The United States Drug Policy evolved after the 1900s when laws dictating drug abuse became prevalent. The targeted audience for the War on Drugs was aimed at helping the upper-class citizens and not the lower-class citizens which ultimately caused the government to become hypocrites. The United States War on Drug Policy was supposed to help America as a whole and not select classes. The supply of drugs entering into the United States did not seem to be affected after numerous different strategies were instilled by different presidents and government officials. Without a successful strategy to end the spread of drug usage we as a country have lost the War on Drugs. An unintended consequence from the United States drug policies to thwart drug …show more content…
This is because the Supreme Court made a ruling that did not allow the state government the ability to regulate interstate commerce. This ruling eventually changed when the invention of automobiles became interstate crime. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was the beginning effort in preventing the expansion of narcotics and falsified labels on drugs during 1912. However, the most important act of legislation occurred in 1914 with the Harrison Tax Act. This act-imposed taxes on importation, manufacturing, distribution, and sale of opium, cocoa leaves and substances used to prepare these …show more content…
The government started to mislead the public into believing that they intent on helping all three of the social classes end drug abuse when they only care about the elite. The middle class and the poor are struggling to find rehabilitation and programs that are free or affordable. The adolescents and children who live in risky environments are at a greatest risk of misusing drugs than the higher class. These individuals can find drugs right outside of their doorway which leads to numerous Americans wondering why the middle-class researchers must struggle to find funding to help these environments. In the United States Declaration, it mentions we are all created equal however, that statement of equality is flawed on numerous different accounts. The color of your skin and social class dictates the severity of your punishment. The government picks and chooses who they decide to criminalize for the type and the number of drugs on a person. “There was little incentive for the government to criminalize drugs” when the rich or middle-class abused medicine prescribed. The upper class is basically ruling itself because there is not an incentive from the government dictating their drug usage. Abusing prescribed medicine should be held at the same standards as abuse of illegal drugs. When the government decided to follow only certain parts of the tactics they
Men like Nixon and Reagan had a tough mentality, while Clinton and Carter were a little more lenient (Parenti). Some targeted the suppliers, some targeted the consumers, and others targeted both. One of the key faults in the War on Drugs has been targeting consumers. People are going to take drugs no matter what. In order to reduce mass incarceration, the government must stop targeting and focusing on punishing the consumers of drugs. In 2005, four out of five drug arrests were for mere possession, and the vast majority of those offenders had no history of violence (Alexander). Targeting consumers of drugs is completely detrimental to the War on Drugs. You aren’t removing the problem by getting rid of the consumers. Instead you are putting a lot of people who have never committed a violent crime into a system surrounded by hardened criminals who truly deserve to be away from society and in prison. Prison is not a safe place. After a few months or years in prison, you become accustomed to prison norms, full of aggression and violence. People who simply got caught in possession of a drug are interacting and living with rapists and murderers. 77 percent of drug offenders would be arrested again (Crimeinamerica). Putting drug addicts and users in prison doesn’t solve the problem, but only enhances it. The point attempted to be made here is not to abolish drug laws for consumers,
It is also very important for people to know about this topic because the issue is not only about drugs but also the growth of inequality between the rich and poor, black and white, upper class and lower class in this country. The war of drugs deals with issues about why they were passed through congress and if there were motives that deals connect directly to black communities. The issues where brought about in Dan Baum book entitled “Smoke and Mirrors” where John Erlichmann, the chief domestic affair advisor talk about how the Drug War fever has been escalated and manipulated from its modest beginnings at the start of the Nixon administration and clarifies the various interests which that escalation has served. He talks about the Drug War on “blacks” and “hippies” but politicians could not say that so had to say the War on “heroin” and “Marijuana”. He also said that “We knew drugs were not the health problem we were making it out to be, but there were political benefits to be gained." This shows that there is more to the war of drugs that the government is letting on.
The war on drugs was created by the conservatives in the 70s, to have a justifiable reason to persecute black and brown communities with political power. The original “War on Drugs” was the one started by president Richard Nixon in 1971, where he became the first political figure to use the term, and also declared narcotics “Public enemy #1”. With modern knowledge of the Nixon administration it is important to look at his word choice
The war on drugs in our culture is a continuous action that is swiftly lessening our society. This has been going on for roughly 10-15 years and has yet to slow down in any way. Drugs continue to be a problem for the obvious reason that certain people abuse them in a way that can lead to ultimate harm on such a person. These drugs do not just consist of street drugs (marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy), but prescription medications as well. Although there are some instances where drugs are being used by subjects excessively, there has been medical research to prove that some of these drugs have made a successful impact on certain disorders and diseases.
