Table of Contents
Many think that the war on drugs began recently, however, the war on drugs started much earlier. To start, we need to know when and why many of our drugs became illegal. Many of our drugs were illegalized not because of any data, or scientific knowledge that had been gathered about the negativity of using the certain drug. Many of our drugs were actually illegalized because of races that were associated with the drugs. Anti-Marijuana laws were made due to negative beliefs of the Mexicans in the 1920’s, anti-cocaine laws were made due to negative views of the African American population in the 1900’s, and anti-opium laws were made due to negative views of the Chinese immigrants who came here for the Gold Rush and building of the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860’s and 1870’s.
The war on drugs, as we can see, really began with these racially involved decisions back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. During the early 1900’s, we had the passing of the Harrison Narcotics Act, which illegalized the creation and selling of many different illicit drugs. Then, in 1930, we had the creation of the FBN (Federal Bureau of Narcotics). The FBN was very decisive on how it wanted illicit drug users to be reprimanded, focusing much more on detainment than anything else. After this and the prohibition era, we hit the 1960’s.
The 1960’s were what I refer to as the “Hippy Era”. The “Hippy Era” was a time where drug use began to spike with young people feeling rebellious and trying out drugs like LSD and other hallucinogens. We also had the Vietnam war going on at the same time, and many of those soldiers were on suffering from drug addictions such as heroin and marijuana to the low cost of these drugs in Vietnam as well as the effects of these drugs during combat. Because of this increase in drug use President Johnson and his administration created the Narcotics Addict Rehabilitation Act of 1966.
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According to the NCJRS, “addicts charged with violating Federal laws could opt for treatment under the care of the surgeon general, with charges being held in abeyance, to be dropped if improvement was shown within 3 years.” (Friedman) This was huge in regards to rehabilitation, because before this the country was all about detainment over rehabilitation.
1971 is when most people believe the war on drugs started. This is because of President Nixon’s famous address, in which he declared that the United States is starting “a war on drugs”. Then, the government created a methadone maintenance program, which was the first government funded treatment program due to President Nixon trying to follow a rehabilitative model after stating, “all efforts of interdiction and eradication are destined to fail”. (Stanford) He then created the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in 1973 and used them to try to get Mexico to regulate their marijuana.
They blocked all trade with Mexico, and Nixon achieved his goal of significantly lessening Mexican marijuana in the United States. While it seems great, and that we won some kind of battle, that is not the case. Every time we as a country attempt some form of drug eradication from our country, we fail. Drug trafficking routes change, other groups or people step in when the others are arrested. Since President Nixon, we as a country have had many different ideologies on what to do with our war on drugs. For starts, we had the Carter administration that was a fan of decriminalizing marijuana, while funding the suppression of the drug suppliers. Then, we have the President Reagan and his administration, which were much more in to zero tolerance by the drug abuser.
President Reagan and his administration went the exact opposite way of the Carter administration, and wanted to impose stiff penalties rather than the laxed sentences and rehabilitation that the Carter administration preferred with their illicit drug policy. The Reagan administration actually reduced rehabilitation funding. After Reagan, we had the Clinton administration. The Clinton administration largely followed the Reagan plan, but added significant funding to not only eliminating the drug source, but also gave money to the rehabilitative side as well. (Stanford)
So, with all of this historical war on drugs information, where are we now? Well, in the last few years we have had changes due to political changes. President Obama took a little more of a hands-off policy, believing that the government should not be involved in marijuana legality issues. President Trump, on the other hand, has stated that building a wall along the southern border will help cut off the source of illegal drugs to our country. Statistically speaking, in one month during the year 2013, there was an estimated 24.6 million illicit drug users. (NIDA) So, with 9.6% of the American population using illicit drugs, what can we do to stop this “war on drugs”?
Imprisonment
Imprisonment is one of the first things that people think of as a way to win the “war on drugs”. Is this the best way to handle it though? In July of 2018, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, roughly 46% of prison inmates were in prison due to some kind illicit drug charge. (BOP) With our prisons close to half filled with drug users, and our prisons being so over occupied as is, does this seem like a viable option to continue with? The state of our prisons combined with our amount of drug users clearly show an issue, so could we actually add more illicit drug users to our prisons?
