Argumentative Essay: The War On Drugs

I hope you all can agree that a better idea would go after the source of the drugs or even the treatment of the people using them and hopefully in time the number of people using narcotics drops dramatically. But realistically what happens is people using and distributing narcotics are entered into a never ending life of crime because the government punishes the criminal offenders’ absurd amounts that the government knows they cannot afford. So once released from prison or jail these criminals have debts that they have to repay and no way to pay them. So what is the answer? Crime is the answer. That is where the cynical cycle starts all over again and these released inmates find themselves in a familiar situation; trying to make money for reasons that don’t benefit themselves. But, unfortunately, the only way these people know how to make money is deemed deviant by society.

Thus, no matter what quantity (usage of drugs) will go down (Q2). The direction in which the price moves depends on which shift is larger. It has been shown that price will most likely go up; the reason for this is because law enforcement often goes after the suppliers with more effort than they go after the buyers because it has a greater deterrent effect because it is harder to sell than buy (Hellman and Alper). Also the punishments for sellers are much worse than for buyers. Therefore, the leftward shift of the supply schedule (S2), caused by the decrease in supply, is much larger than the shift in the demand schedule (D2); this causes a larger decrease in supply than in demand (area between S1 and S2 is larger) which then causes the increase in price from P1 to P2 (Graph A) (Miller). The increase in helps explain why drug offenders commit more property crime when drugs are illegal. Most property crimes are committed for financial motives; it is then safe to assume that drug offenders steal the property for money to buy drugs and to pay off all of the costs mentioned above. Violent crime can be explained through the use of drug selling gangs. The gangs fight over selling territory. The gang leaders can be seen as entrepreneurs and it is in their best interest to maximize profit. To do this they must lower competition and fight rival gangs to drive them out of their

President Nixon declared the war on drugs in 1971. Fast forward to the 21st Century, the amount of people going to prison has increased drastically. About 25 percent of the United States population is incarcerated according to according to the Drug Policy Alliance. This is due largely to the war on drugs. With harsher punishment may people are send off to prison for simply possessing. “There were more than 1.5 million drug arrest in the

For almost 40 years now the longest and most unsuccessful war in the United States has been the war on drugs. Resulting in 45million arrests and $1 trillion dollars in government spending, the war on drugs has been nothing more than a way of income for public officers and other law enforcement officials. The effort behind the war on drugs is solemnly to reduce illegal drug use and trade. This plan includes a set of drug policies that are intended to discourage the production, distribution, and consumption of these popular and wide spread narcotics.

In January 2004, senatorial candidate Barack Obama firmly opposed the twenty two-year war on drugs, saying that the United States’ approach in the drug war has been ineffective (Debussman).  Although the term, “war on drugs,” was originally coined by President Richard Nixon in 1971, it wasn’t until Ronald Reagan announced that “drugs were menacing society” that it became a major policy goal to stop widespread use. Following Reagan’s promises to fight for drug-free schools and workplaces, the United States boosted its efforts in its most recent declaration

In the past forty years, the United States has spent over $2.5 trillion dollars funding enforcement and prevention in the fight against drug use in America (Suddath). Despite the efforts made towards cracking down on drug smugglers, growers, and suppliers, statistics show that addiction rates have remained unchanged and the number of people using illegal drugs is increasing daily (Sledge). Regardless of attempts to stem the supply of drugs, the measure and quality of drugs goes up while the price goes down (Koebler). Now with the world’s highest incarceration rates and greatest illegal drug consumption (Sledge), the United States proves that the “war on drugs” is a war that is not being won.

Since Nixon and Reagan started the war on drugs the United States have struggled to keep a drug policy that would actually keep people from using drugs. The war on drugs was something that change the history of this country, by making drug trafficking their main priority. This is becoming a big issue since this issue is something that many Americans do everyday. During the time in 1971, President Richard Nixon was the man that created the Drug Enforcement Agency. This was the program called the war in drugs. This was supposed to keep narcotics out within our country and our borders. During 1994, the war on drugs caused people to go to jail, especially the non violent drug users. Criminalization is overcrowding the prisons by putting people

President Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs in the 1970’s making it over forty years old(becker and murphy C.1).