The US has a complex patch that has been demonstrated in its framework and enforcement practices that are associated with drug laws. A number of federal and state policies have been formulated that sometimes seem to overlap hence giving rise to a number of conflicts among the different level of governments. This essay will explore and demonstrate the federal drug policy that the US Federal Government is designing and the issues of federalism that the policy raises.
Drug use has been an ongoing problem in our country for decades. The use of drugs has been the topic of many political controversies throughout many years. There has been arguments that are for legalizing drugs and the benefits associated with legalization. Also, there are some who are opposed to legalizing drugs and fear that it will create more problems than solve them. Conservatives and liberals often have different opinions for controversial topics such as “the war on drugs,” but it is necessary to analyze both sides in order to gain a full understanding of their beliefs and to decide in a change in policy is in order.
The Drug Policy in the United States The Drug Policy in the United States is a very strict and well defined
The prohibitionist national policy towards drugs in U.S has been extremely contentious in the present times. After decades of the stance that costs billions how many each year, the paltry achievements and the countless negative externalities have led to a clamor for alternative policies instead of a “War on Drugs”.
Marijuana, acid, and heroin were being used liberally in the 1960s by a generation that embraced drugs as part of a new cultural movement. Later in 1969, studies would link drug use with crime. People looked to the government to aid the situation. In 1970, the Narcotics Treatment Administration was founded to try to control drug use. That same year President Richard Nixon established the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, he coined it “the war on drugs”. Title II of this act, the Controlled Substance Act, brought together many laws passed since the Harrison Narcotics tax act of 1914. It put drugs into categories called schedules in accordance with their potential for abuse. The CSA also set forth regulations on who and how these drugs would be handled and also put into place harsh penalties for the illegal h...
The war on drugs has been going on for over forty years, and it is a war that cannot be won. Drugs will continue to be an ongoing issue in society, some people depend on drugs for many reasons which is why we cannot get rid of drugs altogether. The U.S. has established harsh sentencing on individuals found with drugs such as marijuana, crack cocaine, and heroine, but that can only do so much. The war on drugs has caused the prison population to grow, in an article it states: “Given the widespread acceptance of the centrality of the drug war to prison growth, it is not surprising that recent efforts by state and federal governments to rein in prison growth have focused on drug enforcement. New York State, for example, has weakened its notorious
The longest war isn’t one fought with weapons for freedom, land, or beliefs. It was a war against the use of illegal substances. The War on Drugs is a term that has been used for many years to describe the fight against illegal substances. However, time after time this war has failed. There has been a plethora of ideas on how to ultimately end this war. However, according to many polls, the drug problem in America is a rising problem.
National polls in recent years have consistently shown that the overwhelming majority of Americans believe the war on drugs cannot be won (Schou). The American people do not see an end to the War on Drugs and feel like we are just funding something that will never work. With countries such as Mexico tying to fight the War on Drugs has caused just in 2016 caused 100,000 deaths (Shultz). Also, with the prohibition of drugs we are helping fund cartels not dismantling them, since they are able to skyrocket the prices on drugs because it is harder for them to smuggle it into the United States. I believe what we need to do is legalize drugs and make them more controlled this will in return make money instead of spending money by taxing drugs and will help shrink the black market, make cartels lose billions of dollars, and will keep people out of jail and into the working class. We also need to help drug addicts instead of punishing them. The legalization and helping rehabilitate drug users has shown great progress by lowering crime rates, lowering drug users, lowering contraction of diseases, and actually lowering the amount of drugs of the streets (Oakford). This shows that if just one country can implement this and make it work then that can also work in the United States and get rid of this failed plan called the War
The War on Drugs was meant to stop the violent criminals who were profiting from drug trafficking. The penalties often carried disparities finding no equal ground between the drug king pin, and the struggle addict punished for committing a crime against themselves. With longer prison sentences resulting from mandatory sentences. The disparities of drugs like crack vs. cocaine serve no real equal punishment for drug criminals. Social and Political stigma has kept drug criminals to be treated as lower-scale person. Incarcerating illicit drug violators has still yet to stop drug use and drug trafficking. Finding a new solution is not so farfetched.
The War on Drugs has been a war in order to prohibit the trafficking of drugs, which is what the government is trying to do, but making new policies in the country. The spread of narcotic drugs has gone from country to country. In Forces of Habit it states “The key psychoactive
Throughout history, drugs have been nothing but a social problem, a burden per say. From Edgar Allen Poe smoking opium in an attempt to make his poetry more creative, to Vietnam soldiers coming back from the war addicted to heroin. Narcotics was not a serious issue at the time, only a small handful of people were actually doing the drugs, and they were just simply looked down upon. It was not until the late nineteen sixties when recreational drug use became fashionable among young, white, middle class American citizens, that the United States Government “put it’s foot down”. (pbs.com)