War on Drugs

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more, illegal and prescription drugs wouldn’t be an issue. Another strategy is to jail anyone that is caught using drugs causing some socio-economic effects. Taxpayers are paying billions of dollars towards the enforcement and incarceration costs of the drug war efforts. Penalties for drug crimes make efforts for future education difficult, strips people of their voting rights, and creates a criminal record, which also makes employment nearly impossible. All of these side affects create a permanent middle class of people who can’t further their education and have fewer job opportunities, which in turn starts a cycle that is hard to break.

There are other countries that had some success with their “war on drugs” that used some different tactics. The Netherlands had an effective approach of distinguishing “hard drugs” from “soft drugs” and treating them accordingly. “Hard” drugs being the amphetamines, crack, cocaine, heroine, etc. “Soft” drugs are things like marijuana, hash, oil, and mushrooms. Drugs aren’t legal in the Netherlands but it was made so that if you abide by the guidelines, you won’t face any criminal charges. For example, you can purchase marijuana, hash, oil, and mushrooms from coffee shops if you are over 18 years old with government identification and are buying less than 5 grams (“Toleration Policy”). This is an effective policy because the want for the hard drugs is a lot lower which in turn means less people smuggling drugs and less drug related crimes. Another benefit is that this actually generates a lot of money because local businesses are profiting from selling soft drugs in their coffee shops and also tourism has increased which brings the local economy up as well. After you contrast that with America, the issues become more apparent. According the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2014 there were 1,561,231 drug related arrests in America. 83% of all drug related arrests were for possession, not for selling or for manufacturing (“FBI Crime”).

Apparently the war on drugs has been ineffective and even detrimental to our people and our economy. It is obvious that people are going to do things whether it is illegal or not but we do have to remember that the prohibition of alcohol failed and caused more issues than progress after all is said and done. The “stop it or else” attitude towards the situation needs to change to help people not want to do drugs. Focus should shift to decriminalization of users and the treatment of addiction as well as the prevention of drug use overall. This will decrease demand of drugs, which decreases the supply of drugs, which will decrease crime in general and save our country a whole lot of money.