Drug Use, Crime, and the Hedonism Theory: Exploring the Criminal Justice Challenge

Abstract

Drug Use, The Criminal Justice System, and the Theory of Hedonism Introduction Drug use is a critical challenge in the United States that has created political and criminal justice debates. Drugs affect the individuals involved in these practices as well as their family members, the community, and the healthcare systems. Consequently, local, state, and federal laws have been aimed at lowering the use of illegal substances as a way of improving the welfare of communities (Schuler et al., 2019). This project demonstrates that drug use is a criminal justice issue that affects how the system meets the needs of the community and improves people’s lives. The role of the criminal justice system is to deter crimes and drugs have become a key challenge to the accomplishment of this goal in the United States. People involved in drug use are likely to experience mental and psychological episodes that increase the likelihood of committing crimes. The social economic effects of drugs may increase crime rates in communities where this behavior is a problem (Csete, 2019). Through the hedonism theory of morality, pleasure is a key motivation to use drugs and pain is the deterring factor. The pleasure derived from drug use is a motivation for people to use these substances and related the behavior to criminal justice in the United States. I will support my claim by describing the social justice topic of drug use, describing the ethical theory of hedonism, applying the ethical theory to the social justice topic, and evaluating the theory as it applies to this social justice problem. Identification and Description Drug Use in Relation to Criminal Justice One of the most complicated issues of social justice in the United States is drug use especially in relation to the criminal justice system. Drug use affects millions of people in the country and this makes it challenging for communities to grow and meet their social needs (Volkow et al., 2017). In response to the increasing drug-related challenges in the United States, communities have taken measures to improve the quality of lives for the families. This includes the provision of support for affected people and family members, lowering the access to drugs, and treating the effects of drug abuse (Volkow et al., 2017). Moreover, the government has targeted the most affected areas and communities in the country with the goal of assisting the victims recover from the effects of their drug use. With the increase in the diversity of solutions available to the government as well as the communities where drug problems are apparent, this issue becomes essential to the criminal justice system. The relationship between drug use and criminal justice is related to the measures taken by local, state, and federal governments to control the use of drugs. American laws on drugs include the classification of substances based on the potential benefits and the impacts on the users. The drug scheduling system by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) guides the laws made to reduce the effects of abuse (Winkelman et al., 2018). Substances with the greatest potential harms on the users are classified as the most dangerous in Schedule I and could attract serious punishments. Additionally, the substances have no accepted medical advantage to the users and their use could cause significant effects on the body (Volkow et al., 2017). They include heroin, cannabis, extasy, and peyote. People found in possession of these drugs are likely to be using them or having the intention to distribute them to other users. Schedule II drugs have a high potential of abuse and include a range of substances including Ritalin, oxycodone, methamphetamine, and cocaine (Csete, 2019). Drugs classified in Schedule II include anabolic steroids and testosterone which have lower risks of abuse compared to the other substances. Schedule IV and V drugs have the very low potentials of being abused and these two classes are not viewed as posing dangers to the communities. Therefore, the criminal justice system is modelled to abide to the regulations associated with the impacts of the drugs on the community. These align to the implications and the risks that each of the drugs have on American citizens and the penalties for possession may vary depending on the substance. For people found to traffic or sell drugs with the greatest risks of abuse, the penalties may be more severe compared to the users with lower risks of abusing the drugs (Gottfredson, Kearley, & Bushway, 2017). This makes the criminal justice system a key player on the issue of drugs and the effects they have on the people. With effective legal and justice systems, the individuals trafficking and selling the drugs can be apprehended and prevented from selling illegal substances to the American people (Schuler et al., 2019). Additionally, the state and local laws may be modeled to direct resources based on how the problem of drug use affects the citizens. Among the issues faced by the community is the risk of the users being involved in activities that could harm the public. This makes drug use be a critical issue to the criminal justice system in a different way related to ensuring that users do not harm the public or themselves. Effects of drug use are closely related to mental and psychological problems that arise as episodes of irrational behavior or long-term mental health implications. These effects of drugs have the potential