I mean, we could try to build more prisons, but is that really the answer? The amount of money and time it would take to build more prisons would not be effective because we know that imprisonment alone is not an effective way to deal with drug users. We know that drug abuse is a part of drug addiction, and that cannot be fixed by simply locking someone up. Rehabilitative measures in prison, such as treatment and therapy, have been shown to help but they do not happen often. According to the National Institute of Health, with 945,530 meeting the criteria to receive treatment in state jail and prisons, only 121,560 received treatment. The fact that only 12% of the above people received treatment is an extreme missed opportunity.
Rehabilitative
This is a good time to switch in to rehabilitative methods without imprisonment. When discussing cost effectiveness, it turns out that rehabilitation is far less expensive than imprisonment. According to Redonna Chandler with the NIDA, $14.6 billion dollars out of $193 billion dollars went towards drug rehabilitation. (Chandler) That is staggeringly less than the cost of imprisonment, and has been proven to work. There are, however, some negatives that come associated with drug rehabilitation. For starts, many drug abusers cannot afford the cost of drug rehabilitation. Depending on the services that are needed, the cost can be anything from $1000 to $60000. (addictioncenter)
Now, while medical insurance can help with this, many people still cannot afford to pay for treatment. With rehabilitation being the option in this section, we have to look at some other issues. At what risk are we willing to put the community at to address an individual’s drug habits and rehabilitation? I believe that, if following a rehabilitative model more than imprisonment, there should be a three-strike rule with the exception of any potential violent crimes including DUI. This gives everyone a fair shake, with the understanding of mistakes happening but not allowing any violence or anything that could potentially endanger any other citizens.
How to Win the War on Drugs
So, with all of this being said, are there any other options besides imprisonment and rehabilitation? I actually think so. Now, I understand the controversy behind this, but in my opinion, I do think that a good way to end the “war on drugs” would be to legalize marijuana while also using rehabilitative and imprisonment if needed. Now, I know that this has been said many times, but the legalization of marijuana would drop the numbers significantly. As was said previously in this research paper, there were 24.6 million illicit drug users in one month in 2014.
Of this 24.6 million, 19.8 million were marijuana users. (NIDA) This is a staggering 80% of all illicit drug use. Now, I understand that marijuana can potentially lead to the use of other drugs, but by no means does that mean that everyone who uses marijuana is going to become a heroin addict. There may be a rise in the use of other drugs, but there is no way that those numbers would jump to the way that they are now. Also, while there are obviously negative effects of marijuana use, there are also many health benefits as well. Now, by no means am I saying that legalizing marijuana is the only thing we should do.
For starts, like I said previously, I think moving imprisonment for drug use to a three-strike rule would be beneficial for many drug users. We should also invest far more money in to rehabilitation while imprisoned. By legalizing marijuana, we could also drop a significant number of marijuana users incarcerated, which would allow for more focused help for those who need it. However, dealers would not get the three-strike rule, but rather immediate jail time or possible imprisonment. Then, we can also focus on attacking the suppliers of the drugs, so that we can attempt to eliminate as many of the extreme dangerous drugs as possible.
Throughout history we have seen resources added to rehabilitation, the attack of suppliers, and more intense punishment. While they all have their pros and cons, there are other alternatives that haven’t been used yet. Legalizing marijuana, plus continuing adding resources to rehabilitation and changes to some criminal justice system policies could go a long way in securing a future without a “war on drugs” continuing.
References
- History of War on Drugs. (n.d.). Retrieved July 27, 2018, from https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/paradox/htele.html
- Chandler, R. K., Fletcher, B. W., & Volkow, N. D. (2009, January 14). Treating Drug Abuse and Addiction in the Criminal Justice System: Improving Public Health and Safety. Retrieved July 28, 2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2681083/
- Federal Bureau of Prisons. (2018, July 28). Retrieved July 29, 2018, from https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offenses.jsp
- Friedman, S. B., Horvat, G. L., & Levinson, R. B. (1982). PUBLICATIONS. Retrieved July 27, 2018, from https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=91675
- Cost of Rehab – Paying for Addiction Treatment. (2018, February 5). Retrieved July 27, 2018, from https://www.addictioncenter.com/rehab-questions/cost-of-drug-and-alcohol-treatment/
- Nationwide Trends. (2018, July 27). Retrieved June, 2015, from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/nationwide-trends
- Is providing drug abuse treatment to offenders worth the financial investment? (2014, April). Retrieved July 28, 2018, from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-abuse-treatment-criminal-justice-populations/providing-drug-abuse-treatment-to-offenders-worth-f
