Graduate Program

Political Science

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

2006

Thesis Director

Melinda Mueller

Thesis Committee Member

Unknown

Thesis Committee Member

Unknown

Abstract

In 1988, Congress introduced H.R. 4462 which proclaimed it a goal to make the U.S. drug-free by 1995 (Nadelmann, 1998:111). This goal of Congress to make the U.S. drug- free has proven to fail miserably in application, as evidenced by the fact that many in America continue to use and abuse drugs on a regular basis. Furthermore, the issue of medical marijuana has grown in popularity throughout the country within the last ten years, which has led many states through referendum, or the legislative process to proactively change drug policy, sometimes with retaliation by the Federal Government. This paper seeks to explore why the U.S. House of Representatives is not taking a more proactive stance in trying to fix some of the drug problems that exist in America. In addition, this paper focuses on many different independent variables, and seven dependent variables dealing with drug policy to try and find those variables which are most influential to a Representative making a decision on whether or not to support a certain policy. This paper concludes that while drug policy remains a controversial subject in Congress, as well as American society, certain factors such as: party identification, constituency ideology, age, region, personal ideology, and the amount of terms served can all alter how a Representative will react to a certain policy pertaining to drugs.

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