While laws prohibiting the use of drugs, in one form or another, can be traced back to the 1870s, it was not until 1968, when Richard M. Nixon was elected President, that our current drug war was conceived. In 1970 Congress passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse and Control Act.(2) With an

The most important factor for the spread of crack and heroin is that when opiates and cocaine are illegal, low potency versions of these drugs become extensively expensive. Thus, consumers are induced to switch to more intensive and more harmful drug forms and delivery systems. Absent the incentives created by current policy, consumers will revert to the modes of consumption that are less damaging.

In my research I was surprise to learn that an increase in the international drug trade and drug user estimated 14.8 million Americans were illegal drug users as of 1999. I also read that the international drug trade generates $200 to $300 billion dollars a year. And due to a great amount of budget that is spent, this gives the drug trafficker an advantage over the government that has a small budget. Illegal drugs are considered to be a major source of funding for organized crime. The Canadian government has attempted to address these problems by implementing a national drug strategy, which is meant to reduce the demand for and the supply of illicit drugs. Eleven federal government departments and agencies have spent approximately $500 million annually in addressing the illegal use of drugs. In order to optimize the effectiveness of such governmental initiatives and expenditures, it is useful to achieve greater understanding of major trends relating to drug offences. This information will assist policy makers and criminal justice professionals in deterring

The war on drugs has been a failure. The war on drugs has failed because the government spends millions of dollars on trying to stop people from using drugs but the government has not stopped them from using them. The government has spent 1 trillion since Nixon declared war on drugs and 51 billion dollars each year from incarcerating people. A total of 2.3 million people are in prison for drug related crimes. This is more than anywhere else in the planet. Drug use and overdoses are still the same. Many people say that if drugs were to be legalized, drug use would increase dramatically. This was not the case in Portugal. Portugal decided to decriminalize all drugs in 2001. Many people feared that this would collapse the country, but in fact the opposite happened. Prisons were not overrun anymore. It is safer for the government to decriminalize all drugs because this way all the drugs are not in the hands of the drug dealers, they are in the hands of the government. This is safer and better because now the government knows who is buying the drugs and how much that individual is using. The consumer also knows what he or she is consuming. This is not the case with the drug dealers where an individual does not know what he or she is getting. Many people say it is not fair for people to go to jail for nonviolent crimes such as

The first war on drugs was fought by U.S Treasury in which brought forward the Narcotics act of 1914 a decade after, putting cocaine and opiates under federal control for the first time. The second war was focused around the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 when Harry Anslinger, The Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics told the congress that the act was highly important to stop the “Marijuana Menace” shown by teenage gangs who became murderous and violent after smoking Marijuana. The third War on Drugs was declared by President Nixon when he made a message to congress saying drug abuse is a “National Emergency” marking it down as “Public enemy number one”. Since the drug war has started, it has caused prejudice, confusion, and ignorance within the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States court of appeals. Instead of deciding drug law issues based on the true effects of drugs

The War on Drugs is a current conflict that has been going on for many decades. It is a movement organized by the United States Government in attempts to reduce the amount of illegal drug trafficking in the country. The War on Drugs enforced strict drug policies that are intended to reduce both the production, distribution, and consumption of illegal drugs. The term was first used by President Richard Nixon, during a press conference concerning the nationwide drug abuse issue, in which Nixon announces to the Congress that drug abuse was, “public enemy number one”. Illegal drugs are certainly dangerous; addiction and death are two but many factors as a result of drugs. However, even though the War on Drugs might sounds justifiable, in truth, it is actually making the drug issue worst in the country.

The “War on Drugs” is the name given to the battle of prohibition that the United States has been fighting for over forty years. And it has been America’s longest war. The “war” was officially declared by President Richard Nixon in the 1970’s due to the abuse of illegitimate drugs. Nixon claimed it as “public enemy number one” and enacted laws to fight the importation of narcotics. The United States’ War on Drugs began in response to cocaine trafficking in the late 1980’s. As the war continues to go on, winning it hardly seems feasible. As stated by NewsHour, the National Office of Drug Control Policy spends approximately nineteen billion dollars a year trying to stop the drug trade. The expenses shoot up, indirectly, through crime,