The War on Drugs: a Losing Battle?

The American “War on Drugs” war created to keep an exorbitant amount of people behind bars, and in a subservient status. First, America has a storied history when it comes to marijuana use. However, within the last 50 years legislation pertaining to drug use and punishment has increased significantly. In the modern era, especially hard times have hit minority communities thanks to these drug laws. While being unfairly targeted by drug laws and law enforcement, minorities in America are having a difficult time trying to be productive members of society.

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.

    Mexico is not the only country to blame for the consequences behind drug trafficking and gangs. Since the border between the United States and Mexico is stretched two thousand miles long, it makes it easier to smuggle drugs through and across the US boarders. Mentioned in the article, “Drug wars: violence surges in Mexico”, ¨The drug wars are controlled by seven drug cartels-- criminal organizations that transfer drugs…cocaine and marijuana, often into the United States¨ (Drug Wars 4+).  With both medical and recreation marijuana being one of the hot topics in the U.S, the main component has to come from somewhere. It is obvious, that the “somewhere” being referred to is Mexico. According to the article “Mexican Drug Wars”, “The drug trade from Mexico to the United States began during the Prohibition Era (1919-33), when the sale, production, or transportation of alcohol was illegal in the United States (Mexico's Drug

Nixon’s drug war, however, was a mere skirmish in comparison to the colossal efforts launched by the Ronald Reagan administration in the 1980s. Formally announced by President Ronald Reagan in 1982, the War on Drugs was marked by deep public concern, bordering on hysteria,, towards the nation’s drug problem. Under the leadership of President Reagan, the nation focused unprecedented energy and resources towards eliminating illicit drug use and trafficking.” (pp.

According to “The Apocalypse Now : The Lost War on Drugs”, the United States federal government began to become tough on “crime” especially drug offenses in the 1970’s under President Richard Nixon. Nixon stated that “drugs were public enemy #1” and that he was going to be tough on this crime. As a result, state level government began to create policies that were strict on drug offenses causing minimal sentencing for minor drug offenses. Instead of going after the root of the problem which was preventing drugs from entering the country, these laws targeting low income communities with predominantly black and Latino residents. In addition, these merciless laws were the cause of the significant amount of people, specifically men of color, in prison during the 1980’s “war on drugs” in the United States.

1 Support for the legalization of weed is at a record high right now. This is primarily due to the vast majority of Millennials who feel that marijuana should be legalized as a recreational drug. A few states in America have already legalized it and even more have actually decriminalized its use. David and Jack Cahn, Millennial debaters and credible authors, emphasize a pro legalization argument in their book, When Millennials Rule- The Reshaping of America. Throughout their chapter titled “The Weed Warriors are Back: Rethinking the War on Drugs” the Cahn brothers accurately illustrate that the United States drug policy has failed and predict that Millennials will strongly influence the decision to start rethinking mandatory minimums to fix the injustices they create specifically in drug related crime.

What if I told you that a crusade against narcotics has resulted in an overdose epidemic? This has been exactly what the United States Drug War has done. The War on Drugs is considered to have started in 1914 with the ban on opium and cocaine. Prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s is considered to be an important chapter of the War on Drugs. But it was not until June 1971 that President Nixon officially declared a "war on drugs." He enforced this by drastically expanding federal drug control agencies and mandatory minimum sentencing for those arrested for drug crimes. Defenders of the drug war assert that zealous enforcement is the correct way of dealing with America's drug dilemma. However, it has only accomplished increasing the prison population by putting nonviolent offenders behind bars. It has also done nothing to lessen the overdose crisis. This catastrophic, failing war has to meet its end, as it is having many tragic effects such as the production of stronger, deadlier drugs, increased drug use, and has been wildly ineffectual throughout history.

In 1971 President Nixon declared an all-out war on drugs, now over a million non-violent drug offenders live behind bars. The war on drugs has been the longest, most costly, and destructive war in the US history as of today (Booth , 2007). The war on drugs focuses on the poor people, and not the bankers that launder the money. In 1973 Nixon created the DEA, which stands for Drug Enforcement Agency. The DEA is a federal agency responsible for enforcing laws and regulations governing narcotics, and controlled substances. Their job is to immobilize drug trafficking organizations. When Nixon declared the war on drugs in 1971, the federal budget was 101 million dollars, going into the year 2000; the federal budget allegation was 20 billion dollars. Half of what we spend in the court systems and prison is drug related (Booth , 2007).

