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.
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