Thursday, November 28, 2019

The War on Drugs A Global Loss Essays - Law, Foreign Relations

The War on Drugs: A Global Loss The global war on drugs has failed, having no success in accomplishing its goals and infringing on human rights. It has wrought immeasurable damage among foreign nations and even in areas within our own with already unstable infrastructure. The only rate in relation to drug use that the plan had succeeded in lowering were that of survival. None of these facts are intended to permit free access to narcotics without any care, but rather they serve to bring to light the critical flaws with our current system of countermeasures. Laws on narcotics have been being put in place since the late nineteenth century, but the first federal action in the United States was in 1920 with Amendment XVIII to the Constitution, banning the possession and distribution of alcohol. Only thirteen years later it was repealed, after the alcohol trade boomed in the black market and alcoholism worsened. This was not the end of the bans, however, as in 1971, President Richard Nixon mailed a message to congress announcing that drugs were US public enemy number one. This was the beginning of the multimillion you should probably say dollar, to eventual multibillion costing project to contain and prevent drug use. After over forty years there has been little to no progress shown and the prices have only scaled up. The global war on drugs needs to be reformed, there is no good in keeping the methods as they are, as there are no signs of success, it overrules the rights of human beings in the conquest of one day stamping out drug use and leaves societal footprints that have yet to resolve after decades to recover. There is no doubt that this is a necessary change the United States needs to make for the future of both itself and many nations now involved in the drug trade. Extensive use of drugs while under the harsh policing of laws imposed to halt such use has not gone down. The trade and sales of illicit substances have been recorded in participating countries of the United Nations, and in just the ten year span between 1998 and 2008, highly illegal substances such as opiates and cocaine have increased in trade by 34.5% and 27% respectively according to the studies of the UN (War On Drugs: Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, 2011, p. 6). Such a steep increase implies that despite every action taken to restrict trade and possession, use of illegal substances has likely increased worldwide. In the United States, over the course of over a decade from 2002 to 2013, use of illicit drugs has climbed (NIDA, 2015), and while not significantly, but it does show that the numbers are not going down. Without a change in our course, there will be no end to the senseless war and excessive spending going into a project with no success in sight. Ther e have been and still are instances of nations using alternative methods to control drug abuse, Portugal for example has made notable strides against its major prevalence of drug abuse and mortality by overdose by undertaking a drastically different approach than nations such as the United States had. Portugal's country overview from the EMCDDA in 2013 shows that in 2007, six years after their drug policy reform, the adult prevalence of lifetime use of any illicit substance was 12% and with young adults, 17.4%, however, in 2012, the numbers had dropped down to 9.5% and 14.5% respectively (Portugal country overview, 2016). The rapidly lowering numbers are due to their policies focused on therapy and controlling drug trade to be safe and limited, rather than stamp it out completely, which allows for more extreme conditions to form, such as drug cartels and black market substances significantly more dangerous than the easy access, less expensive safe stock that is to be accompanied by therapy to overcome addiction. Without the use of methods that promote recovery rather than punishing possession, there will and have been grave consequences among the private lives of victims of drug abuse. The War on Drugs is not just a burning failure of policies, it goes above and beyond lack of success, and

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Timeline of Important Dates in Microsoft History

