Cannabis Use Policy in the USA and Netherlands and Its Implication for Essay

Cannabis Use Policy in the USA and Netherlands and Its Implication for Policy Change in the UK - Essay Example Research studies on cannabis use policies have revealed that easing up on the penalties for using cannabis does not influence the use of other drugs nor does it change people’s outlooks towards the use of drugs. The research studies go on to illustrate that removing the penalties for cannabis use do not sway overall drug use, instead, it diminishes harm on cannabis users (Institute of Medicine 1999, p. 102). As a result, more countries are liberalizing their cannabis use policies and controlling its supply by putting structures in place to monitor drug use. Several states in the USA and Netherlands have adopted such policy changes in which marijuana use has been liberalized. Individuals who use marijuana in small no longer face criminal charges for possession and use of marijuana. Those in possession of large amounts are still liable to be prosecuted. They have, however, placed caps on the maximum amount of marijuana that an individual can possess at any given time. Cannabis is a drug produced from the Cannabis sativa plant and can be used in either of three forms; flower tops; leaves; and herbs. The three forms can then be processed into forms that make them easier to use. It is the most widely used drug globally (Villatoro 2009, p. 287). Cannabis international control was discussed in the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime 1961 single convention on Narcotics Drugs in which many governments signed the convention to make cannabis an illegal drug. It is important to note that despite cannabis possession and use being liberalized in some countries, no country has ever legalized cannabis use and possession. The only respite provided for cannabis users is that formal penalties for use of small amounts of cannabis, that are used personally, have been removed (Robin et al. 2010, p. 24; Spruit 2002, pp. 119-141).

Presidential Candidate Essay Example for Free

Presidential Candidate Essay Given the challenges of American society today, citizens shall now have the opportunity to showcase the facets of democracy and vote for the candidate that can help and create a better future for the country. With various differences and stand in one particular issue, it can be ascertained that the decisions of each person must come from the roots of each concern as it balances out the possibilities of improving their lives. In the end, it is still up to the public to decide which contender shall be appropriate and fit to rule the United States of America. The Choice  In choosing between the mainstream nominees John McCain and Barack Obama, one must look at their relative platforms and how they plan to achieve it. Addressing the important issues surrounding society today remains to be my main interest as I go out and practice my right. In my own personal opinion and after reading their respective programs, I feel that I will choose Mr. Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States. This primarily is due to his efforts to guide our country into a new direction facing the 21st century challenges with a raised head and determination to succeed. Why Obama? Similarly, I feel that his policies are redirected towards the pursuit of equalizing and redistribution. Obama seeks to harmonize the relationship between the American classes by proposing initiatives that is deemed to be more fair and transparent in nature. Likewise, he proposes that the government shall accommodate the needs of every Americans ranging from education, healthcare, economy, jobs, etc. Amidst the daunting challenges in today’s economy and way of life, Obama showcases an aura that hope and transformation is still possible. Impeding Issues With his election into office, there are numerous initiatives that Barack Obama shall address. First, he must cater to the current economic recession happening in the country. He must make proposals that will help boos the market and recuperate from this setback. Second, he also should focus on helping many jobless Americans get employment. Due to the rising cost of living, there must be action plans that will aide these individuals. Lastly, another important issue that must be tackled involves the issue of healthcare. Since the end of the 20th century, there has been a constant decline in the facilitation of related care. This has been caused by the rising cost of expenses incurred by the increasing number of retirees in the country. Models of Change Obama, if elected, shall cater to jumpstart the economy by providing several proposals he sees fit to cater the needs of Americans today. The first process involves lessening the tax given for working families. In here, â€Å"they will create a new Making Work Pay tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family† (BarackObama. com, 2008, p. 1). This tax relief seeks to shoulder the increasing expenses and help alleviate these people’s lives. The next process involves providing tax incentives. This particularly shall be applied to small and startup businesses by the elimination of taxes associated with new businesses to help encourage and revitalize job creation and innovation (BarackObama. com, 2008). Lastly, he seeks to promote and enhance trading practices among Americans. By adhering ethical standards within the market and companies, American can exhaust good labor opportunities and the promotion of a cleaner working environment (BarackObama. com, 2008). Another important process that Obama seeks to look into is the American tax system. He sees the need to make the processes fair and equal among citizens. He focuses on the important factors associated with the practice such as responsibility and accountability. By ensuring that these things are applied, policy differences can be seen. With this, â€Å"his tax plan will help restore bottom-up economic growth that helps create good jobs in America and empowers all families achieve the American dream† (BarackObama. com, 2008, p. 1). At the same time, the issue of healthcare shall be refocused and revitalize to suit the current needs of the American population. He plans to provide affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, builds on the existing healthcare system, and uses existing providers† (BarackObama. com, 2008, p. 1). Moreover, there is the strategy to lower the costs associated with healthcare. Obama seeks to use these payments to invest in greater opportunities wherein the services shall be enhanced and developed (BarackObama. com, 2008). Also, his desire to instill the notion that ‘prevention is better than cure’ is done by encouraging American awareness towards public health. Conclusion: What is it for workers? To conclude the election of Barack Obama shall be beneficial for workers in the United States. With his election into the White House, there can be changes in the way the government is facilitating care and protection among these group. Likewise, it shall seek to eradicate the inequalities happening within American society. His programs; aimed at redistribution and fairness, shall be a catalyst for the improvements in life by the working class. With all of these, Barack Obama shall transcend and lead the country to the New Hope he promises.

