America 's War On Drugs

“Over 40 year ago president nixon, Declared Drug abuse public enemy number one, starting an unprecedented global Campaign, the war on drug.

In the past forty years, the United States has spent over $2.5 trillion dollars funding enforcement and prevention in the fight against drug use in America (Suddath). Despite the efforts made towards cracking down on drug smugglers, growers, and suppliers, statistics show that addiction rates have remained unchanged and the number of people using illegal drugs is increasing daily (Sledge). Regardless of attempts to stem the supply of drugs, the measure and quality of drugs goes up while the price goes down (Koebler). Now with the world’s highest incarceration rates and greatest illegal drug consumption (Sledge), the United States proves that the “war on drugs” is a war that is not being won.

One of the primary focuses of America 's War on Drugs is the controversial drug Marijuana. Marijuana remains the most widely used illegal drug and stirs up constant debate everywhere. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime from the World Drug Report 2004 an estimation of about 4 percent of the world’s adult population (162 million) consume marijuana annually (156). For thousands of years human beings have attempted to find ways to get passed the struggles of everyday life. With the pain of the world stopping people from enjoying simple pleasures, sometimes there is a need for help. Marijuana brings millions of people relief from pain flet on a day-to-day basis. This completely natural plant which previously helped so many people has puzzled the leaders of our nation for a long time. The effects of the drug on a individual level is what 's prevented the product from being legalized. Many issues involving this plant, like the speculation of it being a gateway drug, has put yet another block on its legalization. Even with the drugs known speculations, the benefit that it brings to the table most definitely out way its disadvantages. Marijuana can also alleviate several symptoms associated with cancer and Aids treatments and disorders. While Marijuana is effective as a medicine, it is also extremely lucrative. The economic benefits that Marijuana brings to the table are endless. Non legalization is a waste of societies hard earned money to continue to enforce

The launching of the 1960’s brought with it a public health issue concerning the use and abuse of illegal drugs. Responding to the crisis, the US department of Justice established the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous drugs, which was designed to control illegal drugs, specifically marijuana. Building on the prohibition, in 1971 President Richard Nixon officially declared a “war on drugs”, which resulted in an increased federal role in the warfare by providing the federal government with power to institute new mandatory sentencing laws. New policies, including the passing of the Controlled Substances act, which, “superseded earlier legislation and classified cannabis as having a high potential for abuse, having zero medical use, and being unsafe for use without medical supervision,” (Barry, 2014) produced a dramatic rise in national incarceration rates, disproportionally representing those people of color. In fact, according to the FBI, in 2011 there were 750,000 marijuana arrests (the vast for majority) alone.

The current policy in use by the United States concerning illegal drugs is both outdated and unfair. This so-called war on drugs is a deeply rooted campaign of prohibition and unfair sentencing that is very controversial and has been debated for many years. The war on drugs is designed so that it will never end. This current drug was has very little impact on the overall supply of prohibited drugs and its impact on demand seems non-existent. United States’ taxpayers are spending billions of dollars on this failure of policy. They are spending billions to incarcerate drug users instead offering drug treatment which could help lower demand. Legalizing illicit would lower abuse and deaths from use and could have a positive economic impact on the United States. Certain industries are making massive sums of money by capitalizing on the drug war.

The War on Drugs has become an epidemic today afflicting United States and the United Nations; which are swayed by global drug laws which preserve the criminal justice system. These new laws promote an ineffective policies on the war on drug. Therefore, communities are locked while the promotion of illicit drugs becomes the dominate framework to organized crimes. Today, the war on drugs continues to be an ongoing battle within our society. This paper will examine these issues focusing primarily on historical struggles controlling our society. Improvement must be lenient punishment policies based on the relevance and/or risk of these psychoactive drugs.

the United States is currently spening $40 billion a year on the "War on Drugs." In reality, there is no "War on Drugs;" in our history, the only thing we see is the various conflicts amongst users and various dealers. While most controlled substances are highly addictive, the deadly encounters and conflicts that arise from the distribution and selling of the substances are far more deadly than the drug itself. If legalized, the United States could regulate the distribution and tax it as any other merchandise.

The War on Drugs has become an epidemic today that has afflicted in the United States and the United Nations; both are influenced by international drug laws which preserve the criminal justice system. These new laws promote an ineffective policies on the war on drugs. Therefore, communities are locked while the promotion of illicit drugs become the dominate framework to organized crimes. Today, the war on drugs continues to be an ongoing battle within our society. This paper will examine these issues focusing primarily on referencing historical context on the struggles controlling the drugs within our society. Effective changes must be made for the war on drugs to be disregarded. First steps of improvement must be lenient punishment policies based on the relevance and/or risk of these psychoactive drugs.

