 1914 to consume any drugs they chose and to buy from anyone who chose to sell them. Those rights were widely exercised” (p. 571.) Certain drugs that are considered too dangerous today to be legal and available to the public were seen as being harmless and beneficial in the past. Various illegal drugs including cannabis, cocaine, LSD (also called acid), heroin, opium, and methamphetamine were once legal. The recreational use of some of these drugs, were seen as being no different than drinking alcoholic beverages to chemically change mood and perception for the user. These drugs could be even found in everyday products and were not always used just for their potential mood and perception altering side effects. Huebert (2011) states: “For most of U.S. history, all drugs were legal. How legal? As libertarian writer Harry Browne put it, “Few people are aware that before World War I, a 9-year-old girl could walk into a drug store and buy heroin.” In fact, before Bayer sold aspirin, it sold Heroin™ as a “sedative for coughs…”(para.2.) These substances and the products they were in were believed to be safe enough that both adults and children could use them without dangerous side effects. These drugs were also utilized for medical and psychiatric purposes. People were prescribed them by their doctor or psychiatrist to assist them with various medical and psychiatric illnesses and disorders. The scientific, medical, and psychiatric communities studied them and believed that they could be present and future answers to certain illnesses and disorders.
Overtime the war on drugs stopped the recreational use of these drugs and discontinued or slowed the study of these substances and any present or future benefits they may have contributed to society. It took them out of the hands of the American public that once were trusted to use them. It also took most of these substances out of the hands of the scientific, medical, and psychiatric communities. Drugs that were allowed to be studied and used by science were placed under heavy rules and regulations. The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) was put into place in 1970 and has gradually strengthened control over drugs deemed illegal in the United States. The Drug Enforcement Admiration’s Controlled Substance Schedules (2012) states: “Schedule I Controlled Substances have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse. Some examples of substances listed in Schedule I are: heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana (cannabis), peyote, methaqualone, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (“Ecstasy”)” (para.4.) The war on drugs has slowing created a billion dollar black market. It has put these illegal drugs in the hands of dangerous drug cartels, organized crime, and terrorism organizations, taking them out of the hands of law abiding American citizens and the scientific communities.
The Financial and Human Cost of the War on Drugs
Becker and Murphy (2013) state: “President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs” in 1971. The expectation then was that drug trafficking in the United States could be greatly reduced in a short time through federal policing—and yet the war on drugs continues to this day” (para.1.) The official war on drugs in the United States has been going on for over forty years, costing federal and state governments trillions of dollars with little positive results. The various major drug trades including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine continue to grow and manufacture their products in the United States or other countries and sell it to American and foreign users. The importation and exportation of illegal drugs involves both non-dangerous mom and pop growers and manufacturers and extremely dangerous drug cartels. These drug cartels have ties to organized crime, the illegal gun trade, human trafficking, and terrorist groups around the world.
The Office National Drug Control Policy (2012) states: “Drug trafficking organizations and associated criminal groups pose a persistent and dangerous threat to communities across the United States” (para.2.) Federal and state law enforcement agencies must have the resources and manpower to control the flow of drugs into the United States from other countries, which may also include illegal guns and modern day slaves. State and local law enforcement agencies must control the growing and manufacturing of drugs and the conflicts between those in the drug trades. This is both to keep the public safe and to try to control the sale and use of drugs. The United States taxpayer pays for the surveillance, arrests, prosecution and public defense, housing, and medical and dental care of those that have broken drug laws. Branson (2012) states: “About 40,000 people were in U.S. jails and prisons for drug crimes in 1980, compared with more than 500,000 today. Excessively long prison sentences and locking up people for small drug offenses contribute greatly to this ballooning of the prison population… A Pew study says it costs the U.S. an average of $30,000 a year to incarcerate an inmate, but the nation spends only an average $11,665 per public school student”(Para. 10 and 14.) Without proper drug addiction treatment both inside and outside the prison system, a number of drug offenders are rearrested and put back into the legal system.
