I believe the U.S. has lost the war on drugs. Fox News reports that the war on drugs has cost America trillions of dollars and many lives. An article I found on the war on drugs states that drug related deaths in Mexico has taken as many American lives as lost in the Vietnam and Korean wars! But still drugs are available and crime rates are high. So if our current method isn’t working, what is another way to fight the war on drugs?
It is obviously agreed by many that illegal drugs such as marijuana, heroin, cocaine, etc. are not beneficial to your health. Many of these drugs have harmful effects (although marijuana has been found to have legitimate health related benefits for some people). Consider the 1920s when prohibition made alcohol and liquor illegal. As a result, crime corrupted society. Alcohol was made legal again not because of health reasons, but rather to bring back some peace and sanity to society.
The goal is to create a less costly and more effective way to remove illegal drugs and dealers off the street. Simply legalizing drugs is not the answer, but would it not be more effective to decriminalize use and focus laws on illegal supply? With this method, the money saved could be used toward treatment and rehab centers (drug users are going to be more likely to seek out treatment for their addiction than jail). Imagine if alcohol was still illegal and alcoholics were sent to jail. There would still be a large number of alcoholics, our jails would be full of people who need treatment (not imprisonment), and it would cost money that our economy needs. I feel that treating drug abuse and making treatment available to a greater number of people is a better solution than the current war on drugs.
The negative and positive consequences of drug control and legalization need to be weighed greatly. President Barack Obama’s plan is to shift the focus from fighting a war on drugs to making drugs a national health issue. “It’s a disease, it’s diagnosable and it’s certainly something that can be treated -- but it’s not a war,” said Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. This is an idea that certainly needs to be explored.
More articles related to the topic:
http://www.thepilot.com/news/2011/jun/12/war-drugs-has-failed-it-time-new-approach/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuhTFZc60tE&feature=player_embedded
ReplyDeleteI've seen this issue come up a lot too. I would like to present another perspective on this. The drug war was a big success if you look at who made the most money from it. Weapons firms and military supply companies. Course if you look deep into it you will find that Pot was first outlawed by the lobbying of paper industry because it cheaper and better for paper. Now it is a major income source for the CIA and all the blackops organizations. Like check into the increased drug trade from Afghanistan, was the war about Oil or Terrorism, or really about opium and increasing drug profits? Forget the politics and BS the news monopoly preaches, just follow the money trail then you'll find out what is really going on...
ReplyDeleteYes follow the money trail and we find that we have help the Major Cartels by cutting down on new players and allowing them to grow and succeed... "After 22 years, Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has proven to be an ineffectual waste of money. Anti-drug efforts remain haphazard and uncoordinated. Federal anti-drug prosecutions are unfocused, wasteful and racially discriminatory. An examination of the 25,000 federal drug cases concluded each year reveals two outrageous facts. First, instead of high-impact investigations targeting the most dangerous and powerful drug traffickers, the typical federal cases target the lowest level offenders: local street dealers, lookouts, bodyguards, couriers, “mules,” etc. selling small quantities of drugs that are tiny specks in the picture of the national and global drug trade. Second, the defendants in these cases are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic. Only about one in four federal drug defendants is white." . . while keeping the wealthy Italians in charge...
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