The Drug War Fiasco
The scene was 1971 — hippies were graduating to cocaine, soldiers were coming home from Vietnam with heroin habits, and American rock stars were dying of drug overdoses in the bathtubs of Paris.
ARMED WITH the executive branch of the United States and the audacity to confront such an issue, Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon waged a war with the sign of a pen and a speech that began like this:
“Public enemy No. 1 in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.” – Richard Nixon ~ June 17 1971
Almost 40 years later, one trillion tax payer dollars have been spent, hundreds of thousands of lives have been destroyed, drugs are still available everywhere, violence remains more rampant than ever, and we have locked up more people than anyone on the planet cause of it. The United States’ “War on Drugs” has become a complete and utter fiasco.
The AP recently dug up some incredible numbers that exemplify why such a war has been nothing more than a detriment to the American people and abroad. The report shows we’ve repeatedly raised the budget for programs that have been proven ineffective in stopping the flow of drugs. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, during the same time we spent 33 billion dollars on “Just Say No” anti drug campaigns at schools across the country, drug use among students has remained constant and drug overdoses have even “steadily risen.” In fact, preventative measures have failed so badly that studies estimate 10 million more Americans regularly ingest illegal drugs than they did in 1970- almost a 40% increase.
Not only has putting money into preventative measures failed but also law enforcement has effectively turned people with bad habits into criminals who now crowd by the millions into prisons cells. 121 billion dollars have been spent to arrest up to more than 37 million nonviolent drug offenders – about a quarter of them just for the possession of weed. While studies (and common sense) have shown jail equates to an increase in drug abusehalf of all federal prisoners in the United States are currently serving time because of drug crimes. Not only thisbut also we’ve spent a whopping 450 billion to do so! We have quadrupled the amount of incarcerated Americans in the span of just four decades. There are so many drug arrests judges can’t even keep up with them. There were 8,482 drug cases dropped last year - almost a quarter of all drug cases because judges were “too busy.”
The effects of this drug war can be felt in all levels of American society but probably none more so than our southern neighbors who have been destabilized and have already lost the lives of tens of thousands. Whispers of a possible collapse seem to grow louder with every passing day. Police are being decapitated regularly, politicians are being kidnapped, major cities are being blockaded by cartels, car bombs are being beginning to be deployed, and Juarez has become one of the most dangerous places in the world. An estimated 10 % of Mexico’s economy stem from illegal drugs. While we’ve thrown 49 billion dollars to cut off the drug trade at the borderthe bulk of America’s drugs originate from Mexico. A yearly 25 billion dollars gets smuggled into Mexico every year – while only a quarter of one percent of that money gets confiscated at the border. With our guns and money (that we exchange for illegal drugs)we are essentially responsible for causing this bloody war, which threatens to destroy Mexico. Just like how alcohol prohibition gave gangsters like Al Capone power in the 1920’s, we are granting immense amount of power to these ruthless Mexican cartels and gangsters across the country.
It’s about damn time for an intervention for the federal governmentwhich for the past forty years has had a nasty addiction for throwing away astronomical amounts of tax payer dollars towards interdiction and law enforcement which has proven time & again to make America’s drug problem worse.
A previously unthinkable solution is beginning to manifest itself like never before — legalization.
We need a drastically new approachthe feds should be treating drug abuse more of a public health issue than a criminal one, we don’t throw alcoholics in jail and we shouldn’t throw people hooked on heroin in jail either. Law enforcement needs to spend more time going after violent criminals than the drug addicts that are only victimizing themselves. Our annual drug budget has multiplied itself 31 times since 1971- the American taxpayers will spend 15 billion on the drug war this year and unless things change it will no doubt increase more and more.
If you examine the US constitution closely you will see there is no authority to restrict private personal choices such as the usage of drugs. All of our freedomsfrom freedom of speech & assembly, right to bear arms, right to be free from unnecessary government searches and seizures stem from the precept that you own yourself and are responsible for your own choices. Prohibition laws negate self-ownership and absolutely oppose the principles of freedom. While prohibition of alcohol failed in the 20’s, prohibition of drugs that the national government deem immoral has surely failed as well.
Today, millions upon millions of Americans will smoke, snort, pop, or shoot some sort of illegal drug into their bodies. No matter how much money these politicians throw at this problem, no matter how many police crowd our streets or our boarderdrugs will be used and abused. A country that wages war with drug abuse is a country that has waged war with its citizens. Nixon made the mistake of thinking he could win a war that in its very essence is unwinnable. People will always escape reality with drug usethe way the federal government has tried to combat this issue has not been a realistic one and has failed on all fronts to curve drug abuse. It is time to try freedom instead.