Underdeveloped Countries and the War on Drugs Essay

The United States of America has been more or less victorious in every war this nation has been involved in since the beginning of modern American history except one, the war on drugs. What makes this war uniquely terrifying is the fact that this is the first modern age war to be fought on American soil. Just in the year 2014 the war on drugs claimed a little over seven times as many American lives as pearl harbor and 9/11 combined. However, the death toll isn’t the only thing that’s rising. Each year the cost of waging this war climbs higher and higher. Over the past four decades the United States as poured over one trillion dollars into fighting drugs inside our own boarders, relying on taxpayers to supply the capital. While the Obama administration assured Americans the border was

The current way the government handles the war on drugs is ineffective and costs America so much(becker and murphy C.1).

When my audience hears “War on Drugs” they may assume it is a worthy endeavor because drug abuse is such a pervasive problem that affects many families. I must dispel the assumption that the “War on Drugs” dealt with the drug abuse problem or reduced drug sales. I can do this by demonstrating that there is plenty of evidence showing that the “War on Drugs” did not do what it set out to do and is therefore not an effective approach to the problem of drug trade and abuse. Additionally the imprisoning of citizens, even if it is done unjustly, does not reduce crime at comparable rates. Research from Harvard found that during the “War on Drugs” in state prisons there was a 66% increase in prison population but crime was only reduced by 2-5% and it cost the taxpayers 53 billion dollars (Coates, 2015). The fact the violent crime went up all through Nixon’s administration while he rallied for “Law & Order” and policing became more severe furthers this argument (Alexander, 2012). Four out five drug arrests are low-level possession charges as well, demonstrating that police policies aren’t dismantling the drug system just punishing addicts (Alexander, 2012). What’s more, drug abuse in America have remained stagnate and even increased in some instances even when billions of dollars have been pumped into the program (National

Before we begin our tour of the drug war, it is worthwhile to get a couple of myths out of the way. The first is that the war is aimed at ridding the nation of drug "kingpins" or big-time dealers. Nothing could be further from the truth. The vast majority of those arrested are not charged with serious offenses. In 2005, for example, four out of five drug arrests were for possession, and only one out of five was for sales. Moreover, most people in state prison for drug offenses have no history of violence or significant selling activity.5

The war on drugs has cost our government a vast amount of money that could be better spent elsewhere. In fiscal year 2013 alone, the United States government spent $25.6 billion in an effort to prevent drug use and its consequences. This was $415.3 million (1.6%) increase from the previous year. [1] This indicates that our government has no intentions of backing off of their drug stance any time soon. Overall, the national drug control budget costs the government more than the state, commerce, and interior departments combined. In addition, large number of drug-related trials clog our nation’s criminal justice courts, and often times the result of these cases is imprisonment for the accused. Since the start of the war on drugs, the country’s incarcerated population has increased sevenfold, and over one percent of the population now resides in a prison. [3] There are currently more people behind bars for drug charges today than there were people behind bars for any reason in 1980. [2] Keeping all of these prisoners incarcerated costs

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.

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.

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.

America is the land of the free; it’s ironic that America also by far has more incarcerated citizens than any other country in the world. America is at war. We have been fighting drug abuse for almost a century. In 1972 president Nixon declared a war on drugs. Unfortunately, we are not winning this war. Drug users are still filling up our jails and prisons, now more than ever. The drug war causes violent crime and criminal activity due to prohibition, not the drugs themselves. Children in all of this are left neglected or without parents. The only beneficiaries of this war are organized crime members and drug dealers. The United States has focused its efforts on the criminalization of drug use. The government has spent billions of dollars in efforts to rid the supply of drugs. Even with all this money and effort of law enforcement it has not decreased the demand or supply of illegal drugs. Not only being highly costly, drug law enforcement has been counterproductive. Current drug laws need to be reviewed and changed. The United States needs to shift spending from law enforcement and penalization to education, treatment, and prevention. The war on drugs has caused many problems in the United States, family problems, financial problems and has increased crime, after forty years in this war it’s time for a change.

Ever since the war on drugs was started, most of the battle has been concentrated in Latin America, leaving trails of devastation from deep within Latin America up to the largest consumer of those substances. After years of fighting, and series’ of more and more aggressive policies put into place by the United States, drugs are just as prevalent if not more so than when the war began. Illegal drugs are still easy to obtain, demand for such substances has skyrocketed and cartels are becoming increasingly affluent. Drug violence since 2006 has resulted in the death of more than 60,000 people. Clearly, our current policies in waging this war are not effective, we have spent over 35 billion dollars over the course of 2013 to attempt to combat

Dangerous illegal drugs have plagued American citizens and their youth for as long as the country has been in existence. These harmful drugs are not only responsible for countless amounts of deaths, but the corruption of the American society in general. All too many times have these drugs been blamed for insanity, racism, rebellion, and straight up violence. Today the government is spending approximately $19.179 billion in one year to combat these evils (Gifford). Unfortunately, even with all of this effort going in to stop illegal drug use, the “War on Drugs” is yet to produce almost any positive results. Because of this, politicians are urging the government to spend even more money to combat the seemingly

In a day and age where there is no clear or apparent bad guy, the United States battles an elusive foe on our home soil. The current epidemic of drug abuse claims the lives of thousands of Americans without any discrimination or bias. The decades old “war on drugs” has done little to hinder the devastating carnage of widespread drug abuse decimating today’s youth. This affliction hits home for almost all of us to at least some extent. The enemy is known, we as a country however have yet to devise an accurate plan to defeat it.

Since the 1960s, State and federal law enforcement have become more focused into putting an end to drug use. Each year, crimes related to drug use has increased, making the government spend tens of billions of dollars arresting, convicting, and jailing drug users. Because of this ongoing problem, the government can’t help but to wonder “will this ever end?” and “Should we stop fighting?” With these questions being raised about a problem so conflicted, The Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branch have different views and opinions regarding the Drug War’s Standpoint.

Since forty years ago, when Nixon first signed the law, the taxpayers have been forced to finance the governments spending on the drug war. In total, the drug war has costed 1 trillion US dollars. While the governments have been preoccupied lavishing on the taxpayers money, their spending has not had any results. In 1980, there were 50.000 people in jail for drug-related offenses, now there is more than 250.000. The incarceration-cost is high, the numbers varies between 30.000 and 60.000 US dollars per year per inmate. Instead of, through the prohibition on drugs, wiping out the drug usage, it has not had any positive results. The drug market, which has a value of over 300 billion US dollars (annually), is instead dominated by criminal gangs.

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,