The war on drugs began in the United States in 1971 when President Richard Nixon declared war. President Nixon increased the number of federal drug control agencies, increased mandatory sentences for drug offenders, and utilized no-knock warrants in attempt to get the problem under control. It has been over forty years since President Nixon declared a war on drugs. Did America win the war on drugs? Is it time to legalize illicit drugs in this country? What are other countries doing in reference to drugs? The author will examine the history of the war on drugs in this country, how other countries deal with drugs, list the positive and negative aspect of legalizing illicit drugs, and offer his opinion as to whether drugs should be decriminalized or not.
America’s War on Drugs vs. Legalization
The United States has spent over 30 years fighting the war on drugs. Americans have paid a heavy price financially. The drug enforcement budget is now $40 billion. A lot of time, effort, and money go into America’s attempt in eliminating trafficking, dealing, and the use of illegal drugs. Many believe that this is a war worth fighting, while others feel that America will never conquer the war on drugs.
The war on drugs began with good intentions, but it is becoming clear that this battle is a failure. Not only do drug laws violate American’s freedoms, but they further complicate the lives of drug users. These laws have inadvertently been responsible for the deaths of thousands through bad drug deals and dirty drugs, which leads one to ask the question, “Is this a war on drugs or a war on drug users?” Body bags and HIV are becoming the most widely known side effects of drug prohibition. Contrary to what many may think, drug use will never be eliminated. Only through legalization and strict state-controlled regulations will the violent and deadly consequences of drug laws be controlled. By making these substances available, the drugs themselves will be safer and cheaper, government spending and prison population will decrease, and most importantly, Americans will be freer.
Is Prohibition (defined as a government decree against the exchange of a good or service) actually successful in reducing recreational drug consumption and drug-related violence? This is the question that will be analyzed in this paper. Drug enforcement officials frequently cite drug-related violence as a reason that drugs must be eliminated from our society. A contrary belief is that the system of drug prohibition actually causes most of the violence. Similar to alcohol prohibition in the 1920s and the rise of organized crime, drug prohibition inspires a dangerous underground market that manifests itself with violent crime throughout the U.S. and, in fact, the world. The illegal nature of drugs has significantly increased the price and the
Throughout history, Americans have fought many enemies that threaten the safety of our great Nation and provided aid and resources to our partnering countries in their time of despair. However, the consequences were substantial, countless brave men and women lost their lives defending the freedom of Americans. Today American’s fight a different kind of war; it is a war without a clear enemy or end in sight. Today, America fights a War on Drugs.
The use of illegal drugs has plagued society for thousands of years. Illicit drugs use can be found all around the world. The War on Drugs is a term applied to a campaign on the prohibition of drugs of drug use, with the effort to reduced illegal drug trades. The current War on Drugs has affected our society physically and emotionally, and should end for the better of our society immediately. When the War on Drugs began, it was “The expectation that drug trafficking in the United States could be greatly reduced in a short amount of time through federal policing and yet the war on drugs continues to this day.” (Becker1) The war on drugs is an unwinnable war.
A former director of the United States Drug Enforcement Agency’s Mexican office once stated:” The heroin market abhors a vacuum.” The truth in this statement can be extended to not only the heroin trade but also the trade of numerous other drugs of abuse; from cocaine to methamphetamines, the illicit drug trade has had a way of fluidity that allows insert itself into any societal weakness. Much like any traditional commodity good, illicit drugs have become not only an economy in and of themselves, they have transformed into an integral part of the legitimate global economy. Whether or not military or law enforcement action is the most prudent or expedient method of minimizing the ill-effects of the illicit drug trade is of little consequence to the understanding of the economic reality of its use in the United States ongoing “War on Drugs”. As it stands, not only has the illicit drug trade transformed itself into a self-sufficient global economy, so too has the drug-fighting trade. According to a CNN report in 2012, in the 40 years since the declaration of “The War on Drugs”, the United States Federal Government has spent approximately $1 trillion in the fight against illicit drugs. Additionally, a report in the New York Times in 1999 estimates that federal spending in the “War on Drugs” tops $19 billion a year and state and local government spending nears $16 billion a year. Given the sheer magnitude of federal, state, and local spending in the combat of the illicit drug trade, one would reasonably expect that the violence, death, and destruction that so often accompanies the epicenters of the drug economy would be expelled from the close proximity of the United States. While this expectation is completely reasonable to the ...
Furthermore, the war on drugs is not working and it is just spending money. It has put more people in prison that should not be there, and has lost many American lives. “The ...
Prison in the United States over the past two decades have become alarmingly overcrowded. The population in prison continue to grow due to the war on drugs (“criminal justice program focusing on reducing the manufacture, use, sale, or trafficking of drugs”). Moore D. L. and Elkavich A. in their “Who’s using and who’s doing time” article states that “The justice system that was designated to “protect and serve” took on the challenge of the war on drugs in 1968 when the Nixon administration decided to redouble efforts against the sale, distribution, and consumption of illicit drugs in the United States (Moore D. L. and Elkavich A., 2008).” . The United States incarcerates more people for drug offenses than any other country. In fact the war on drugs has become the main contributor to the ballooning population in prisons today. “William Weir, an expert on gun control and drugs, argues that cynical politicians have manipulated the public to attain their own agenda and goals and, in so doing, created a “dope fiend” stereotype to generate votes. The “war” has increased violence and enhan...
Thompson, Stephen P., ed. The War on Drugs: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1998.