I believe that we would agree that at least, (if only on the surface), the “War on Drugs” has the goal of reducing drug use in the United States.I hope to show evidence against the idea that the war has helped to stop drug use.
The government’s attempts to stop the inflow of drugs into the country from other countries has been a complete failure. “Interdiction has not made a difference in terms of the higher goals of deterring smugglers and reducing the flow of cocaine. The portion of the federal drug budget allocated to supply reduction initiatives has almost doubled over the last five years, and funding for [the] Department of Defense’s detection and monitoring mission has increased over 400% since 1989. Yet cocaine remains affordable, its purity remains high, and it continues to be readily available on American streets.”-Jim Abrams, “Interdiction hasn’t stemmed drug flow, Congress is told,” cited in Eldridge, Ending the War on Drugs, p. 146.
It is known that cracking down on drug pushers in one area will have the effect of others popping up in other areas. In this vein, it may occasionally seem like the “War on Drugs” is having success in cracking down on drug dealers, but this ‘success’ in bringing down drug dealers will only lead to the quick emergence of willing replacements, thanks to the massive profit margins available in the illegal drug market. “Years of experience have shown that this band-aid approach to controlling drugs-stopping them mid-way along the deliver chain-… will never have any permanent effect on drug traffic.” -United States General Accounting Office, Federal Drug Interdiction Efforts Need Strong Central Oversight, p. 28, cited in Wisotsky, Beyond the War on Drugs, p. 146.
The harsh penalties deemed effective in deterring drug use are less effective than viable alternatives. “They (RAND’s Drug Policy Research Center) estimated that spending an additional million 1992 dollars on incarcerating cocaine dealers would reduce cocaine consumption by over 27 kilograms over a fifteen-year period, while putting the same money into treatment for those dependent on cocaine would reduce consumption by over 100 kilograms over the same period.” - Ibid,; and Jonathan Caulkins et al., Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentences, p. xvi. Programs like these cannot exist while the government threatens to jail the drug users these programs aim to help.
“Heavy use of cocaine continued rising throughout the administrations of both presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush.” -Office of National Drug Control Policy, National Drug Control Strategy, p. 39.
“America was much tougher on young adults who violated the drug laws during the Clinton administration than during the Reagan administration: in 1986, thirty-one out of every 100,000 young adults were incarcerated for drug offenses, while in 1996, 122 youths per 100,000 were sent to prison for drug violations.”-V Schiraldi, B. Homan, and P. Beatty, Poor Prescription, pp. 14-15.
These brief citations seem to show that the War on Drugs has been a costly waste of time.
