War on Drugs, Incarceration and Liberal European Policies

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the world inmates making the United States the most criminal out of every nation in the globe. More than half of incarcerations and current inmates are for drug or drug related offenses. Even though Sirin (2011) that Anglo Americans make up the majority of consumers nevertheless over surveillance of minority communities make incarceration rates disproportionate leading to the higher rates of incarceration among minorities. Sirin (2011) when drug law are violated social class also plays an important factor, in low income communities law enforcement tends to be more draconian and oppressive while in affluent communities its treated more as a family or public health issue.

Another argument put forward by Sirin (2011) and Hughes, Stevens (2010) where they seem to come together is the strain of drug related offenses have on the criminal justice system. They both agree on one thing and that’s that drug related issues put much strain on law enforcement as well as the criminal justice system. Sirin (2011) goes into much more detail she argues that the criminal justice system tends to be racially bias in the United States and argues according to her research minorities receive harsher penalties and punishments when compared to their white counterparts even with records taken into account. Only until recently have states begun to tackle the issue of racial profiling and racial bias in criminal justice and policing. This is an example of how functionalism can be implemented into the issue since it was the state that created this issue by adopting non egalitarian policies it’s going to have to be the state that takes the lead in finding solutions to the current issue.

There is finally some consensus among the American populace that there is a very big issue with the issue of war on drugs and the negative impact it has had on the country. The United States is finally liberalizing when I comes to the issue of drugs with various states already legalizing use of cannabis for personal use and lowering penalties for drug related offenses. But it’s a tiny step when compared to Europe in particular Portugal which lead the way in reforming drug policies. Portugal drug policy is one of decriminalization and treatment, Hughes, Stevens (2010) mention how decriminalization was implemented it began with shifting drug consumers and drug related offenders away from the criminal justice system into another newly created department called CDTs which were now in charge of all drug related issue with the exception of large scale trafficking. The CTDs were in charge of sanctioning consumers with fines or penalties but nothing in relation to the criminal justice system, example being that is caught with illegal substances there wouldn’t be jail time or a mark on your record, but if drug problem is severe with harm being displayed to oneself or the public then the CTDs have the authority to send individuals into mandatory rehabilitation centers but still wouldn’t harm that individuals record.

Portugal seems to of adopted a more humanitarian policy when compared to the rest of the world. Hughes, Stevens (2010) mentions how the state provided tool also for heavy drug consumers such as clean needles that led to the rapid decrease in diseases spreading. The state also put much emphasis on education expanding the national curriculum to include in depth study on drugs and what their effects are. When decriminalization happened in 2001 there was actually a drop in hard drug use across Portugal with individuals that used to consume hard drugs such as Meth, Heroin, and Crack but there was an increase in softer drugs such as cocaine, hashish, ecstasy and amphetamines. This led many sceptics to criticize the new policy and their argument was that they were changing one drug for another one but this began to change in 2006 when drug use of any kind dropped across Portugal, the result were so positive that it sent a shockwave across Europe with various other nations adopting similar policies. With the rise of using softer drugs and then decreasing showed that policy had little to do and that it was mostly a trend that was occurring Hughes, Stevens (2010).

Portugal is a good example of how the functionalism perspective work because of how various institutions that are interdependent came together in order to solve an issue. Before reforms Portugal had one of the highest incarceration and drug addiction problems per capita when compared to the rest of Europe. The people demanded the government intact reforms to help with the issue but what the government did was different to what the people demanded they took the lead regardless of political backlash and enacted liberal reforms which were universal. But the government also enacted reforms in many other branches of the government from education to criminal Justice reform which resulted in the positive result Portugal has today. It shows what good leadership can do and how the people and the state were interdependent on one another to solve the issue. It show the need to adapt and change to face the issues the nation were facing and that is what Functionalism is.

My recommendation for policy makers in the United States would be to adopt similar methods to Portugal that have shown if small better results to those the United States currently employs. I’m not saying adopt exactly the same thing or emulate the same thing that won’t work because there are many factors that make both countries very different. But I would advise on firstly decriminalizing illegal substances in phases of over a ten year plan. I would also require the drug jurisdiction do be taken away from the courts and put into a different department that is run by state advisors, doctors, and various other specialists that determine wither what appropriate action to take on individuals that are caught consuming illegal substances. If that individual is a threat to himself or others then he would have to be placed into mandatory rehab centers or psychiatric wards in order for them to get the humane care that is appropriate. Throwing addicted in with other criminals is not going to solve the problem but in various occasions actually make it worse.

Another thing the government could do is star campaigns like the don’t smoke campaign that has shown to have positive results on the populace in preventing and stopping smoking, and enact national educational reforms that ad to the curriculum the effects drugs have when consumed, educating the populace is eventually the best defense. I also believe that with these steps prohibition on soft drugs can eventually be lifted such as cannabis, pills, etc. But all theses ideas seem well and efficient but sadly there are many obstacles to reform in the United States, there are actually various individuals and companies that profit from maintaining the status quo and that