Students at Southern Utah University discussed various topics relating to drug laws in America during the weekly Pizza and Politics on Jan. 22. The event was hosted by the Michael O. Leavitt Center for Politics and Public Service.
The Leavitt Center’s student presenters, Bryan Zachreson and Rebekah Jensen, started the presentation with the definition of what a drug is. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a drug is generally a substance intended to affect the structure or function of the body.
The first question was then asked by presenters: “What do you know about different drugs and their uses?”
Students answered with general responses, such as stating drugs used for pain relief like Advil, Tylenol and ibuprofen.
Zachreson and Jensen then shared the history behind drug policies, referencing events such as the prohibition and the war on drugs.
Presenters asked students’ opinions on those specific policies. One student said, “I like the separation that prisons did of drug users and regular people.” Another expressed that these drug policies target low income communities, leading to mass incarceration.
Following up, presenters asked: “Should the government have control over substance use? If so, what level is appropriate”
“I think they should have some sort of control, I feel personally that hospitals give people too many drugs as a solution, sometimes it’s too easy for people to get drugs, a lot of people died that way,” said one attendee.
After this question, presenters explained the operations of the Drug Enforcement Association and the schedules that different drugs are given.
The presenters continued, talking about race inequality within drug enforcement, expanding on the war on drugs and the cost of combating drug addiction.
To learn more about SUU events and the Michael O. Leavitt Center, check out SUU’s event page and the Leavitt Center’s website.
Author: Tallon Taylor
Photographer: Gannon Lovisa
Editor: Anna Mower
news@suunews.net