The war on drugs is one of the hot button issues that is in the news today. With racial bias in stop and frisk cases and states voting for legalization of certain drugs, now more than ever is the time to have discussions about drugs in the States. Many drugs have been made illegal not because of the risks associated with the drugs but because they were aimed at certain people. According to druppolicy.org “the first anti-opium laws in the 1870s were directed at Chinese immigrants” and now African Americans and Latinos carry the brunt of the unfair drug enforcement and sentencing practices.
The war on drugs as we call it now was declared by President Richard Nixon in 1971, when drugs were seen as symbols of political unrest and youthful rebellion. Nixon made marijuana a schedule one drug, the most restrictive category for drugs. Fast forward to now and though the opinions from politicians has gone up and down we've gotten back to a position where we’re slowly accepting a more health conscious policy on drugs.
One website has calculated that the federal government has spent over $15 billion on the War on Drugs. That money is being spent on arresting people for small amounts of drugs, raiding people’s homes and sending people to prison. The money from taxes in states where marijuana has been legalized for recreational use are being used to help support the communities around them. For a descriptive timeline on the war on drugs you can go to pbs for a graphic. There is also plenty of information about the state of drugs in the United States on the white house website.
The opinion of groups like NORML and even the website psychologytoday agree that they war on drugs is a failure and that there needs to be new ways to have drug reform. Using treatments like rehab and regulating drugs instead of making them illegal and making the problem worse is what we need to be doing in this day and age.
How does this policy put into place by the government affect people on the ground floor? Well access to drugs is completely illegal for schedule one drugs like Heroin, LSD, Marijuana, MDMA, Ecstasy and others. Which means that the government thinks that these drugs have a high potential for abuse, have no currently acceptable medical use, and there’s a lack of accepted safety for the use of the substance. The people using these drugs are at risk for getting arresting, getting diseases from sharing needles and there are so many things that could be done to reduce even those problems. Clean needle programs and regulating and taxing the drugs will make the war on drugs obsolete and will bring us to a healthier environment for all of us. Education about drugs wouldn't be just scare tactics and therapy, treatment for drug use and drug abuse can be more about finding effective alternatives rather than punishing people for their addictions or for their need for income.
For more information check out this TedTalk about the failure of the War on Drugs by Ethan Nadelmann. What’s you opinion on the War on Drugs and what would you do to change it?