The House I Live By President Nixon - 1186 Words

In the beginning of the documentary, The House I Live In, President Nixon gives a speech declaring, â€Å"America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive† In 1971, this speech made Preside Nixon the first president to ever declare a â€Å"war on drugs† in America. He fought by battling, both the supply and demand for drugs. Karst J. Besteman (1989) describes this â€Å"war† as a â€Å"strong initiative against drug dealers and expansion of drug treatment facilities† (p. 290). The beginning of Nixon’s â€Å"war† was focused on providing treatment and rehabilitation, after the creation of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in 1973, the focal point of the†¦show more content†¦The problem is millions of dollars is being spent on â€Å"drug enforcement from prisons, probation officers, judges, narcotics† (Jarecki, 2 012) however drugs is still on our streets, it is still a major problem in the United States because the demand for it is high. The documentary shows that people get into selling drugs because it provides an income that allows the individuals to pay their bills and still have nice luxurious items, basically the benefit outweighs the cost. As stated in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, â€Å"The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being†¦with particular needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed and living in poverty.† (NASW Code of Ethics, preamble). From the documentary, many of the people that was interviewed was either living in poverty and/or oppressed, from a social worker perspective understanding that the â€Å"war on drugs† has increased incarceration rates within the United States, which has affected mostly poor African-American neighborhoods. As a social worker we can a dvocate, on a macro level, for all who is affected through education and fighting to change the laws. Laws such as, the mandatory minimum sentencing, which has â€Å"deprived judges of flexibility to tailor punishment in individual cases† (Cassell Luna, 2011 p. 219) from the documentary, a man was looking at a minimum twenty-five years, his sentencing would be