The war on drugs not only costs the United States money and manpower, it affects the safety and well-being of millions of people around the world wherever it is being fought. Federal and state law enforcement agents and officers put their lives on the line every day protecting our borders from the exportation and importation of drugs by traffickers. They protect the public from local drug growers, drug manufacturers, and drug dealers and arrest those that buy the drugs. The conflict between federal, state, and foreign law enforcement and those in the drug trade and conflicts between competing drug growers, manufactures, and dealers causes a dangerous situation. The Global Commission on Drug Policy (2012) states: “Overwhelming evidence now clearly demonstrates that, analogous to the case of alcohol prohibition in the United States early in the 20th century, prohibition of drugs has contributed to increased levels of drug related mortality and drug market violence” (p. 15.) Those killed in these conflicts are the collateral damage of the war on drugs that can never be won.
The non-violent drug offenders are affected negatively by the war on drugs. Those that are prosecuted for non-violent drug possession are put into the prison system with criminals that have committed murder, rape, armed robbery, and other violent crimes. The non-violent drug offenders are exposed to the prison lifestyle and other criminality. Prison life includes isolation, over population, and physical and sexual assault. Even if there is a drug treatment available in the prison setting the stresses of prison life and violence and the availability of smuggled drugs into the prison system may affect its outcome. Garland (2006) States: “Overcrowding, cruel conditions and a lack of constructive activities for inmates fuel violence in America’s prisons and threaten public safety because most inmates return to their communities ill-prepared for daily life…”(para.1.) After release, the non-violent drug offender may repeat their drug addiction or commit other crimes that might include violent acts learned in prison. The over population of the United States’ prison system also allows the release of violent offenders before non-violent offenders because of mandatory sentences for drug possession. These mandatory laws endanger the public when violent offenders are released before non-violent offenders to relieve a prison’s overpopulation.
The illegal drug user is also negatively affected by the war on drugs even if they never become part of the court and prison systems or the victim of the illegal drug trade’s violence. The illegal drugs that are sold to the user have no regulations in their cultivation or production. The plant based substances in illegal drugs may have been grown with illegal and toxic pesticides and fertilizers that have been banned around the world because of the dangerous chemicals that they contain. The plants may have also been exposed to herbicides that are used by law enforcement agencies and military personnel around the world to eradicate drug farms and plantations. Organic and chemically synthesized drugs including cocaine and methamphetamine may have been processed with toxic substances. These chemicals may include ammonia, levamisole, sulfuric acid (drain cleaner), lithium (batteries), methanol/alcohol (gasoline additives), and other household products that can be obtained legally and economically. The toxic chemicals used in the production of these drugs also can affect their level of potency and chemical side effects. Boesler and Lutz (2012) state: “Drugs bought through criminal networks are often cut with contaminants; dealers sell more potent and risky products; and high-risk behaviors such as injecting and needle sharing in unsupervised and unhygienic environments are commonplace” (para.12.) In these conditions the illegal drug user is exposed to chemicals that can cause health risk including cancer, heart and brain damage, and other long-term or fatal disorders. Sharing needles and other drug paraphilia can help spread diseases including HIV/AID and hepatitis. The illegal drug user that wants help for their addiction may feel they cannot risk being arrested by law enforcement or harmed by their drug dealer, so they never seek help for their addiction.
If The United States Stopped the War on Drugs
Ending the war on drugs could save the United States government billions of dollars a year and taxing the sale of drugs could add to the United States budget. Miron and Waldock (2010) state: “…legalizing drugs would save roughly $41.3 billion per year in government expenditure on enforcement of prohibition… drug legalization would yield tax revenue of $46.7 billion annually, assuming legal drugs were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco” (executive summary para.2 and 3.) These savings and the new tax revenue that would come from the sales of these drugs could help fund health care, medical and pharmaceutical research, and better treatment for those that have addiction problems. Millions of people in the United States go without proper health care and some die of preventable illness. Part of the new revenue could be put into funding a government health care program that would not affect the funding of other government programs. The new revenue could also help finance ongoing medical and pharmaceutical research and to study drugs like marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, opiates, and other drugs to see if there is any beneficial components to cure and treat medical and psychiatric illnesses and disorders and to better understand their addictive properties. Legalization would allow addicts to receive treatment for their addictions just like an alcoholic or someone addicted to prescription drugs, without the fear of being arrested by law enforcement or harmed by their drug dealers.
