Effects Of Prohibition On The United States

According to the FBI, violent crime did drop drastically from 2010 to 2014, from 1.2 million to 1.1 million. To some that might not be a drastic drop, but it’s still a drop in numbers however you look at it.

Today’s world is changing at a rapid pace. Things never thought to be possible are becoming very real. One of the popular subjects of wanting change is the legalization of drugs. There has already been a small amount of change in the drug legalization process with marijuana now being legal in a few of the states. Vanessa Baird in her work “Legalize Drugs- all of them!” argues for the legalization and decriminalization of drugs. John P. Walters counters Baird’s argument for legalization in his piece “Don’t Legalize Drugs.” Both authors take an extended look into the harsh reality of the drug war and the small progress it has made since it began.

The harsh drug related punishments implemented through the War on Drugs were intended to prevent people from getting involved in drug use and business. However, studies have demonstrated that mass incarceration has the opposite effect. Mass incarceration is largely the result

When the Prohibition era in the United States began on January 19, 1920, a few sage observers predicted it would not go well. Certainly, previous attempts to outlaw the use of alcohol in American history had fared poorly. When a Massachusetts town banned the sale of alcohol in 1844, an enterprising tavern owner took to charging patrons for the price of seeing a striped pig—the drinks came free with the price of admission. When Maine passed a strict prohibition law in 1851, the result was not temperance, but resentment among the city's working class and Irish immigrant population. A deadly riot in Portland in 1855 lead to the law's repeal. Now, Prohibition was being implemented on a national scale, and being enshrined in the Constitution no less. What followed was a litany of unintended consequences.

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.

ALCOHOL IS BAD FOR YOU AND MAKES LIFE DIFFICULT SO THE GOVERNMENT WAS LIKE NAH THANKS TO MUCH WORK NOT WHAT WE THOUGHT IT WAS GUNNA DO

The War on Drugs, like the war on Terrorism, is a war that America may not be able to afford to win. For over forty years the United States has been fighting the War on Drugs and there is no end in sight. It has turned into a war that is about politics and economics rather than about drugs and criminals. The victims of this war are numerous; but perhaps they are not as numerous as those who benefit from the war itself.

The 18th amendment had good intentions for the people of the 1900s, but this idea took a turn for the worse. Prohibition, which started in the 1920’s, made it illegal to manufacture, sell, transport, import, export, and consume alcoholic beverages (Cannon 1). The banning of alcohol was ultimately trying to lower the crime rates associated with drinking, and improve the citizens health (Klenowski 1). The banning brought more problems than good to the1900’s, it changed the culture of daily life for citizens drastically. The Prohibition era created a very specific culture, including: an uprise in criminals, an increase in illegal acts, and a new way of entertainment that today is known as Nascar. The 21st amendment ended prohibition fourteen years after the 18th amendment was put into place (Klenowski 1). The reasoning behind this was to get America back on track.

In order to find an alternative to the United States current drug policy, it is helpful to look at the current options. Governments typically take three broad approaches toward drugs. The first is legalization, in which possession and sale are lawful but still subject to regulation and taxation. The second is criminalization, which consists of the banning of possession and sale with criminal punishment (i.e incarceration). Lastly, there is the combination of the two—where sale and possession are prohibited, yet possession is punishable only by sanctions, such as fines or abuse treatment but not jail time.

Prohibition caused a big political reversal in American politics. The passing of the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution showed how deeply unhappy the country was after fourteen years without the ability to legally purchase liquor. Even most Prohibitionists lost confidence among Mob-run bootlegging, crime and open disrespect for the law by the people drinking. The Great Depression caused an unprecedented amount of unemployment, federal tax revenue took a dive and the government looked for a new source of revenue. A new source of federal tax money from legal liquor sales would do nicely.

millions, but an estimated $1 billion annually could come flooding in as a result of the

Furthermore, "most marijuana smoked in the United States is grown in the United States" [27 Information Plus]. In fact, across of the States' farmland, cannabis is the number one cash crop [Pollan; ONDCP], surpassing even tobacco. It is also important to note that the elicit cannabis trade can be separated from the illicit "hard" drug trade (cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and the like are all highly profitable and controlled entirely by armed cartels. It is much harder to justify the use of these other drugs given the addiction and social ills associated with their use).

America has been fighting an uphill battle on the war on drugs since the days of Nixon. America’s incarceration rates grew during the late 1980s and early 1990s as state and local governments passed “tough-on-crime” legislations. The effort the country has made has not solved the problems they have been trying to cure. If anything the war on drugs fueled the market for drugs and fails to help the victims of drug abuse. The over criminalization of drug users has led to overcrowded prisons which are paid for by the citizens of the United States. Drug enforcement policies should be more lenient in the United States in order to better allocate tax dollars, decrease overcrowded prisons, and regulate drug use leading to a practical plan to

Dangerous illegal drugs have plagued American citizens and their youth for as long as the country has been in existence. These harmful drugs are not only responsible for countless amounts of deaths, but the corruption of the American society in general. All too many times have these drugs been blamed for insanity, racism, rebellion, and straight up violence. Today the government is spending approximately $19.179 billion in one year to combat these evils (Gifford). Unfortunately, even with all of this effort going in to stop illegal drug use, the “War on Drugs” is yet to produce almost any positive results. Because of this, politicians are urging the government to spend even more money to combat the seemingly

The “War on Drugs” is the name given to the battle of prohibition that the United States has been fighting for over forty years. And it has been America’s longest war. The “war” was officially declared by President Richard Nixon in the 1970’s due to the abuse of illegitimate drugs. Nixon claimed it as “public enemy number one” and enacted laws to fight the importation of narcotics. The United States’ War on Drugs began in response to cocaine trafficking in the late 1980’s. As the war continues to go on, winning it hardly seems feasible. As stated by NewsHour, the National Office of Drug Control Policy spends approximately nineteen billion dollars a year trying to stop the drug trade. The expenses shoot up, indirectly, through crime,