Drug Use And Its Effects On The United States

Drug abuse is one of the most discouraged behaviors in our country. In the United States of America, we, the people value several things, some of which are freedom, expanding and taking care of our families and our financial security. We, the people, take such things for granted. We also discourage some behavior, such as crime, laziness and use of illegal drugs.

Incarceration rates in the United States have exploded due to the convictions for drug offenses. Today there are half a million in prison or jail due to a drug offense, while in 1980 there were only 41,100. They have tripled since 1980. The war on drugs has contributed the most to the systematic mass incarceration of people of color, most of them African-Americans. The drug war is aimed to catch the big-time dealers, but the majority of the people arrested are not charged with serious offenses, and most of the people who are in prison today for drug arrests, have no history of violence or selling activity. The war on drugs is also aimed to catch dangerous drugs, however nearly 80 percent of

In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs. This war was commenced to repel the wave of drugs rushing throughout the world. The U.S. has taken plenty of measures to fight back against drugs; whether it’s criminalizing the use of these drugs, hunting those who sell them, or making anti-drug propaganda to sway citizens and users away from them, not all of it has been beneficial to the world. Some of the tactics used have wasted money, imprisoned innocent people, and has gotten people killed. The war on drugs has been taken too far and needs to end before more lives in the world are ruined.

According to the Department of Justice, in 2011, 48 percent of the all federal prisoners were incarcerated for drug crimes. Of those sentenced for these drug related crimes, nearly 58 percent were black or hispanic; however, these two groups make up only around 30 percent of the total population of the United States. Overly harsh consequences of drug convictions have helped lead to a 500 percent growth of the current incarcerated population over the past 40 years. This mass incarceration costs the average American about $260 per year on corrections, resulting in the country's annual $80 billion price tag. This so called "War on Drugs" is not how the American justice system should be handling cases of drug crimes. As said by Quigley: “We must never confuse law and

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

The rise in incarceration in the United States is contrary to “the fact that almost every observer of the criminal justice system agrees that incarceration is an expensive undertaking that probably does very little good to reduce crime.” The incarceration rate in America is the highest in the world, as “[a]bout 2,870 offenders per 100,000 U.S. adult residents (or about 2.9% of adults) were under some form of correctional supervision at yearend 2012.” The decrease in crime and the increase in prison inmates could be seen to be connected, yet, studies “have found that the effect on crime rates of increasing incarceration is miniscule” . Many of those incarcerated are held on non-violent drug charges, as a result of the “War on Drugs”. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which was passed in the mid-1980s, brought in mandatory minimum prison terms for those in possession of narcotics. While there may seem to be a strong racial discrimination trend in the prison system, as “1 in 3 black men in the United States will go to prison or jail if current trends continue” , drug offenses primarily harm the poorest people in America . This contributes to the cycle of poverty in America as well, as “[i]ncarceration triggers a cascade of imperiled rights not only for former prisoners, who face disenfranchisement, denial of housing, the inability to find work and food insecurity, but also for their dependents.” These offenders, while certainly not innocent, are imprisoned for long periods of time, causing the rapid rise in the prison population in the United States. The mass incarceration rates lend credence to the idea that America is becoming a police

America is the land of the free; it’s ironic that America also by far has more incarcerated citizens than any other country in the world. America is at war. We have been fighting drug abuse for almost a century. In 1972 president Nixon declared a war on drugs. Unfortunately, we are not winning this war. Drug users are still filling up our jails and prisons, now more than ever. The drug war causes violent crime and criminal activity due to prohibition, not the drugs themselves. Children in all of this are left neglected or without parents. The only beneficiaries of this war are organized crime members and drug dealers. The United States has focused its efforts on the criminalization of drug use. The government has spent billions of dollars in efforts to rid the supply of drugs. Even with all this money and effort of law enforcement it has not decreased the demand or supply of illegal drugs. Not only being highly costly, drug law enforcement has been counterproductive. Current drug laws need to be reviewed and changed. The United States needs to shift spending from law enforcement and penalization to education, treatment, and prevention. The war on drugs has caused many problems in the United States, family problems, financial problems and has increased crime, after forty years in this war it’s time for a change.