The legalization of drugs would gradually stop the violence that prohibition promotes. Baird (2012/2013) states: “Drugs have little intrinsic value. It’s prohibition that gives an astronomical “price support” to traffickers. The profits are enormous and so are the violence and corruption needed to protect them” (p. 29). Legalizing and taxing drugs would authorize the growing and manufacturing of these drugs by legitimate farmers and manufacturers. This would take the drug business slowly out of the hands of the illegal drug cartels, organized crime, and terrorism organizations. These criminal elements would no longer be able to profit or benefit from the United States and most of the foreign drug trade because growers, manufacturers, and dealers would no longer have to depend on their protection and financing to keep in business. The legalization of drugs would also strength the United States national security. Miron (2009) states: “Prohibition has disastrous implications for national security. By eradicating coca plants in Colombia or poppy fields in Afghanistan, prohibition breeds resentment of the United States. By enriching those who produce and supply drugs, prohibition supports terrorists who sell protection services to drug traffickers” (para.10). If the war on drugs was stopped terrorist would no longer receive protection money from drug growers and manufacturers, and it could possibly create American allies on the war on terrorism.
The legalization of drugs would also allow for the regulation of drug production and safety. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida (2013) states: “{There is} no quality control. When drugs are illegal, the government cannot enact standards of quality, purity or potency. Consequently, street drugs are often contaminated or extremely potent, causing disease and sometimes death to those who use them” (para.11.) Legitimate growers could not use dangerous illegal pesticides and fertilizers to cultivate their crops. Manufacturers could not use dangerous household products in the production of their legalized drugs. Both would be facing finds and even prison time if they did not follow strict guidelines from federal and state regulations. If a person chose to use these legalized substances, they would have the same protection as those that take over-the-counter and prescription drugs and those that drink alcohol.
Conclusion
Just like alcohol and most narcotic prescription drugs, illegal drugs are not without their side effects and/or addiction issues. There are those that can use a substance occasionally for years for recreational purposes and never become addicted to that substance. Others can use a substance once or twice and become completely addicted. This can be found in those that drink alcoholic beverages and those that take prescription drugs. But somehow today certain mood and perception altering substances that once were seen as harmless and beneficial to society are considered more dangerous to the user and must be controlled and made illegal. This reasoning is why the United States started the “War on Drugs” that continues today. The war on drugs has cost American taxpayers trillions of dollars and endangered millions of lives over the forty some years it has been fought. The war on drugs has not stopped the growing and manufacturing of illegal substances. This war has not stopped the importation or exportation of these drugs into the United States and it has not stopped the selling and use of these drugs. It has given violent drug cartels, organized crime, and terrorism organizations around the world control of these substances and taken them out of the hands of the scientific communities and the American public. The war on drugs has made these substances more dangerous to the user because of the way they are grown and produced and has not cured addiction. Those that are addicted to these substances rarely get the drug treatment they need. Those that enter the penal system are exposed to prison violence and overpopulation and are lost in the system. The war on drugs has failed in its mission and must be stopped.
Update on Marijuana Laws 2018: From 1996 to the present, various states have legalized some form of the use of medical and recreational marijuana, including Alaska (medical and recreational), Arkansas (medical), California (medical and recreational), Colorado (medical and recreational), Connecticut (medical), Delaware (medical), Florida (medical), Illinois (medical), Hawaii (medical), Louisiana (medical) Maine (medical and recreational), Maryland (medical), Massachusetts (medical and recreational), Michigan (medical), Minnesota (medical), Montana (medical), Nevada (medical and recreational), New Hampshire (medical), New Jersey (medical), New Mexico (medical), New York (medical), Ohio (medical), Oregon (medical and recreational), Pennsylvania (medical) Rhode Island (medical), Vermont (medical and recreational), and Washington (medical and recreational), plus Washington DC (medical and recreational).