to affect how people relate with their family members, close friends, and the public in general. For instance, a key challenge associated with drug use is the neglect of family members including children. The criminal justice system has to involve experts on the social justice issue when investigating cases of child neglect or abuse (Schuler et al., 2019). Moreover, drugs make users susceptible to violence and likely to be involved in criminal acts associated with the state of drug use or the long-term social-economic effects of addiction. The responsibility of the criminal justice system lies in the protection of people susceptible to acts of violence associated with the drugs and potential victims. The criminal justice system has to deal with the implications of the illegal substances to the members of the community and people at risk of being victims. In addition to the mental effects on people in the community, the criminal justice system is involved in the implications of drug use and illegal substances on the individuals already incarcerated for criminal activities. Majority of the Americans receiving rehabilitation services associated with drug addiction get these services from the prison systems (Gottfredson et al., 2019). The justice system has the responsibility of ensuring that people arrested with drug problems return to the community as members willing to be accommodated to the society. Among the challenges that the people may face include the continued access to rehabilitation and mental health services after leaving prison. Upon the completion of sentences, Americans face challenges continuing to access healthcare services they received in prison (Schuler et al., 2019). Their criminal records may bar them from getting jobs and even prevent them from joining institutions that may support them into becoming better citizens. It is the responsibility of the criminal justice system to ensure that the society has sufficient resources to meet the needs of ex-convict especially when they have a history of drug use (Csete, 2019). Individuals in the criminal justice system should align the needs of the American people with the challenges the people encounter in the community. With drug use being a significant issue in the system, the allocation of resources to meet the peoples’ needs is critical. Identification and Description of Hedonism The theory of hedonism developed in the fourth and third centuries B.C. and emphasizes on the pursuit of happiness. It was developed and promoted by Aristippus of Cyrene in line with the teachings of Socrates. As his disciple, Aristippus followed major teachings of the philosopher but his work emphasized on the relationship between happiness and morality. According to the theorist, the promotion of one’s feelings and morality are closely related factors that should guide the rules of social justice (Williams, 2018). While Socrates demonstrated a range of other factors that define morality, Aristippus of Cyrene wanted to show that the pursuit for pleasure is sufficient to define morality among individuals in a community. The Greek Philosopher wanted to demonstrate that material and sensual pleasures add up to human happiness and are the key pursuit for emotional decisions (Gottfredson et al., 2019). Therefore, he showed that these decisions should be the sum for making decisions on the moral actions and choices the people make. With physical pleasures being the drivers of actions that people take, the social justice system should attempt to understand these aspects of pleasure in relation to issues in the community. In philosophy, hedonism is closely related to the values that contribute to the good life of an individual. Happiness is the result of a person’s satisfaction with their lives, their decisions, and the choices that contribute to the consequences they face in life. An individual’s pain and pleasure are much broader than the immediate consequences of their actions and decisions (Gottfredson et al., 2019). A person may achieve full happiness only when all the factors of pain and pleasure are considered. While the theory has faced opposition based on its immediate implications, hedonists have defended their view by advocating for a broader sense of the idea of happiness. For an individual to achieve the maximum pleasure, they must invest their resources in both the long-term and the short-term consequences of their actions. The application of hedonism in social justice follows this perspective and focusses on the long-term implications of human actions and decisions that people make in the community. Application of Hedonism to Drug Use The application of this theory to the issue of morality could demonstrate the way forward for communities and individuals involved in drug use. Additionally, the theory’s perspective could shed light on the relationship between drug use and criminal justice issues in the United States. The application of Hedonism as a theory related to drug use should consider the effects of these practices and behavior on the pain and pleasure of the stakeholders involved. This involves the people involved in the drug use, the traffickers, family members of the users, the criminal justice system, and the members of the public. Hedonism seeks to identify how people seek different pleasures and the effect they have on the society. Morality is defined by the total sum of the pain and the pleasures caused by an action and the reactions resulting from people’s choices. This makes this theory essential in understanding the...