"The WAR on Drugs"

              Since President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs” in 1971, I think that the American public and government has come a long way. The war on drugs was originally in place to combat drug abuse. Instead the war now seems to be on the criminality of drug use itself. Yes people are becoming addicted and not themselves but most emphasis is being placed on the possession, production, and distribution and it is not having an effect on the abuse problem itself. Drugs have become a very important part of the everyday lives of individuals and by trying to take this right away over the past decades have only worsen the problem of drug abuse. I think this is because society that society placed demonizing views on the use of drugs and those who use any type are too ashamed to let others know when they become addicted experience problems with the drug. The drug problem overall has become widely known it does not seem like people themselves want to stop using drugs and by pressuring them through laws is not the right way to go about it.
 In my opinion it think that we are losing this war with very year that goes by. It seems to me that the public is leaning more towards their rightful freedoms to do as they please. Even though the federal government still uphold most of their standards, individual state governments have recently began supporting drug policies that enable drug use but not its production or distribution. Individuals used drugs before, during and after the Nixon administration and will continue to do so. The cost of losing the war are high prison population because of high incarceration rates for those involved with drugs. Lives have been thrown away because of the harsh laws that were in place. Another cost is the amount of individuals’ lives that have been lost due to overdose and addiction. Families have been broken up. Another cost is the illegal drug trade that has increase with the laws that are in place for drugs both illegal and prescribed. Millions of dollars are being spent every year on the enforcement of drug laws, but evidence shows that it is not effective. For instance the OxyContin Express movie depicts pain clinics giving out medication to whoever. There are more illegal activities taking place than were probably anticipated. The war on drugs has not been successful, if anything it has made the problem worst.