Illegal drugs including cannabis, cocaine, LSD, heroin, and opium were once legal and used for recreational purposes. These drugs were also used in various medical and psychiatric treatments and could be found in everyday products. Gradually overtime what was once legal become illegal. The official war on drugs has been going on for over forty years in the United States and globally. It has cost the United States federal and state governments trillions of dollars in resources and manpower. The resources and manpower are used to control the flow of drugs in and out of the country and to arrest, prosecute, and to imprison those that have broken drug laws. The battle between federal and state law enforcement and the drug manufacturers and growers, drug traffickers, drug dealers, and drug users has cost thousands of law enforcement officers and civilians their lives. These deaths have been both in the United States and other countries. However, after all the financial and human costs, the drugs are still being manufacturers and grown. Drug traffickers and drug dealers are still selling their product and the drug users are still addicted to the drugs. There are other solutions to the war on drugs that may save both money and lives and may get the addicts off drugs.
The War on Drugs
The “war on drugs” has failed to stop the production, sales, and use of illegal drugs but has increased the American prison population and has promoted violence, health hazards, and the spread of disease around the world. Today, the war on drugs is a never ending crusade of wills between the United States government and the drug manufacturers, drug traffickers, drug dealers, and the drug users. The international war on drugs cost the United States billions of dollars every year in resources to prevent the drugs from entering its borders and to keep them off America’s streets. The American taxpayers pay for processing and housing of those in the illegal drug trade that have entered the state and federal court and penal systems. The war on drugs endangers thousands of civilians and law enforcement officers every year in the United States and globally. This is due to altercations between federal, state, and foreign law enforcement agencies, the United States military, and those in the illegal drug trade. Competition between those in the illegal drug trade to produce and sell their products also endangers thousands of lives because of “turf wars.” Those that are arrested for drug use rarely get adequate treatment for their addiction and are exposed to violent criminals in the prison system, creating the possibility of more violent criminals and crime in the future. Even after spending trillions of dollars to combat the drug issue in the United States and beyond and at the price of human life and safety, it still continues with no end. The drugs are still being cultivated, manufactured, sold, and used and enriching the pockets of drug cartels, organized crime, and terrorism organizations. The illegal drug users are still addicted to the drugs and are exposed to violence, health hazards, and disease because of the prohibition on drugs. The prohibition on illegal drugs and their use is not working or helping those addicted to drugs. The war on drugs is a failure.
The History of Drugs in the United States
The position of the United States towards drugs and drug use has not always been so black and white. This viewpoint has had many transitions over the centuries, with conflicting voices. Duke (1995) states: “The idea that government should determine for its people which psychoactive drugs they are free to consume and jail them for using others is a fairly recent arrival in the United States. Except for an occasional fling with prohibition at the state level, Americans were free until 1914 to consume any drugs they chose and to buy from anyone who chose to sell them. Those rights were widely exercised” (p. 571.) Certain drugs that are considered too dangerous today to be legal and available to the public were seen as being harmless and beneficial in the past. Various illegal drugs including cannabis, cocaine, LSD (also called acid), heroin, opium, and methamphetamine were once legal. The recreational use of some of these drugs, were seen as being no different than drinking alcoholic beverages to chemically change mood and perception for the user. These drugs could be even found in everyday products and were not always used just for their potential mood and perception altering side effects. Huebert (2011) states: “For most of U.S. history, all drugs were legal. How legal? As libertarian writer Harry Browne put it, “Few people are aware that before World War I, a 9-year-old girl could walk into a drug store and buy heroin.” In fact, before Bayer sold aspirin, it sold Heroin™ as a “sedative for coughs…”(para.2.) These substances and the products they were in were believed to be safe enough that both adults and children could use them without dangerous side effects. These drugs were also utilized for medical and psychiatric purposes. People were prescribed them by their doctor or psychiatrist to assist them with various medical and psychiatric illnesses and disorders. The scientific, medical, and psychiatric communities studied them and believed that they could be present and future answers to certain illnesses and disorders.
