War On Drugs Research Paper

The cost of the war on drugs has been far greater than just the billions of dollars spent by world governments on fighting cartels and drug manufacturers. Drugs took the lives of thousands of innocents and destroyed the lives of millions through addiction, drug related violence, and incarceration. It is clear that the war on drugs is not the solution to the problem that drugs create and society has to devise other methods of dealing with drug trafficking, mass incarceration, and addiction. Decriminalization is an effective option to decrease the flow of drugs into the United States. Before decriminalization, the flow of marijuana into the US from Mexico was out of control. In 2011, 2.5 million pounds of marijuana were seized at the US-Mexico border (Grillo), the average cost for a kilo of Mexican marijuana was 100$, and Mexican marijuana accounted for two thirds of marijuana in the US

The war on drugs was supposed to be a way to decrease the amount of addicts and drug users but has instead made them criminals instead of people who need help. Because of criminalization for small drug crimes addicts are less likely to seek help (Sanchez-Moreno), because of this the drug war has now turned into a humanitarian concern. Drug addicts fearing arrest are less likely to seek help, and in turn more likely to suffer from drug related injuries and diseases. In order to decrease drug addiction, we must treat it as a social problem rather than a criminal one. In the Netherlands drug problems are normalized and addicts are integrated into society suggesting that “drug problems should be seen as normal social problems rather than unusual concerns requiring extraordinary treatment” (Dolin). This attitude allows drug users to feel like a part of society and allows them to seek help for their addiction. Therefore less drug users will end up dying from drug related