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?
The War on Drugs has been a complete failure almost from the outset as you said. Especially in the case of drugs like marijuana that are widely known to not be terribly harmful, the US spends ridiculous amounts of money and time on incarcerating and prosecuting small-time smokers. I think it would be interesting to see a study on the results in a country like Portugal that decriminalized all drugs and what sort of effect that had not only on the citizens themselves but on the efficiency of the justice system. I also wholeheartedly agree that we need more actual education when it comes to drugs and less of the "drugs are bad" approach that doesn't seem to be working terribly well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point. Billions of dollars spent on war on drugs and thousands of people sent to prison, but no one argue about the presence of drugs at street corners. The purpose of war on drugs I think was to reduce the use of drugs and safer community. The result is opposite. More people killed in drugs related issues and certainly more people are in prison cell because of the policy of war on drugs. I think alcohol industry as well as the cigarette industry lobby hard to keep those drugs illegal in order to maximize their bottom line, and law makers can’t stand against these powerful corporate lobbyists.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI like the TED video you posted. He is a good speaker and I was interested to learn about how the UN focuses on criminalization over health in policies. I also like that he made the point about how alcohol is obviously more dangerous than marijuana. What do you think the answer is? I like that he pointed out how this issue is an “intellectual and moral puzzle” because it is immoral to send people to jail for smoking marijuana in my opinion. He says we should learn to live with drugs to get the best from them and minimize the negative aspects of them. Do you think this is possible/realistic in America?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJohnathan, nice post! War on drugs is big issue. As government has spent lots of many for the resolving of this issue but no results are coming out. I believe people should be more aware about this and work together to fight for this war. I think people should get more education about this topic. Thank for adding the video. Looking forward for your next post.
ReplyDeleteJonathan, great post. David Simon, creator of the wire, recently wrote about the war on drugs as a whole, but actually focused on the fact marijuana is becoming decriminalized (and in some places legalized). He actually came out in opposition to the drug becoming legal. His reason may surprise you though. He argued marijuana is the main drug that connects the white and affluent population to the war on drugs. Meaning, white college kids have been expelled or jailed for marijuana use. He argues if we legalize pot, and only pot, we're essentially removing the white and affluent from the draconian effects of the drog war. So because those who are powerful will cease being affected by the drug war, the odds of it ending will evaporate. Instead, blacks and minorities will be even more disproportionately affected.
ReplyDeleteIt's a really interesting point of view. Not sure if I agree -- what do you think?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnother engaging post JayB. The war on drugs have been an on-going issue for as long as I can remember and it doesn’t seem to be coming to an end anytime soon despite all the money spent or should I say wasted?!. Education on drugs are definitely needed because apparently, the whole “drugs are bad” for you approach is not working as someone already stated. It seems to me the more this “war” continues, the more people do drugs nowadays; all we have to do is open our eyes and we will see it unfold right before our very eyes. I also like the TED video you provided the link to - very interesting!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great Blog Posts! These facts about Nixon really did it for me because I never knew any of this. You mentioned, “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.” I had no idea Nixon made marijuana a schedule one drug. So many people uses it and I do not know if they realize how dangerous that this drug is. I enjoyed this post.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with drugs is that we waste so much money on putting people in jail for such a minor offense, this just spirals out even more. We really do need to make drugs legal, so that we can tax it just like we do alcohol and cigarettes. There are always going to be problems with any substance, i.e. alcohol, but with rules and regulations we keep it in check. I really think marijuana especially should be legal, it's not going away and more people end up in jail for it, costing money and resources that could be used for other things. We need to really look at alternatives in regards to drugs. Like my blog I talked about pure MDMA, an ingredient in ecstasy and the use in PTSD patients while in psychotherapy. Of the studies that have been done, it has been shown to help faster and more efficiently than the current treatments but because MDMA (ecstasy) was made legal back in the 80's, it is going to be really hard for the researchers to show the FDA that it is worth adding this to therapy. I understand people being scared of drugs because they can cause major problems in a persons life but they are not going away and the methods we have set now are not working. Why do you think that sugar is legal, when it has been proven to cause harm, damage, and as been said to be harder to quit than heroine?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this. I did my fifth blog post on how the legalization of marijuana in Colorado has benefitted their society. It helps in many ways, one being economically which you talked about. But another one that really got my attention was how much stress was taken off of the judicial system. They estimated that there would be almost one-third of the trials brought to court pertaining to marijuana in 2014 as compared to before the law was enacted. It also talked about how the police were able to aim their efforts at more important crimes such as burglary and murder. That was a major point to me because most people understand how much it could help economically, but i was surprised to see how many other aspects it could affect.
ReplyDeleteI think that The War on Drugs has been a huge failure. Making drugs illegal just causes more violent crime due to gangs and cartels selling the drugs. Personally, I feel as though drugs should be legalized and taxed the same way tobacco and alcohol are now. Our schools and infrastructure could certainly use the money!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have to say for the issue of drugs, a lot of people simply look at the physical harm of the substance. There are very few people seem to look at drugs in a collective sense in the United States. I think it is important to understand how drugs are extremely harmful to public health, directly and indirectly. How people are not only taking it in for themselves, but for children to see other people taking it, it raise their curiosity to try it. It would be the same with cigarettes, if we legalize drugs today, the population on drugs would dramatically increase. Drugs today would be the cigarettes tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this informative post. I have to say I agree with Nixon on this issue regarding "war on drugs" . . . Side note, one thing i do not understand is why cocaine is actually a schedule 2 drug where a marijuana is a schedule 1 drug. I work at a pharmacy and this when I was studying for my federal licensing this has always baffled me. I believe they should both be schedule 1 or it should be switched where marijuana is schedule 2 and cocaine is schedule 1. Cocaine is a much more dangerous and abusive drug than marijuana. Although, both can severely alter your neural chemical makeup.
ReplyDelete