Overtime the war on drugs stopped the recreational use of these drugs and discontinued or slowed the study of these substances and any present or future benefits they may have contributed to society. It took them out of the hands of the American public that once were trusted to use them. It also took most of these substances out of the hands of the scientific, medical, and psychiatric communities. Drugs that were allowed to be studied and used by science were placed under heavy rules and regulations. The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) was put into place in 1970 and has gradually strengthened control over drugs deemed illegal in the United States. The Drug Enforcement Admiration’s Controlled Substance Schedules (2012) states: “Schedule I Controlled Substances have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse. Some examples of substances listed in Schedule I are: heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana (cannabis), peyote, methaqualone, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (“Ecstasy”)” (para.4.) The war on drugs has slowing created a billion dollar black market. It has put these illegal drugs in the hands of dangerous drug cartels, organized crime, and terrorism organizations, taking them out of the hands of law abiding American citizens and the scientific communities.
The Financial and Human Cost of the War on Drugs
Becker and Murphy (2013) state: “President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs” in 1971. The expectation then was that drug trafficking in the United States could be greatly reduced in a short time through federal policing—and yet the war on drugs continues to this day” (para.1.) The official war on drugs in the United States has been going on for over forty years, costing federal and state governments trillions of dollars with little positive results. The various major drug trades including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine continue to grow and manufacture their products in the United States or other countries and sell it to American and foreign users. The importation and exportation of illegal drugs involves both non-dangerous mom and pop growers and manufacturers and extremely dangerous drug cartels. These drug cartels have ties to organized crime, the illegal gun trade, human trafficking, and terrorist groups around the world.
The Office National Drug Control Policy (2012) states: “Drug trafficking organizations and associated criminal groups pose a persistent and dangerous threat to communities across the United States” (para.2.) Federal and state law enforcement agencies must have the resources and manpower to control the flow of drugs into the United States from other countries, which may also include illegal guns and modern day slaves. State and local law enforcement agencies must control the growing and manufacturing of drugs and the conflicts between those in the drug trades. This is both to keep the public safe and to try to control the sale and use of drugs. The United States taxpayer pays for the surveillance, arrests, prosecution and public defense, housing, and medical and dental care of those that have broken drug laws. Branson (2012) states: “About 40,000 people were in U.S. jails and prisons for drug crimes in 1980, compared with more than 500,000 today. Excessively long prison sentences and locking up people for small drug offenses contribute greatly to this ballooning of the prison population… A Pew study says it costs the U.S. an average of $30,000 a year to incarcerate an inmate, but the nation spends only an average $11,665 per public school student”(Para. 10 and 14.) Without proper drug addiction treatment both inside and outside the prison system, a number of drug offenders are rearrested and put back into the legal system.
The non-violent drug offenders are affected negatively by the war on drugs. Those that are prosecuted for non-violent drug possession are put into the prison system with criminals that have committed murder, rape, armed robbery, and other violent crimes. The non-violent drug offenders are exposed to the prison lifestyle and other criminality. Prison life includes isolation, over population, and physical and sexual assault. Even if there is a drug treatment available in the prison setting the stresses of prison life and violence and the availability of smuggled drugs into the prison system may affect its outcome. Garland (2006) States: “Overcrowding, cruel conditions and a lack of constructive activities for inmates fuel violence in America’s prisons and threaten public safety because most inmates return to their communities ill-prepared for daily life…”(para.1.) After release, the non-violent drug offender may repeat their drug addiction or commit other crimes that might include violent acts learned in prison. The over population of the United States’ prison system also allows the release of violent offenders before non-violent offenders because of mandatory sentences for drug possession. These mandatory laws endanger the public when violent offenders are released before non-violent offenders to relieve a prison’s overpopulation.