Roaring Twenties Essay -- American History 1920s

The Roaring Twenties The decade of 1920-1929 was a time of great change, reform, improvement, adjustment and alteration of everything Americans had come to rely on. In other words everything changed. Not one part of common life was unaffected. Exciting new events happened in sports, entertainment, science, politics, communication and transportation. It was the age of prohibition, it was the age of prosperity, and it was the age of downfall. The twenties were the age of everything. It has been called the decade of enjoyment, employment, and for some, disappointment. The 20's were a decade to remember and it had an impact on the people living through it. During the 1920s the United States was in an economic high point. Following World War I people had more money to spend due to the wartime boom in the economy. People were able to buy products on credit, and pay small installments later. This process allowed people more freedom to purchase items, such as refrigerators, radios, and cars, when previously they had not been able to. The 1920s got its reputation as the â€Å"Roaring Twenties† from the economy in part because the economy was booming, and people were purchasing products on credit and stocks on margin. All this exchange of currency created a boom era or a â€Å"Roaring† period of time. In sports, athletes were being identified as heroes for the first time in history. This was the time of great athletes such as Babe Ruth. American Football reached the professional leagu...

My Favourite Book Essay

My favourite book is â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea† by Ernest Hemingway. This story is one of the well-known works of the writer. The author depicts the characters of the old man and the boy and their relations very vividly and skillfully. Santiago, the old man, was one of the writer’s beloved characters. The old man was a born fisherman, but he was not a butcher and fished only for a living. He was very lonely. He had a devoted friend – the boy, Manolin. The boy loved the old man for his kind heart, his devotion to the sea. Manolin was like a son to Santiago. He took care of the old man’s food and his belongings. The old man was glad to pass his experience to the boy. He looked forward to going to the sea together with the boy. All Santiago’s life had been in preparation for the battle with big fish. He knew that he had been born for this and it was time to prove it. A strong man at last had met a strong fish. The battle was a difficult one and full of danger. Though the sharks had eaten the fish and nothing had left but the backbone, the old man had morally won the battle. Santiago’s words â€Å"man can be destroyed but not defeated† are the main idea of this story. â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea† is a masterpiece for its imaginative language and the description of nature.

