Failure Is A Compromising And Alarming Idea. When Thinking

For many years, drugs have been the center of crime and the criminal justice system in the United States. Due to this widespread epidemic, President Richard Nixon declared the “War on Drugs” in 1971 with a campaign that promoted the prohibition of illicit substances and implemented policies to discourage the overall production, distribution, and consumption. The War on Drugs and the U.S. drug policy has experienced the most significant and complex challenges between criminal law and the values of today’s society. With implemented drug polices becoming much harsher over the years in order to reduce the overall misuse and abuse of drugs and a expanded federal budget, it has sparked a nation wide debate whether or not they have created more harm than good. When looking at the negative consequences of these policies not only has billions of dollars gone to waste, but the United States has also seen public health issues, mass incarceration, and violent drug related crime within the black market in which feeds our global demands and economy. With this failed approach for drug prohibition, there continues to be an increase in the overall production of illicit substances, high rate of violence, and an unfavorable impact to our nation.

Today the number are in the war on drug is a huge failure with devastated unintended consequences, it lead to mass incarceration in the us, to corruption, to political destabilization, and violence in latin america, asia, and africa. To systemic human right abuse across the world.”-Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, drug use became a major concern for most Americans. As the War on Drugs and “Just Say No” campaign were being thrust into the spotlight by the government and media, the public became more aware of the scope of drug use and abuse in this country. The federal and states’ governments quickly responded by creating and implementing more harsh and punitive punishments for drug offenses. Most of these laws have either remained unchanged or become stricter in the years since then.

This journal article discusses how the government has increased “mandatory sentencing” using “aggressive initiatives” for drug related crimes. Additionally, these government implemented sentencing guidelines have made the prison population grow

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.

Today the number are in the war on drug is a huge failure with devastated unintended consequences, it lead to mass incarceration in the us, to corruption, to political destabilization, and violence in latin america, asia, and africa. To systemic human right abuse across the world.”-Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

“Drug policy regarding the control of the traditional illicit substances (opiates, cocaine, cannabis) is currently moving through upbeat times in almost all Western countries. Prohibition on the basis of repressive law enforcement not only seems to fail on a large scale, but also to create vast additional costs, problems, and harm for drug consumers, who often find themselves in extreme social, economic, and health conditions” (Fischer 1995: 389).

Tougher sentencing is not likely to reduce illegal drug use or serious crime associated with drugs (Alexander, 2010; Mauer, 2009; Whitford & Yates, 2009). Despite that, politicians and law enforcement personnel continue to advocate for stronger sentences for those who take or sell drugs of any kind. The jails and prisons across the United States are filling up with drug offenders, and some believe that there are better uses for those jail cells and that there are many crimes that are more severe and significant. These are the crimes that should be provided with tougher sentencing guidelines, but yet illegal drug use is still a serious crime and should not go unpunished. What should be done, and how should changes be made? Those are tough questions that have to be explored and that do not have any easy answers for those who make the laws and those who enforce them. Drug incarceration has been on the rise, with mixed results. According to King (2008), "overall, between 1980 and 2003, the number of drug offenders in prison or jail increased by 1100% from 41,100 in 1980 to 493,800 in 2003, with a remarkable rise in arrests concentrated in African American communities."

When concerned with the ethics of development in a global environment, the issue of drug abuse is of particular importance. All of the different aspects of the drug trade impact a nation, and specifically the development of a nation within a global environment. Within the United States, drug abuse has been prevalent among specific populations in society for almost a half of a century now. Historically speaking, drug abuse has erupted in many directions; new drugs have offered new markets, new trends have developed new habits. These patterns have become societal concerns on many levels. The creation of new drugs has added another dimension to prescriptive drug abuse. Though science is making

Mandatory minimums for controlled substances were first implemented in the 1980s as a countermeasure for the hysteria that surrounded drugs in the era (“A Brief History,” 2014). It was believed that stiff penalties would discourage people from using drugs and enhance public safety (“A Brief History,” 2014). However, that theory has failed and instead of less illegal drug activity, there are more people incarcerated. Over half of federal prisoners currently incarcerated are there on drug charges, a percentage that has risen 116 percent since 1970 (Miles, 2014). Mass incarceration is an ever growing issue in the United States and is the result of policies that support the large scale use of imprisonment on a sustained basis for social, political or economic purposes that have little to do with law enforcement. Drug policies stemming from the War on Drugs are to blame and more specifically, the mandatory minimum sentencing mandates on petty drug charges which have imprisoned millions of non-violent offenders in the last three decades. Since this declaration

Drug trafficking and drug abuse has long been a frustrating feature of United States and other country around the world. The United Nations Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention points out that the fight against drug

The war on drugs has been a great tool to keep the force of U.S drug policies’ in Latin America because the prohibition makes the most successful and profitable failure to transnational corporations. Over the course 100 years of repression history of narcotics, it has become apparent that zero tolerance policies have brought nothing than harm to the working class on a Global scale, especially Mexico. The attempt to eradicate trafficking in narcotics in many of the Latin American nations is a bloody game of failure. There is no measurable correlation that the supply of illicit drugs into the United States is decreasing as a result of this war. So, there is no end to it because of the morality behind the prohibition. The prejudices and myths created to condemn the use of illicit drugs; it formed a moral ground to sustain the ban. This new approach to drugs emerged from a political and social discourse in Latin America. The association of drug use to “moral living standards” it was just a way to construct problem to divide and conquer.

Obviously, government has not at any point shown laxity in her effort to achieve a drug-free society, a dream that, perhaps by the virtue of existing measures, seems unrealizable. Its efforts include enforcements and bringing drug-offenders to justice which entails incarceration, capital punishment, and what a few. This has financial impacts on the government, for instance, cost of custodial services, police and court cost, community supervision etc; as well as social impacts and collateral costs, (Beckley 2009). Despite these costs, drug markets keep booming and patronage keeps increasing unfortunately. It is then necessary that we review that law which criminalizes our citizens and makes the economy spend more of its hard-earned income incarcerating drug offenders. Thanks to President Goodluck Jonathan for suggesting models for decriminalizing and regulating some of these illicit drugs.

Bertram et al. states that drug related crimes is not necessarily the result of drug use but rather of the conditions under which people are constrained, by drug prohibition policies, to purchase and sell drugs. The sorts of unlawful acts and crimes related to drugs are, to a great extent, made by drug policies. Laws that make drug ownership illegal, create the largest amount of drug criminals. Different crimes, for example, violent acts and burglary, are created by underground markets (black markets) in which drugs are traded. Our government is ensuring the monopoly of the black market by restricting the utilization of non-prescribed drugs. There is a great interest for which there must be a great supply and the present laws prohibiting drug exchange and usage encourage the development of these underground markets.

The international drug control effort began fifty years ago with the aim of eradicating the abuse of certain drugs by controlling their supply. A complex international system of enforcement grew on this belief in supply control. Five decades on, the empirical data is available and overwhelming; the system has failed. Worse still, it has become increasingly clear that the human rights costs of pursuing many of its policies render them unjustifiable. From mass incarcerations in the United States and Asia, to the HIV/AIDS epidemic flooding Russia and the waves of violence rippling through Latin America-the current global drug policies are worsening current global problems. Nevertheless, driven by a mixture of bureaucratic and ideological inertia, the international drug control system governed through the United Nations and enforced by a number of core states continues to pursue many of the same failed policies.