The illegal drug user is also negatively affected by the war on drugs even if they never become part of the court and prison systems or the victim of the illegal drug trade’s violence. The illegal drugs that are sold to the user have no regulations in their cultivation or production. The plant based substances in illegal drugs may have been grown with illegal and toxic pesticides and fertilizers that have been banned around the world because of the dangerous chemicals that they contain. The plants may have also been exposed to herbicides that are used by law enforcement agencies and military personnel around the world to eradicate drug farms and plantations. Organic and chemically synthesized drugs including cocaine and methamphetamine may have been processed with toxic substances. These chemicals may include ammonia, levamisole, sulfuric acid (drain cleaner), lithium (batteries), methanol/alcohol (gasoline additives), and other household products that can be obtained legally and economically. The toxic chemicals used in the production of these drugs also can affect their level of potency and chemical side effects. Boesler and Lutz (2012) state: “Drugs bought through criminal networks are often cut with contaminants; dealers sell more potent and risky products; and high-risk behaviors such as injecting and needle sharing in unsupervised and unhygienic environments are commonplace” (para.12.) In these conditions the illegal drug user is exposed to chemicals that can cause health risk including cancer, heart and brain damage, and other long-term or fatal disorders. Sharing needles and other drug paraphilia can help spread diseases including HIV/AID and hepatitis. The illegal drug user that wants help for their addiction may feel they cannot risk being arrested by law enforcement or harmed by their drug dealer, so they never seek help for their addiction.
If The United States Stopped the War on Drugs
Ending the war on drugs could save the United States government billions of dollars a year and taxing the sale of drugs could add to the United States budget. Miron and Waldock (2010) state: “…legalizing drugs would save roughly $41.3 billion per year in government expenditure on enforcement of prohibition… drug legalization would yield tax revenue of $46.7 billion annually, assuming legal drugs were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco” (executive summary para.2 and 3.) These savings and the new tax revenue that would come from the sales of these drugs could help fund health care, medical and pharmaceutical research, and better treatment for those that have addiction problems. Millions of people in the United States go without proper health care and some die of preventable illness. Part of the new revenue could be put into funding a government health care program that would not affect the funding of other government programs. The new revenue could also help finance ongoing medical and pharmaceutical research and to study drugs like marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, opiates, and other drugs to see if there is any beneficial components to cure and treat medical and psychiatric illnesses and disorders and to better understand their addictive properties. Legalization would allow addicts to receive treatment for their addictions just like an alcoholic or someone addicted to prescription drugs, without the fear of being arrested by law enforcement or harmed by their drug dealers.
The legalization of drugs would gradually stop the violence that prohibition promotes. Baird (2012/2013) states: “Drugs have little intrinsic value. It’s prohibition that gives an astronomical “price support” to traffickers. The profits are enormous and so are the violence and corruption needed to protect them” (p. 29). Legalizing and taxing drugs would authorize the growing and manufacturing of these drugs by legitimate farmers and manufacturers. This would take the drug business slowly out of the hands of the illegal drug cartels, organized crime, and terrorism organizations. These criminal elements would no longer be able to profit or benefit from the United States and most of the foreign drug trade because growers, manufacturers, and dealers would no longer have to depend on their protection and financing to keep in business. The legalization of drugs would also strength the United States national security. Miron (2009) states: “Prohibition has disastrous implications for national security. By eradicating coca plants in Colombia or poppy fields in Afghanistan, prohibition breeds resentment of the United States. By enriching those who produce and supply drugs, prohibition supports terrorists who sell protection services to drug traffickers” (para.10). If the war on drugs was stopped terrorist would no longer receive protection money from drug growers and manufacturers, and it could possibly create American allies on the war on terrorism.
The legalization of drugs would also allow for the regulation of drug production and safety. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida (2013) states: “{There is} no quality control. When drugs are illegal, the government cannot enact standards of quality, purity or potency. Consequently, street drugs are often contaminated or extremely potent, causing disease and sometimes death to those who use them” (para.11.) Legitimate growers could not use dangerous illegal pesticides and fertilizers to cultivate their crops. Manufacturers could not use dangerous household products in the production of their legalized drugs. Both would be facing finds and even prison time if they did not follow strict guidelines from federal and state regulations. If a person chose to use these legalized substances, they would have the same protection as those that take over-the-counter and prescription drugs and those that drink alcohol.