A Study on Risk Management in Banking Industry Essay

Risk management is relatively new and emerging practice as far as Indian banks are concerned and has been proved that it’s a mirror of efficient corporate governance of a financial institution. Globalization and significant competition between foreign and domestic banks, survival and optimizing returns are very crucial for banks and financial institutions. However, selecting the efficient customer and providing innovative and value added financial products and services are another paramount factors. In a volatile and dynamic market place for achieving sustainable business growth and shareholder’s value, it is essential to develop a link between risks and rewards of all products and services of the bank. Hence, the banks should have efficient risk management framework to mitigate all internal and external risks. The objective of this study is to envisage ideal framework of bank-wide risk management for Indian Banks. The presence of accurate measures of bank-wide risk management practice increase shareholder’s returns and allows the risk-taking behavior of bank to be more closely aligned with strategic objectives. Bank-wide risk management practice should aim to enhance the drivers of shareholder’s value such as: – 0 Growth; 1 Risk adjusted performance measurement; 2 Consistency of earnings; and 3 Quality and transparency of management. The important steps of the efficient framework of banking concern should ensure all risks are identified, prioritized, quantified, controlled and managed in order to achieve an optimal risk-reward profile. This entails ideal and dedicated coordination of risk management across the bank’s various business units. However, the approach to monitoring and enforcing the adherence of business units within the bank may vary. The factors that influence this decision are: – 4 The feasibility decisions of the business unit. Â  5 The regulatory requirements in respect of the business unit. 6 The cost of effective monitoring and controlling steps. Risk management is a line function that needs to be addressed by each individual cost center and business unit. However, a centralized bank-wide risk management framework has certain advantages for the Bank. The advantages are: – 7 Improving capital efficiency by providing an objective basis for allocating resources reducing expenditures on immaterial risks and exploring natural hedges and portfolio effects; 8 Supporting informed decision making by uncovering areas of high potential adverse impact on drivers of share value, and identifying and exploiting areas of risk-based advantage context. 9 Building investor confidence by establishing a process to stabilize results by protecting them from disturbances, and demonstrating proactive risk stewardship 10 Define cost and profitability centers 11 Profitability and cost allocation on customer, product, services and branch wide Most of the banks do not have dedicated risk management team, policy, procedures and framework in place. Those banks have risk management department, the risk manager’s role is restricted to pre-fact and post-fact analysis of customer’s credit and there is no segregation of credit, market, operational and strategic risks. There are few banks have articulated framework and risk quantification. However, the outputs are far from the stressed or actual losses due to usage of un-compatible implications. The traditional lending practices, assessment of credits, handling of market risks *, treasury functionality and culture of risk-rewards are hauls of public sector banks. Where as private sector banks and financial institutions are some-what better in this context. The sheer size and wide coverage of banks is a big hurdle to integrate and generate a cost effective real time operational data for mapping the risks. Most of the financial institutions processes are encircled to ‘functional silos’ follows bureaucratic structure and yet to come up with a transparent and appropriate corporate governance structure to achieve the stated strategic objectives. CONCLUSION There are many banks like HSBC, Citibank, Deutsche bank have bank-wide risk management practice which contributed in their global success whereas banks and institutions like Sumitomo Corp, Barings, Bank of America, CSFB and UTI have failed due to lack of efficient bank-wide risk management practice (compliance and operational risks). So the above comments emphasis the necessity of having bank-wide risk management to achieve the stated strategic objectives in a competitive, volatile and dynamic market conditions in an emerging Indian economy. We believe the above-described bank-wide risk management framework is easy workable, cost effective and efficient process without any hassles or hurdles of high-tech tools and techniques

The Indispensable Get

The Indispensable Get The Indispensable Get The Indispensable Get By Maeve Maddox I’ve been amusing myself lately by eavesdropping on people, listening for the use of the word get. I’ve concluded that get is as necessary to English speakers as the verb to be. The most common synonyms for the verb get are receive, obtain, and buy: I get the daily paper. (receive) Next month I will get my first raise in salary. (obtain) He got a 45† television set at the auction. (bought) In his sonnet â€Å"The World is Too Much With Us† Wordsworth uses get in the sense of â€Å"to accumulate wealth†: The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; The verb get has so many additional meanings that I wonder how ESL learners sort them all out. For example, used with the preposition on, get can have at least four different meanings: How are you getting on with your studies? (managing, progressing) Sallie gets on with her mother-in-law. (has a good relationship) At 93, Mr. Biggs is really getting on. (becoming older) Stop obsessing about the past and get on with your life. (continue) Here are a few more uses of get: Don’t get so nervous when you have an interview. (become) How do you get to Carnegie Hall? (reach, arrive at) I can’t get used to your new hairdo. (become accustomed to) So he mispronounced your name; get over it. (forget it, let it go). Now that everyone is in town, let’s get together for dinner. (meet) I know that losing your best friend is difficult, but you’ll get through it. (survive, overcome) I want my neighbor to get rid of his vicious dog. (dispose of) She’s trapped in a dead-end job and wants to get out. (escape) We hope to get away this weekend. (travel, go somewhere else) I’ve tried and tried to master algebra, but I just don’t get it. (understand) Then there are the imperatives with get: Get busy! Get a move on! (Hurry up.) Get lost! (Stop bothering me and go away!) And these two, which have different meanings according to the context: Get out! Get out of here! These expressions can mean â€Å"go away, leave my presence,† as in â€Å"Get out! I never want to see you again,† or â€Å"Get out of here! The dam is about to burst.† Or they can be slang expressions of disbelief: â€Å"You pay only $600 a month for an apartment in Manhattan? Get out of here!† Listen for get in your own speech for a day. You may be surprised by how often you use it. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:70 Idioms with HeartWhat's a Male Mistress?Woof or Weft?

