Origins Of The War On Drugs

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.

As the variables above are added up it, quickly becomes apparent that the “war on drugs,” during the mid 1980s-early 2000s had a negative impact on American life. With all the money spent and lives ruined, the United States came no closer to solving drug issues it had faced in the years prior. Citizens took the biggest brunt of this “war” with the fact that not only did they have to forcibly financially support the “war on drugs,” but in some cases, they had their civil liberties encroached upon or even completely violated. It could be argued that retrospectively looking at the “war on drugs” makes criticizing our country and the officials in charge easy, but when you actually look at the statistics and events surrounding this time period criticism

Beginning in the nineteenth century, spanning to the present day, US history has witnessed a plethora of changes both socially as well as racially. These racial and social changes were the results of moral panics centered around marijuana as well as eugenics.

The prison system in the United States is broken. There are many reasons why it is broken, but the main source of the problem is from the privatization of prisons. The United States has a capitalistic economy, which means our society driven by acquiring capital. Every person’s goal is to make money and live the “American Dream”, including big corporations. Since privatizing markets like healthcare, television, and banking worked for their favor, companies realized that prisons could produce large sums of capital. The war on drugs solidified that belief. Since the start of Ronald Reagan 's “War on Drugs” in the 1970’s, prisons have been privatized and exploited for monetary gain. The public thinks that this so called “War on Drugs” is

(CASA, 2008). On June 19, 1986 Len Bias, a top-notch NBA draft pick was found dead of a crack cocaine overdose. His death prompted media turmoil and it was not long before the authorities came to realize that cocaine was accessible to black people in the form of “crack cocaine.” In a matter of weeks, Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. As a result of the Act, mandatory minimum sentencing for precise amounts of cocaine was enacted. Simultaneously, law-makers established tougher sentences for crack cocaine but not for powder

The Mexican drug trade is a very lucrative business, resulting in numerous factions fighting for territory and profit to be had. The United States populace is the largest consumer of illicit drugs in the world and the demand is never-ending. The main Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO) continue to provide the service of manufacturing and distributing illegal drugs and in turn earn billions of dollars each year in profit. Violence and greed from the drug trade has turned Mexico into a war zone for the foreseeable future with no end in sight.

The 1970s were times of crisis regarding the heroin epidemic and was when the nation truly started to “declare war” to stop drug use. The “War on Drugs” was interpreted differently by government and the rest of society. Government emphasized in punishment and enforced harsh drug laws in hope to deter drug users. For instance, in 1973 Nelson Rockefeller proposed the harshest drug laws in the nation which included having more police, more prisons, and longer sentences. The other aspect on the war on drugs were the arguments made by people like Kurt Schmoke. He argued for rehabilitation and that the punishment of drug users instead of is “wasting millions of dollars and wasting lives.” He fought for the imprisoned individuals and for government

Mexico is currently the largest foreign supplier of methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and heroin to the United States. Corruption in Mexico’s political system has allowed drug trade operations to flourish and for cartels to become lethal and powerful forces. Along with the influx of drugs, the wave of violence that followed President Calderon’s declaration of war on drug trafficking in 2006 has taken an estimated 164,000 lives as of July 2015.2 The United States has been waging a war on drugs for over 40 years. President Nixon was the first president to declare a war on drugs in June 1971 to combat a rise in

The war on drugs is a long going battle and it has created many issues all around the world and as of today the highest prison population can be found in the United States due to drug charges. About half of the inmates with in federal and state prisons can be found on drug convictions. Those charges can range from possession of an illicit substance to drug trafficking that surprisingly continues to be an issue in federal and state prisons. How can United States put an end to the war on drugs?

Consequently exposing those targeted communities’ cultural practices and institutions to promote and later perpetuate several negative stereotypes.

The Mexican Drug War is a war that’s never going to end mainly because of the corruption that takes place in Mexico. Drug Trafficking dates back to the 1900s, but nobody knows for sure how long this has been going on. It’s said that it all started with liquor during prohibition (Al Capone era); after prohibition liquor was then replaced with drugs like Cocaine, Methamphetamine, and Marihuana. Forward to a century later The US of America made a deal with the Mexican government a few years ago that allowed Drug cartels not only to push weight into the US but also receive information about the opposite cartels from Mexico and in return for Mexico to receive fire arms to supply the deadly cartels. Cartels like the Sinaloa

The Modern War on Drugs sparked in the early 1970s, when President Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs in America. Nixon discussed the necessity to take action against not only the illegal drug use, but also to focus on ridding the illegal drug trade. The war on drugs contributes to America’s economic system specifically benefiting four major industries: the drug testing industry, the alcohol industry, the addiction recovery industry, and lastly the private prison industry. The United states contributes to less than five percent population to the world; however, we hold nearly twenty-five percent of the incarcerated population holding 2.2 million people behind bars. With this flourishing number of inmates resulting from the war on drugs,

Starting in 1914 the U.S introduced the first probation acts that prohibited the consumption of Opiates and Cocaine with the Harrison Narcotics act of 1914 Later this act was amended to include marijuana. This Act was the first use of federal criminal law in the United Sates to attempt to deal with the nonmedical use of drugs (wisegeek). The war of drugs started primarily in the 1971 when Nixon declared the war on drugs. He dramatically increased the size and presence of federal drug control agencies (Drug Policy). With the first major organized drug imports from Columbia from the Black Tuna Gang based in Miami, Florida Columbia was quickly growing into a drug superpower able to feed America’s growing addictions.

Mexico’s is at its thinnest line of being uncontrolled. Cartels are a big problem in Mexico and are ruining the country; they are a serious mater in the world we live in today. The cartels are formed in groups and structures to control the production and distribution of narcotic drugs. They are criminal groups that develop and control drug trafficking operations. Mexico, the state that is right now is a very heavy situation that is difficult to control. Cartels range from wacky managed agreements and work separately and have rivals they are to dodge. The Country, Mexico is a major supplier of heroin to the U.S. market, and the largest foreign supplier of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. Cartels are not only in Mexico but

This paper aims to elaborate the significant reasons behind the war on drugs between the Mexican government and the drug cartels in Mexico and examine the impact of this conflict on Mexico and on US National Security. Drug Trafficking or any other illegal activity related to drug Cartels and gangs pose an imminent threat to the Mexican governance because of the corruption and the violence they generate. Illegal drugs affect not only Mexico but also the U.S in terms of trafficking and consumption. The Mexican government has always taken many initiatives to fight this threat and the pressure of the U.S has put the Mexican government in a complex situation with no other alternative than to continue to fight. The war on drugs in Mexico took a different turn when President Calderon took office in 2006. He implemented the Merida Initiative, a bi-lateral anti-narcotics initiative funded by the US and Mexico. Since the Mexican government has declared the war on drugs, its impact on the nation has been profound and the violence it generated has even crossed the border. The urge to create a safe environment for socio-economic development and to decrease violence linked to drug trafficking in the US are two significant reasons behind the war on drug in Mexico through the Merida Initiative. Moreover, the militarization of security strategies in Mexico to combat drugs has resulted in an increase in violence and human rights violations in the nation. It has also threatened the US border