Timeline of Important Dates in Microsoft History This timeline of Microsoft history accompanies our main article Microsoft - Profile of a Computing Giant. 1975 Microsoft foundedJanuary 1, 1979 Microsoft moves from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Bellevue, WashingtonJune 25, 1981 Microsoft incorporatesAugust 12, 1981 IBM introduces its personal computer with Microsofts 16-bit operating system, MS-DOS 1.0 November, 1983 Microsoft Windows announcedNovenber, 1985 Microsoft Windows version 1.0 releasedFebruary 26, 1986 Microsoft moves to corporate campus in Redmond, WashingtonMarch 13, 1986 Microsoft stock goes publicApril, 1987 Microsoft Windows version 2.0 releasedAugust 1, 1989 Microsoft introduces earliest version of Office suite of productivity applicationsMay 22, 1990 Microsoft launches Windows 3.0 August 24, 1995 Microsoft launches Windows 95December 7, 1995 Internet by launching internet explorer a web browser.June 25, 1998 Microsoft launches Windows 98Jan. 13, 2000 Steve Ballmer named president and chief executive officer for MicrosoftFeb. 17, 2000 Microsoft launches Windows 2000 June 22, 2000 Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer outline Micros ofts .NET strategy for Web services May 31, 2001 Microsoft launches Office XPOct. 25, 2001 Microsoft launches Windows XPNov. 15, 2001 Microsoft launches XboxNov. 7, 2002 Microsoft and partners launch Tablet PCApril 24, 2003 Microsoft launches Windows Server 2003Oct. 21, 2003 Microsoft launches Microsoft Office SystemNov. 22, 2005 Microsoft launches Xbox 360Jan. 30, 2007 Microsoft launches Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System to consumers worldwideFeb. 27, 2008 Microsoft launches Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008June 27, 2008 Bill Gates transitions from his day-to-day role at Microsoft to spend more time on his work at The Bill Melinda Gates FoundationJune 3, 2009 Microsoft launches Bing search engineOct. 22, 2009 Microsoft launches Windows 7June 15, 2010 Microsoft launches general availability of Office 2010Nov. 4, 2010 Microsoft launches Kinect for Xbox 360Nov. 10, 2010 Microsoft launches Windows Phone 7Nov. 17, 2010 Microsoft announces availability of Microsoft LyncJune 28, 20 11 Microsoft launches Office 365

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Workplace Violence from an organizational perspective Coursework

Workplace Violence from an organizational perspective - Coursework Example During the incident, the admission clerk who was threatened by the three men alerted the security force, and other members of the organization. The police who were present at the time swung into action and managed to apprehend the offenders. The incident left many of the organization’s staff members traumatized, the admission clerk getting affected to the point of leaving work. The affected staff were offered emotional counseling to help them overcome emotional trauma. The federal government has no specific requirements to protect workers from violence in the organization. However, there are a number of organizations that have come up with standards to prevent violence in the workplace, assigning responsibility for safety in the workplace. The US Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for example has established guidelines and made recommendations aimed at reducing workers’ exposure to violence. The organization has however not institut ed any rules in this respect. Each state has the capacity to enact legislations relating to workplace safety. Currently, 16 states have enacted legislations that demand the establishment of workplace violence prevention programs, the study of violence in the workplace, incident reporting and tougher penalties for offenders. The Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act (WISHA) demands the reasonable protection of employees from violence and that incidences of violence be reported to the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. The healthcare facility being accredited by the Joint Commission needs to comply with the commission’s standards and therefore manage safety risks. According to the Environment of Care Standard 1.10, the organization should have a written safety plan that complies with OSHA recommendations, calling for staff commitment to safety. Management needs to monitor the organization taking not signs of violence for granted. Compromising on workplac e safety and security may have serious legal implications on both employers and workers. Management styles employed in running the organization should be constructive and strategies that are aimed at boosting safety and security should be implemented. The worksite should also be analyzed for potential and real hazards and workers trained on safety and health. Furthermore, the organization’s culture should be one that is intolerant to violence as demonstrated by its vision and mission. Management also needs to utilize tested models in resolving conflicts, complete a threat assessment and keep records that relate to threats and violence in the organization. Furthermore, a multidisciplinary approach should be taken in ensuring that the entire workforce understands the organization’s â€Å"no violence† policy. Registered Nurses (RN) need to promptly asses every employee’s safety needs and assist them accordingly while at the same time seeking to ensure that p atients live in a safe environment. Indeed, all employees wish to work in a safe and secure environment. However, workplace violence impacts the healthcare industry negatively, especially with respect to the recruitment and retention of staff. Violence lowers workers’ morale and could cause physical pain and emotional trauma. Emotional trauma is commonly associated with poor work performance, absenteeism and high employee turnover. In order to establish such an environment, both management and employees should take a proactive role to establish a positive culture – one that prioritizes safety and good health. Management should asses risks and respond to safety needs appropriately, training employees on the subject in case of need. Workers on the other hand should be committed to providing