Drug Cartels are large highly sophisticated organizations composed of multiple Drug Trafficking Organizations-DTOs and cells with specific assignments such as drug transportation or security. The Cartel is the highest on the drug ring chart and these organizations are highly defined with control structures that produce, transport, and distribute large quantities of illicit drugs (US Drug Enforcement Agency, 2004). The criminal groups operating in the U.S. controls drugs in the ranges of small to moderately size groups. The top three levels of the drug trafficking chart show how organized the criminals are and how much is at stake. The trafficking ring has affected so many lives, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). These trafficked drugs affect people on every socio-economic background, region, and people with any level education. Early use of illicit drugs leads to unhealthy behavior and it is also associated with unwanted pregnancy and premature sexual activity which results in exposure to STDs and or HIV. The U.S. suffers an annual loss of about 70 billion dollars due to

In the article “Legalising cannabis: Mexico can bring medical marijuana entrepreneurs $2.45 billion a year” by Ritwik Roy, Roy discusses the constant conversation of medical marijuana becoming a business opportunity for Mexico. The problem that presents itself is Mexico’s reputation for having “ruthless and illegal drug cartels” in their country. They are known for having a history of drug violence and this can hinder their business endeavors. Mexico has a population of 120 million people the writer finds that this is more than enough to market the use of medical marijuana. The author states that “Pot private equity firms and medical marijuana growers, all look at Mexico as a big business opportunity”, this shows that there a people willing

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.

Another reason to way the war on drugs has failed is because of the amount of street crime that the war has caused. the war on drugs created illegal drug trade, and this caused more crime then it was before the war on drug was created. The article “The War On Drugs: Creatin Crime, Enriching criminals” claimed that “Gangs or cartels that are primarily financed by the sale of illicit drugs on streets have been implicated in a substantial proportion of street violence and homicides(8). For example 1,365 homicides took place between 1994 and 1995. 43% of those homicides were were from ganges in Los Angeles who were in charge of drug distribution(The War On Drugs: Creatin Crime, Enriching criminals 8). All the crime produced on Los Angeles street

In 2009 1,663,582 people were arrested for non-violent drug charges. These people’s lives are now forever changed because of a mistake they made. This mistake is continually made every single day and Americans are being punished in extreme ways for a non violent crime. The United States needs to decimalize all drugs because the drug war is costly, causes high incarceration rates, and isn’t effective as European drug solutions.

Drug trafficking has been an ongoing epidemic in the United States, as well us other countries for an unimaginable amount of time. Illegal drugs varying from heroin and cocaine are primarily the main drugs that get smuggled in the United States from South America. Even marijuana and methamphetamine have been popular in the drug smuggling “industry”. These gangs go to a variety of different extents to get the job done. Drug trafficking increases the violence levels These drugs have been smuggled through the Southwest Border since the 1970s and are attempting to expand the distribution of those drugs into eastern U.S. markets. The countries of drug production have been seen as the worst affected by prohibition. In many countries worldwide, the illegal drug trafficking can be directly linked to high violent crimes. This is especially true in third world countries, but has still been seen as an issue for many developed countries all over the world. Drug trafficking increases the risk of violence and crime due rise of addiction along with an increase of death. It also effects the along with correctional system effects.to its high costs, Nearly all of the heroin produced in Mexico is destined for distribution in the United States. Organized crime groups operating from Mexico produce, smuggle, and distribute various illegal drugs after trafficking them across the US border. Trafficking groups that operate from Mexico tend to avoid penalties by their stealthy methods of smuggling

Drug trafficking has become an increasingly growing problem in the world today. Illegal drug trade is a worldwide black market consisting of production, distribution, packaging, and sale of illegal substances. Although today’s "War on Drugs" is a modern phenomenon, drug problems have been a common problem throughout history. The market for illegal drugs is massive, when we consider the estimated global drug trade value is worth $321 billion (Vulliamy). The most drug trafficking happens on the border between Mexico and the United States. Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon said, “Our neighbor is the largest consumer of drugs in the world. And everybody wants to sell him drugs through our door and our window”