204 Week 1 Individual Paper Essays

Cja/204 Week 1 Individual Paper Essays Cja/204 Week 1 Individual Paper Essay Cja/204 Week 1 Individual Paper Essay Criminal Justice System CJA/204 July 25, 2011 Criminal Justice System Crime is a part of society’s daily routine. Crime can directly affect a person, place, or any witnesses of the said incident. Crime is defined as â€Å"conduct in violation of the criminal laws of the state, the federal government, or a local jurisdiction, for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse. † (Defining Crime, 2011) Crime is usually categorized as either a property or personal crime. Personal crimes include crimes of violence such as murder and robbery. With a personal crime you will have a perpetrator and a victim. Property crimes are just that, crimes against a piece of property where there is no use or threat of force against a person. The most common crime types are violent crimes, white collar and corporate crime, organized crime, and victimless crime. The first line of defense against crime lays with law enforcement personnel. Law enforcement is the first part of what makes up our criminal justice system. The criminal justice system has three main components including police, courts, and corrections. Police have an unending battle against crime, drugs, and other forms of social dysfunction. The police main duty is to protect the public; however the relationship between law enforcement and the public community is sometimes troubled. Some of the duties of law enforcement are to investigate law violations, gather evidence, make arrests, solve crimes, and then assist with the successful prosecution of suspects. Upon the law enforcement officer making an arrest the case is then presented to the court system. The district attorney office handles most cases of the criminal nature, besides some misdemeanor crimes such as minor traffic violations. Law enforcement usually develop a good working relationship with their local district attorney’s office which promotes quality officer related testimony and helps to lead to the successful prosecution of suspects. All suspects however are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Additionally, the accused have certain rights that must be adhered to. The include the right to speedy trial, the right to legal counsel, the right against self incrimination, the right not to be ried twice for the same crime, the right to know their charges, the right to have witnesses cross examined, and the right against excessive bail being placed. The court system is where an accused person is either convicted of the accused crime or found not guilty. There are many different levels of courts in the United States, but they all dispense justice and help en sure that officials in the justice system follow the law when conducting their duties. There are two types of courts that operate in our justice system including state courts and federal courts. Federal courts handle violations of federal law while state courts handle crimes against the state. The state has two different types of court proceedings, one being a trial court and the other an appellate court if an appeal is filed. The federal court system consists of United States district court, U. S. Court of Appeals, and the U. S. Supreme Court. The court system usually consists of a prosecuting attorney, a defense attorney, an unbiased judge, and occasionally a jury who renders a verdict for if a jury trial was elected. Upon a conviction in either the state or federal court system, the defendant is then processed into the corrections department of the criminal justice system. For federal crimes the convicted will be placed in a federal correctional institution and in state institutions for crimes against the state. Once a person has been arrested, tried, and sentenced, the correctional process begins. America’s correctional system includes jails, prisons, parole, probation and other forms of sentencing imposed. The corrections department is also responsible for the care and safety of the inmates that they house. Correctional officers are the correctional system’s front line. They are responsible for the supervision and safety of all housed inmates. This task can be very demanding and risky. Correctional officers have to deal first hand with violent offenders, some of whom are serving life sentences and do not worry about repercussions from an incident with a correctional officer. Upon completion of a sentence, an inmate is released back into society under the supervision of a parole officer. This officer is responsible for keeping track of the individual and ensuring compliance of any probation requirements. If an individual on probation violates any form of their parole it usually results with them being sent back to prison. This can prove to be a constant cycle with some individuals who can not adapt and conform to society. The criminal justice system is ultimately responsible for the prosecution and confinement of criminals, the upholding of state and federal laws, and the equal rights to accused suspects with a right to a fair trial. The system is responsible for the rehabilitation of convicted criminals and to reinsert them back into society when appropriate while monitoring their progress. For many, this cycle is constantly repeating itself and causing America’s justice system to become over populated and back logged resulting in the lack of appropriate case handling and prosecution of some individuals. Unless there are drastic changes to today’s justice system, this trend will continue. Reference Defining Crime. (2011). Retrieved from http://media. pearsoncmg. com