The use of drugs has been used by individuals for centuries. It wasn't until the late 60's and the early 70's that drugs begin to be banned in the United States. In 1971 Nixon declared a war on drugs, which is truly a war on minorities. “The war on drugs is a multibillion dollar public private venture that inflates the value of illegal drugs and its used to criminalize the poor people of color trapping them in a vicious cycle of addiction, unemployment, and incarceration.” (Seventhe general) The documentary explains that the war on rugs has never focused on taking out the drug lord leader and violent offenders. Instead the drug war focuses on the number of minority street arrest. "80% of people arrested between 1980-90 were arrested for possession of marijuana.” (Seventhegeneral) During an interview in the documentary a men stated "we don't control the pipeline of drugs and guns in our community." (Seventhegeneral) In other words, their is someone supplying the citizens with drugs and guns to sell. We have to question why this isn’t being looked at. If you truly wanted drugs off the street wouldn't your goal be to find the source? We know that in the 80's the CIA was smuggling cocaine in to U.S. neighborhoods. Which help lead to the crack epidemic and stricter more punitive laws against drugs. Clinton tough on crime policy lead to more Americans being incarcerated than any other presidential candidate has seen in

In recent decades, there have been increasing trends of incarceration, specifically in relation to the use and possession of illegal drugs. In 2010, there were 1.6 million people arrested for drug related offenses, which is approximately 1 person every 19 seconds. The majority of the arrests, however, are for possession of small amounts and are minor offenses (Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, NAACP). The controversy over the drug war is the element of concentration in cities, consistently in underprivileged neighborhoods, resulting in the emphasis of disproportionate incarceration of minority groups, expressly African Americans. This group is influenced heavily by over-imprisonment, which affects their economic standing and place in society, causing inequality between them and whites. The war on drugs and the measures used by the government to control drug use contributes to racism and inequality problems, as well as to the stigma following African Americans in modern America.

In 1971, Richard Nixon launched the war on drugs stating, “America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all out offensive” (Sharp, 1994). Since this war was declared 45 years ago the prison population has risen dramatically and has cost tax payers a substantial amount of money, with no end in sight. Nearly sixty five percent of the 2.3 million U.S. prisoners meet the criteria for substance abuse or addiction, yet only eleven percent receives treatment during their incarceration and a large majority of these offenders return to prison within years of being released. Our society needs to become more proactive when fighting this war versus what we have done in the past by being solely reactive. We need to give these nonviolent drug offenders a chance to succeed by offering rehabilitation services instead of sending them to prison (Howard, 2015).

Throughout the United States, the use and abuse of legal and illegal drugs is very common. As Rosenberg states in “In Drugs We Trust: Why Do Americans Make War on Some Drugs and Build Fortunes on Others?” if something is called a drug, people will “nod their heads, understanding what you mean: You’re deeply attached to it and you can’t live without it, even though you suspect that there’s something wrong with it” (pg.2). The legality of various drugs has changed over time. The definition of a drug, is any substance that has the ability to influence one’s behavior. This could be done by altering one’s mood, feelings, and/or mental state. Although many people believe the use of illegal drugs is more common, the use of legal drugs is actually more common. Legal drugs include drugs such as alcohol and tobacco. As Rosenberg states in the 17th and 18th century, coffee was considered a big drug problem, however now caffeine and coffee is legal. For, legal drugs can cause both social and economic problems just as much as illegal drugs, such as with alcohol and drunk driving. As a result of increased drug use, the United States has created a “War on Drugs,” where it spends billions of dollars to try to “stop” the use and abuse of illegal drugs. However, this “war” is not getting at the root of the problem, for the war does not deal with the root cause of the issue. Instead, this war focuses on dealing with the surface problems, such as the distribution and possession. It does not

In the United States of America, we, the people value several things, some of which

The use, sale, and overall abuse of drugs is not at all a recent problem in the United States. Numerous attempts have been made throughout the history of the United States to control the distribution and use of certain types of drugs. Perhaps the most well known of these attempts was the passing of the 18th Amendment in 1919 which prohibited the sale and manufacturing of alcohol. In 1971 President Nixon declared that drugs were “public enemy number one” and set out on his “War on Drugs” in an attempt to lower the rate of drug abuse in America. He helped implement polices that were an attempt to deter drug use and strictly punish those who were caught. These included dramatically increasing the size and presence of federal drug control agencies,

In fact, a 2013 survey recorded that 24.6 Million people aged 12 and over had used an illicit drug in the past month. As a result of drug use,  25% of college students feel as if their academic performances decline when they use drugs. Showing just how serious of a problem the United States is facing presently. Since Nixon declared the War on drugs in 1971, there has been an increase in the amount of drug offenders being punished. There were 1,552,432 drug arrests made in the year 2012 alone. With that being said, I do not believe the War on drugs helped relieve the problem of drug abuse and addiction. In reality, I believe the problem has worsened over the years, because of the additional risk factor now involved in the consumption of

The War on Drugs is a current conflict that has been going on for many decades. It is a movement organized by the United States Government in attempts to reduce the amount of illegal drug trafficking in the country. The War on Drugs enforced strict drug policies that are intended to reduce both the production, distribution, and consumption of illegal drugs. The term was first used by President Richard Nixon, during a press conference concerning the nationwide drug abuse issue, in which Nixon announces to the Congress that drug abuse was, “public enemy number one”. Illegal drugs are certainly dangerous; addiction and death are two but many factors as a result of drugs. However, even though the War on Drugs might sounds justifiable, in truth, it is actually making the drug issue worst in the country.