The War on Drugs and U.S. Foreign Policy Essay

Through my research I have found our involvement in the drug world follows the same theme that seems to recur with our government and their policies. We talk a good game that formulates a structure and a well-worded policy that appears to be in the best interest of American citizens and foreigners alike. However we also aid these countries. The problem doesn’t lie within our policies or the simple compassion from our government that drugs hurt our society. The problems occur with those that implement and enforce these policies. Cocaine and its market cannot be eradicated. The efforts of many of our political leaders have been futile because of the supply and demand of the product. In 1989, President Bush had a plan that he called, “The cheapest and safest way to eradicate narcotics” (Menzel pg.43). The result was the following,

Issues such as manufacturing and delivering of materials were delayed. As a consequence, the plan could not be executed right away. However, even with the aid that Colombia has provided, data proves that numbers have not decreased for drug activity. Since December of 2001 combatants have sprayed herbicide over 75,000 of the 340,000 acres of drug crops reported to exists in Colombia. The plan was to cut that acreage in half by 2002. However, evidence from reports conducted by the United Nations have emerged, proving that there is far more than 340,000 acres of drug crops in Colombia. Which puts into question this plan. Another statistic that is proven misreported is the total amount of cocaine produced in Colombia. The U.S. stated their estimates to be around 580 tons annually. However, recent studies show that cocaine production out of Colombian ranges from 800 to 900 tons annually. This miscalculation is supported by the fact that according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the street prices of cocaine have not been reduced since the commencement of Plan Colombia. If crop eradication in Colombia had been successful, the supply of cocaine would have decreased, thus forcing the law of supply and demand to raise the price of cocaine in the black

He also describes how the United States views as a voice and forceful supports of prohibitionist drug controls in international policymaking. In addition, in the United States the discussion on surrounding drug control policy is one of the most extremely disputed matters of our current eras. The author mentions in the article how the strictly enforced US prohibitionist drug was unable to control the Narcotic drugs which happened to create many negative and harmful consequences for the people in the world. The negative consequences that were created when they failed to control the narcotic drugs happened to increase the violence, government dishonesty, and public seizure; therefore, these consequences to the economy growing are very harmful and dangerous. Narcotic drugs have long preserved, which has impacted many people lives in the world. A main purpose of this article is about the unaffordable drug control normally employed by the United States. The United States has spent way too much money abroad and local just thinking that they will be able to decrease the level of illegal drugs; however, they happened to fail at

However, in the current Obama administration, the term War on Drugs is described as counterproductive and is not use, but it still follows the eradication, incarceration format. There is a sense of believe that the War on Drugs is more costly than effective because

Despite the great investments in the War on Drugs, such efforts can be seen to be causing more harm than good. These attempts have further failed to meet its objectives, given that the drug menace continues to persist. The efforts are characterized by federal and local law enforcement agencies constantly engaged in implementation activities such as cracking down on traffickers, dealers and users of the drugs, in the endeavor to stem the movement of the narcotics.

The War on Drugs attempts to solve the supply side of narcotics with crude and unnecessary punishments for a demand side issue. The United States fails to realize that Mexico is not the problem,

The United States defiantly needs to do more to prevent imported drugs into the country. More emphasis results in less drug use by consumers. Although it may not completely stop drug use. It will reduce the number of people gaining access nonetheless. An argument for this issue is that the more the force the United States places on drug

In recent history, there has been much rhetoric surrounding the eradication of cross-border drug trafficking. The “war on drugs” was introduced in the 1970s by Nixon, who wanted to eliminate the drugs coming into the United States, since they were seen by him as a threat to our nation. Many laws have been enacted with the purpose keeping illicit drugs out of the United States, yet they do so through the use of nativist ideology, which upholds white supremacy by perpetuating the belief that those associated with Mexico are inherently criminals and must be kept out of the United States. Latin America is looked at as a corrupt place, teeming with drugs and criminals, that is tainting the wonderful and

Between 1981 and 1996 the U.S. Government has spent more than $80 billion fighting the "drug war". Government agents continuously patrol our southern border, from Florida to California, in an effort to ward off large scale drug smuggling. Thus far, their efforts appear futile (Bayer 33).

According to Sanho Tree, director of the Drug Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C., “The American war on drugs is not only failing, it's actually perpetuating drug trafficking, profiteering and drug use all over the world.” The more we fight this war, the cheaper the drugs become, the more available they are and the higher the purity. One doesn't need to resort to conspiracy theory to know why this war is failing. It is time the administration faces the problem first hand. The United States is too focused on the Middle East and the war for oil to have spent too much time and energy on the War on Drugs, which inevitably evolved into the War on Terrorism. The government is continually shelling out more money to support the war on drugs, but this was is not one that can be purchased. With an annual budget of twenty billion dollars, we cannot afford to give more money to this war, particularly when it is not helping. This is a war that needs time and energy devoted to brainstorming so that we can develop a new way of dealing with the War on Drugs, a way that works.

Failure is a compromising and alarming idea. When thinking about the drug control policy of the past half-century, failure is the only conclusion that one can come to. A dated history of combatting drug abuse with punitive measures has not led to the annihilation of illicit drug use. It has not created safer societies. It has led to the stigmatization and isolation of a substantial proportion of society and stimulated drug crimes. Now it is time to look back and address the negative consequences of past drug control strategies. It is time to reform the strategies of fighting illicit drug use. The National Drug Control Strategy, the Global Commission on Drug Policy, and the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy all advocate for

The global policy on drugs has one main concern, as maintained in the first clause of the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs: promoting the health and welfare of mankind (United Nations, 1961). The convention and global drug policy actors have asserted through the years that drugs pose a threat to this concern, and so an integrated effort to reduce supply, demand and trafficking of said narcotics is the desired course of action (High Level segment Commission on Narcotic Drugs, 2009). It seems that this course of action became an end of itself instead of a mean to an end of health and welfare, as mounting evidence shows that the actions taken to achieve this have not only been ineffective in reducing supply, demand and trafficking; they have also created severe violations of human rights, alongside criminalization, a hazard to public health, and drug cartels which pose a very real threat to peace and security.

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,

The War on Drugs is a current conflict that has been going on for many decades. It is a movement organized by the United States Government in attempts to reduce the amount of illegal drug trafficking in the country. The War on Drugs enforced strict drug policies that are intended to reduce both the production, distribution, and consumption of illegal drugs. The term was first used by President Richard Nixon, during a press conference concerning the nationwide drug abuse issue, in which Nixon announces to the Congress that drug abuse was, “public enemy number one”. Illegal drugs are certainly dangerous; addiction and death are two but many factors as a result of drugs. However, even though the War on Drugs might sounds justifiable, in truth, it is actually making the drug issue worst in the country.

The answer is quite simple: the international war on drugs has been all but successful. Regardless how overwhelming the combative forces against illegal drug trade may be, the combination of a non-authoritative state with powerful and wealthy organized crime syndicates result in overall weak state efficacy. This rise in drug trafficking, along with an increase in local drug production and consumption, is a major challenge in the pursuit of peace, stability and security.