Open Post to Peer Reviewers

Here is the rough cut of my project below. I am doing my project on the issue of drug addiction. Originally, I wanted to focus on why the current solution is bad and the cause of the problem. I had to start over because I realized I wanted to only focus on the source of the problem.


This set back did not allow me to make an actual video so I only have a script to be reviewed. Obviously, this is a major weakness considering my project is a video essay.I still have videos in the script to give somewhat of an idea as to how the video will progress.


When reviewing my script, I would appreciate the reviewer to focus on the content since I do not have any video. I am still very open to changing my script around, and actually expect it when I add in my videos. I am mainly concerned that I am trying to cover too much and am losing the impact of my content.


Here is my rough cut

The war on drugs has been a damaging and ineffective way to handle drug addiction. Due to propaganda, misinformation, and a misunderstanding of what kind of person an addict is and why someone becomes addicted in the first place, the drug war has been allowed to exist and cause a tremendous amount of damage. As more research has been done, we are beginning to see how addiction really works. There are many factors that include how a person is raised and what experiences they’ve had. There is a clearer understanding of how the brain is formed under such conditions, allowing scientists and doctors to more accurately diagnose addicts. The solution is not incarceration. These people need help solving the deeper issues at hand in order to stop using a particular substance.  To understand why the drug war has not worked and why it will never work, the problem of addiction has to be understood on a deeper level. 

Video: Nixon, Reagan, propaganda, Personal stories

Video of propaganda.

The average drug addict is commonly thought of as someone that chooses to do drugs over other important things. It is hard for those that have not experienced drug addiction, or know someone that has experienced it, to fully understand the psychological process that goes on inside the mind of a drug addict. This is true for any addiction really.

Video of Culture High guy

The source of addiction does not come from any particular object or action. It depends on the kind of experiences that shaped the user, usually this happens at a young age. The brain is shaped as a person grows, not stopping until about 25 years of age. The brain is especially formative in the early years of life. Addictive behavior stems from environments that produce certain formations of the brain. The environments include, abusive parents, poverty, traumatic events, malnourishment, and other forms of stressful situations. These environments are not limited to causing addiction with only drugs. Addiction can take forms in many different ways. Someone can be addicted to a physical substance, that directly changes how the reward system in the brain works, or psychologically, activating the same reward center through behavior. Either way, the source of the addiction is not that actual substance or behavior being abused. While addiction is a problem, it is not the problem that will fix the user’s destructive behaviors.

Video of Jayden

Jayden is a perfect example of the faulty logic that dictates drug policy. Where pharmaceutical medicine failed, and actually caused an addiction problem, medical marijuana helps Jayden. These are the stories people are less familiar with. Many people see the drug war as a black and white issue when there are many real victims of drug addiction and drug prohibition.

Video of strange addictions

Addiction does not depend only on the substance or action being abused. Addiction stems from the mind. People will abuse any substance or action that makes them feel normal. Through main stream media and propaganda, people only see the dramatized stereotypes of these situations.

Audio segment of Carl Hart with pictures

With new research showing how deep the problem of addiction goes, it would seem like a different solution would have been implemented by now. While there are many theories as to why the drug war still continues, there is no doubt that there are some inconsistencies within the government.

Video of mother getting put in jail

Video of banks laundering money for cartel

Incarcerating drug users is an easy way to make sure prisons are filled up. They are easy arrests, with less danger than a high speed chase or domestic abuse call. Prison guard unions and privatized prisons will lobby to make sure drugs stay illegal. The politicians in office basically take legalized bribes, in the form of donations. While these big groups can donate large amounts of money, the politicians that receive them feel obligated to satisfy their interests. This creates a system of dysfunction as the parts of government that want to do good are prohibited by the corrupted parts.

Pictures of statistics

At the same time, the government places drugs like Marijuana and MDMA as a schedule one substance while also patenting the medical uses of both. This is very hypocritical and speaks to the problem of drug education in America. There are also some inconsistencies where banks get a fine for laundering money for the drug cartel and a mother with a few grams of marijuana gets put in jail for decades.

While there are a lot of aspects of the drug war that should be considered when creating a new policy, one thing is for certain, and that is that the current polices in place do not effectively help someone suffering from drug addiction. If more people can get educated on the reasons behind addiction, and become more skeptical of the people put in power, we can force an important civil rights movement and provide legitimate help to those that need it.