Effects Of The War On Drugs

For almost 40 years now the longest and most unsuccessful war in the United States has been the war on drugs. Resulting in 45million arrests and $1 trillion dollars in government spending, the war on drugs has been nothing more than a way of income for public officers and other law enforcement officials. The effort behind the war on drugs is solemnly to reduce illegal drug use and trade. This plan includes a set of drug policies that are intended to discourage the production, distribution, and consumption of these popular and wide spread narcotics.

The term “War on Drugs” was first used by the Nixon administration in the 1970’s, but the country has been enforcing policies against drug use, possession, and distribution since 1914, with the passing of the Harrison Act. They do this mainly through deterrence. The government makes laws and regulations against this kind of behavior and

The War on Drugs was the United Sates government’s attempt to stop the sale and use of illegal drug use. It consisted of anti-drug legislation all with the plan to end drug abuse in America. President Nixon declared and coined the phrase “War on drugs” and increased drug control agencies and pushed for harder sentencing for drug offenses. The war on drugs is an issue that we are still fighting and many of the policies put in place did more harm than good. The drug war affected all people, but it had unequal outcomes for different racial groups and many of the historical pieces of legislation put in place impacted these outcomes and are still affecting many people of color today.

The United States government has been wasting millions of dollars each year on a worthless war that cannot be won. This war is explained in detail by author Art Caden in their essay “Let’s Be Blunt” about the United State war on drugs. The war on drugs began in 1971 under the order of President Richard Nixon, and it was one of the worst decisions he ever made. It has been nothing but a waste of government funding, time, and manpower that can only be described as a dismal failure and should be repealed or at the very least medical marijuana should be made legal.

No matter who has occupied the executive branch, the United States has pursued the same overall policies throughout the drug war. Anti-drug policies can be separated into two general camps, 'supply-reduction ' and 'demand-reduction’ (McCabe 5). Supply-reduction strategies seek to reduce the availability of drugs by limiting access to drug sources and increasing the risks of drug possession and distribution. Demand-reduction strategies, on the other hand, seek to reduce demand for illegal drugs through drug use prevention and treatment. The rhetoric of war helped shape the strategies that were used to combat the perceived drug threat.

The drug war in America has shaped our society into what we know it as today, the war has so far been a failure where hundreds of millions of dollars, workforce, and policies have only served to maintain the same rates of usage as those in the 1970’s. When the drugs hit America, they hit hard. Overwhelmed by drugs showing up in almost every town, America decided to declare war.

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, 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 War on Drugs has been a common phrase in the United States for many decades. What exactly does this mean and how does it shape U.S. foreign policy? The War on Drugs can be defined as the systematic and aggressive policy that is determined to undermine and stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. This policy is backed by several U.S. institutions including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Customs. Also, included in this list are the numerous local law enforcement agencies across the country.

The United States has battled with recreational and medicinal drug use since the establishment of the country. In 1890, the United States placed a tax on morphine and opium. This was a prelude to the War on Drugs. However, in 1970, Richard Nixon made his first actions toward resolving the Wear on Drugs through the Controlled Substances Act. In 1971 President Nixon declared the war on drugs public enemy number one. From there, the policies put in place due to the War on Drugs worked toward filtering the distribution of drugs, but only to some extent. Nixon’s cabinet did not understand the depth and severity the War of Drugs had on the economy. The less drugs in the market, the higher the market price will be. Simultaneously, cartels

As we know now, the War on Drugs is a very complex issue in our society today. The drug war has its very own

Although this changed after World War II, substances like heroin, cocaine, and marijuana became popular with the youth of the 50’s and 60’s creating a “drug epidemic” within that social group as well as a growing heroin epidemic among soldiers returning from Vietnam. To end this generational epidemic and to regulate and define the drug trade, President Richard Nixon declared a nation wide “War on Drugs” in June of 1971. This war was intended to reduce the production, distribution, and consumption of illegal “psychoactive drugs”. When declaring this war Nixon stated that drugs were now “Public enemy Number 1”. His message to Congress was to devote Federal resources to aid in reducing the number of new addicts and to rehabilitate those who were addicted.(Rosenberger, Leif R.  1996.  America’s Drug War Debacle.  Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing

This talk immediately brought my mind to the War on Drugs. Starting with Richard Nixon’s presidency in the 1970s, the United States has poured billions of dollars into stopping the sales and use of drugs, largely through harsh imprisonment terms for thousands of people, mainly those of black and Hispanic descent. Despite the rate of drug use and selling being highly comparable across racial lines, African Americans were arrested 3 to 6 times more often than Caucasians during the height of the War on Drugs campaign. As public health professionals, we are responsible for producing equal health outcomes for all communities and reducing the health disparities among racial groups.

Imagine a world where drug use and drug related issues are no longer a problem in our current society. You could walk in your own city without having to see anyone use illegal drugs. The streets would be safer and the levels of drug use in the United Sates would almost be nonexistent. This is what the American government had in mind when the thought of war on drugs was first conceived. In 1986 President Reagan made it his number one priority to ensure that drugs were no longer going to be an existing problem in America. The War on Drugs was going to stop the production of drugs, disrupt the flow of drugs and even destroy the open-air market in inner cities (Cooper 1). Just the very idea of ending drug problems in America seemed palpable

The so called war on drugs is going on for more than half of the century and yet authorities are still far from achieving victory, some would even say further than ever. The problem lies in the fact that many countries tend to ignore prohibitions made by the UN to boost their own economies.