The War on Drugs has become an epidemic today afflicting United States and the United Nations; which are swayed by global drug laws which preserve the criminal justice system. These new laws promote an ineffective policy on the war on drug. Therefore, communities are locked while the promotion of illicit drugs becomes the dominate framework to organized crimes. Today, the war on drugs continues to be an ongoing battle within our society. This paper will examine these issues focusing primarily on historical struggles controlling our society. Improvement must be lenient punishment policies based on the relevance and/or risk of these psychoactive drugs.

Due to the constant reference to war, it was ok to use military-like force, even if it was against American citizens. It was easy to find an enemy; African American were the prefect target. We were just being liberated, we had freedom to go to school and get the jobs that were formerly reserved just for whites. Now white Americans had to compete with people who were once thought of as 3/5 human. Now it’s clear why it was so easy to make African Americans the enemy. Hispanics, and other people of color were constructed as the enemy in the War on Drugs as well. Research shows that the whole anti-drug rhetoric was planned out. Its design was so perfect, that it was able to tap into the American public’s psychology and place cultural attitudes about people of color and their supposed involvement with drugs and other illegal behaviors in their minds. The drug war required both weapons and enemies. The police and our law enforcement policy of prohibition and interdiction provided the weapons, and even though it was stated that the war on drugs was against drug cartels or international drug traders, the opposite occurred. We see the people mostly

1) Abramson, M. A., & Kamensky, J. M. (2001). Managing for results 2002. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

My biggest issue with the war on drugs is the sentencing and the racial profiling that lies beneath the war on drugs. Often times if an African-American and a Caucasian are both arrested on the same drugs charges, the African-American will receive a longer sentencing than their counterpart. I believe racial profiling and longer sentencing have a correlation. African-Americans have a higher chance of being stopped by police officers, in which if they do possess drugs they’ll end up in prison unless it’s a marijuana charge. I am aware that they shouldn’t have drugs on them in the first place, however, it’s unfair when white people can possess the drugs and not be suspected by police officers. Therefore the war on drugs ends up leaving a negative impact on the black community. I recall hearing reports about during the 80s when crack being to take over lower-class black communities, sometimes police officer would place drugs on African-Americans they stopped so they have a probable cause for arrest.

The “war on drugs” has been an ongoing problem for almost a century. With the amount of effort to decrease the use of drugs, it is still a major problem in today’s society. Drugs have played a crucial role on the effects of incarceration rates in our society. It has also played a major role on the effects on prisoners and their communities.

The, “War on Drugs” has been an ongoing debate in many circles for much longer than most people know. Starting in the late 1800’s, drug regulations and laws have been imposed upon American society and, although they have changed and been manipulated to fit different policies, by different politicians with different agendas, they are still in effect today. These laws and regulations may be in place for the safety of society or, according to some, are a way for the federal government to control the American population. With the many different effects, uses or styles of drugs available both legally and illegally there are countless reasons why these regulations are in place, but equally as many examples of why they are not needed or are detrimental to our culture. The more recent regulations have brought about more negative issues in society than the positive result they were intended for. The initiation of the War on Drugs as a peacemaking criminological approach to drugs in an effort to eliminate illegal drug use has failed resulting in overcrowding and dangerous prisons, increased violence and fatality rates in the underground drug trade and unjustifiable costs to the American taxpayer for the treatment and incarceration of those targeted. A look at a brief history of drugs in America will help put this failure into context.

The war on drugs has been going on for 46 years and 1 trillion dollars later it is still debated among many what should be done. Should this war continue, and if so, should we change it? The war on drugs officially started in 1971 when former president Richard Nixon declared drug abuse “public enemy number one”. However the war has been going on for a lot longer than many know. Before the 20th century all drugs were legal in the United States. It wasn’t until 1905 that anti-narcotics laws came along, bringing problems along with it. All agree that our current approach to the war of drugs is not helping anyone and causing more harm than good. Questions are being brought up with people dying every year from drug overdoses, and drug trafficking still prevalent in countries such as the Philippines or the United States. Should we legalize all drugs? Should we let the states take over if they want to legalize drugs or not? Quit it all together or kill all those abusing drugs?