Caydn Mulligan
English 10b Period 1 & 2
Mr. Sheffield
Oct. 04 2008
Researching The Prison System: Drugs and Drug Offenses
According to the American Corrections Association, the average daily cost per state prison inmate per day in the US is $67.55. State prisons held 249,400 inmates for drug offenses in 2006. That means it cost states approximately $16,846,970 per day to imprison drug offenders, or $6,149,144,050 per year. No wonder America is in such debt. We can barely control our own country, let alone Middle East countries. These numbers are because of how widely known and how widely used these drugs are. And because we know how useful and beneficial our pharmaceutical medicines are and we know how illegal the other forms or drugs are, this is a very broad topic. A drug, easily speaking, is any chemical substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in medicine, government regulations, and overall usage.
There are two main types of drugs, medicines and recreational drugs. A medication or medicine is a drug taken to cure or help any symptoms of an illness or medical condition, or may be used as preventive medicine that has future benefits but does not treat any existing or pre-existing diseases or symptoms. Recreational drugs use is the use of psychoactive substances to have fun, for the experience, or to enhance an already positive experience. National laws prohibit the use of many different recreational drugs and medicinal drugs that have the potential for recreational use are heavily regulated. Many other recreational drugs on the other hand are legal, widely accepted, and at the most have an age restriction on using and/or purchasing them. These include alcohol, tobacco, betel nut, and caffeine products.
The jail times, and court issued fines and charges vary for all drugs and the amount, type, and...