Conclusion
Just like alcohol and most narcotic prescription drugs, illegal drugs are not without their side effects and/or addiction issues. There are those that can use a substance occasionally for years for recreational purposes and never become addicted to that substance. Others can use a substance once or twice and become completely addicted. This can be found in those that drink alcoholic beverages and those that take prescription drugs. But somehow today certain mood and perception altering substances that once were seen as harmless and beneficial to society are considered more dangerous to the user and must be controlled and made illegal. This reasoning is why the United States started the “War on Drugs” that continues today. The war on drugs has cost American taxpayers trillions of dollars and endangered millions of lives over the forty some years it has been fought. The war on drugs has not stopped the growing and manufacturing of illegal substances. This war has not stopped the importation or exportation of these drugs into the United States and it has not stopped the selling and use of these drugs. It has given violent drug cartels, organized crime, and terrorism organizations around the world control of these substances and taken them out of the hands of the scientific communities and the American public. The war on drugs has made these substances more dangerous to the user because of the way they are grown and produced and has not cured addiction. Those that are addicted to these substances rarely get the drug treatment they need. Those that enter the penal system are exposed to prison violence and overpopulation and are lost in the system. The war on drugs has failed in its mission and must be stopped.
Update on Marijuana Laws 2018: From 1996 to the present, various states have legalized some form of the use of medical and recreational marijuana, including Alaska (medical and recreational), Arkansas (medical), California (medical and recreational), Colorado (medical and recreational), Connecticut (medical), Delaware (medical), Florida (medical), Illinois (medical), Hawaii (medical), Louisiana (medical) Maine (medical and recreational), Maryland (medical), Massachusetts (medical and recreational), Michigan (medical), Minnesota (medical), Montana (medical), Nevada (medical and recreational), New Hampshire (medical), New Jersey (medical), New Mexico (medical), New York (medical), Ohio (medical), Oregon (medical and recreational), Pennsylvania (medical) Rhode Island (medical), Vermont (medical and recreational), and Washington (medical and recreational), plus Washington DC (medical and recreational).
References:
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida (2013). Against drug prohibition. ACLU of Florida. Retrieved from: http://www.aclufl.org/take_action/download_resources/info_papers/19.cfm?print=true
Baird, V (2012 / 2013). Long and violent “war on drugs” has been a colossal failure. CCPA Monitor, 19(7), 28-29. Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com.glacier.sou.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=15&sid=d0633c7a-929b-4407-9217-0123e448ad73%40sessionmgr11&hid=26
Becker, G, Murphy, K (2013). Have we lost the war on drugs? The Wall Street Journal-Eastern, 260(160), C1-C2. Retrieved from: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324374004578217682305605070.html
Boesler, M, Lutz, A (2012). 32 Reasons why we need to end the war on drugs. Business Insider. Retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com/32-reasons-why-we-need-to-end-the-war-on-drugs-2012-7?op=1
Branson, R (2012). War on drugs a trillion-dollar failure. Special to CNN. Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/opinion/branson-end-war-on-drugs/index.html
Duke, S.B., (1995). Drug prohibition: an unnatural disaster. Faculty Scholarship Series. 27, 571.Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/812/
Drug Enforcement Admiration (2012). Controlled substance schedules. The Justice Department. Retrieved from: http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/schedules/index.html#define
Garland, G (2006). U.S. prisons called risk to lives. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved from: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2006-06-08/news/0606080061_1_america-prisons-violence-inmate
Global Commission on Drug Policy (2012). The war on drugs and HIV/AIDS: how the criminalization of drug use fuels the global pandemic. Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. Retrieved from: http://globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/themes/gcdp_v1/pdf/GCDP_HIV AIDS_2012_REFERENCE.pdf
Huebert, J.H, (2011). When all drugs were legal. Retrieved from: http://www.lewrockwell.com
Miron, J, (2009). Commentary: legalize drugs to stop violence. CNN. Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/24/miron.legalization.drugs/index.html
Miron, J, Waldock, K (2010). The budgetary impact of ending drug prohibition. CATO Institute. Retrieved from: http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/DrugProhibitionWP.pdf
The Office National Drug Control Policy (2012). Law enforcement and criminal justice reform. The White House. Retrieved from: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/law-enforcement-and-criminal-justice-reform
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