The War on Drugs has produced some controversey over the last few years as to it's effectiveness in combatting the drug problem in the U.S. as well as the drug trade.

 

The War on Drugs the Facts:

 

 

"The War on Drugs "was coined by Richard Nixon in 1972 since then the United States has spent a massive amount money on combating and proscecuting everything related to drugs, from producers to dealers to users. Alcohol use did not decrease during the era of prohibition in fact the number of Americans using Alcohol actually rose despite it's illegal status. Marijuana was officially outlawed in 1937. Coca Cola's original recipe included cocaine. According the D.E.A.'s website their budget is $2,345,900,000 also in 2007 there were 27,000 arrests for drug related charges. The Budget for the A.T.F.E. is 998,000,000 according to the national drug intellegence center's National Drug Threat Assesment 2008 "High levels of cocaine-related crime, rates of abuse, and overdose incidents are a considerable burden to the nation--a condition not likely to diminish in the near term" However the number of workers testing positive for cocaine was down in recent years.

 

   

    percentage of workforce testing positive for cocaine (National Drug Threat Assesment 2008)

 

Also according to the report heroin use was down. However, Marijuana has been on a steady increase over the last decade, aslo the purity of the T.H.C. level has also sharply increased creating a higher demand.

 

 

 National Drug Threat Assesment 2008)

 

Solutions:

 

 

Solutions include legalizing drugs especially marijauna where medical experts state that the side effects of marijuana are not any more impairing than alcohol use. Also over half of the drug related arrests are marijuana charges. Another solution would be to massively increase the amount of money and agents in the D.E.A. and a working treaty with the major drug producing nations allowing for extradition of drug lords to the U.S.  

 

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I think we should declare war on the drug lords themselves,  just arrest them and kill them on the spot like they do in Singapore or kill anyone carrying drugs also as done in Singapore. (after a fair trial of course)- Carl Finnigan

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I will be contributing the libertarian voice to this page. Simply stated I am opposed to The War On Drugs. I feel it has been a collossal failure and a waste of the tax-payer's money. Drugs are widely available, prisons are overpopulated and the government seems to think this all makes sense. People make choices and should be allowed to make choices so far as the choices they make do not interfere with anyone elses ability to make choices. I should be allowed to do as I please so long as that which I am doing does not violate any other persons freedom to do as they wish. With the drugs this is not the case, but should be. A quote will help illustrate the point further, "It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve." Henry George, a nineteenth century American Political Economist, made the statement above and I feel it sums up the way drug policy in this country should be. Any person should be able to do to their body as they please, so long as they are the ones who the bear the consequence of that decision and make that decision having all the pertinent information available to them. In my opinion drugs should be legalized, and yes I feel crack, heroine and other drugs besides just marijuana should be included, the DEA disbanded and the money used to fund it should be dedicated to an all out campaign to inform the public about drugs and provide for drug prevention programs. With this in place drug use will not disappear, but perhaps it will be reduced and people will be making decisions about drugs based on information readily available and as long they are made to bear the consequences of their decisions I feel that the problem will work itself out in no time. -John Abress 

 

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Sites of Interest:

Drug Sense running totoal of the numbers concerning the war on drugs

Schaffer Library of Drug Policy useful if biased information about the Drug laws and use in the U.S.

Drug War Facts recent study of the facts on the war on drugs

Department of Justice home page for the dpeartment of justice

 

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