Essay on U.S. War on Drugs: Unsuccessful Campaigns, Drug Control, and Military Aid

Introduction

The war on drugs remains one of the most unsuccessful campaigns led by the United States federal government alongside continuous collaboration with other agencies, such as the military (Glei & Preston 1). Currently, the American war on drugs entails multiple initiatives ranging from drug control and prevention policies, military aid, and military intervention to reduce the prevalence and impact of the illegal drug trade in the United States. These policies aim at discouraging the production, distribution, and use of psychoactive drugs considered illegal across the United States. However, most of the strategies used in the United States remain not only wasteful but also unduly harsh and ineffective in the fight against drug abuse (Munro 1). This paper provides a comprehensive discussion on the ineffectiveness of these policies, their corresponding actions, and the failure of the federal government in keeping drugs out of America.

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Ineffectiveness of the United States' Current Drug Policies

Ruhm contended that most of the policies enacted by the United States federal government, through Congress, to fight, control, and prevent drug abuse are ineffective (1). These policies are also wasteful and unduly harsh. For example, the "war on drugs" launched in 1971 by President Nixon remains the most dominant drug policy in the country despite multiple amendments and reviews to have it improved (Glei & Preston 3). This policy categorizes illegal drugs into different groups with the punishment for possession and abuse varying depending on the amount and type. For instance, the sentence for possession of marijuana remains light in a plethora of states. However, the punishment possessing hard drugs remains severe and accounts for the tremendous increase in the country's prison population. The current United States' drug policy relies exclusively on its international guidelines by supporting the military as well as paramilitary actions in various countries across the world (Mohammed & Fulkerson 299). The war on drugs policy focuses on preventing and controlling drug abuse in South America and Central Asia by eradicating the growth of opium and coca.

For instance, the United States President Bill Clinton decided to dispatch the country's military and paramilitary personnel to directly interdict the planting of coca, as a critical part of the Plan Columbia (Meller & Ahmed 1). However, many opponents continue to criticize this project alongside other policies undertaken by the United States federal government to prohibit and eradicate drug abuse, both internally and externally, due to their ineffectiveness. For instance, Plan Columbia had adverse effects on local Colombian farmers by depriving them of their primary economic activity and, in turn, ditching them into poverty and poor living conditions. Most of these farmers relied exclusively on coca planting as the primary source of their income. Lastly, the decision of President George W. Bush to intensify anti-drug efforts in Mexico by initiating the Merida Initiative culminated in failure due to its ineffectiveness (Valenzuela 345). Critics argue that the Merida Initiative resulted in increased drug violence across Mexico despite its focus to eradicate drug trafficking and abuse across the country.

The war on drugs and its interrelated policies are one of the most vital strategies that the federal government wastes public resources across the United States. Ruhm contended that the United States spent approximately 1 trillion on the war on drugs since its historical initiation by President Nixon in 1971 (4). The federal government spent roughly $9.2 million every day to incarcerate and cater to the needs of people suspected of engaging in drug-related offenses from 2015 (Pearl 1). These financial expenses culminate in more than $3.3 billion annual budgetary allocations. Nevertheless, state governments spend an addition of $7 billion to incarcerate people charged for drug-related offenses. In 2015, the state of North Carolina spent over $70 million incarcerating people suspected of indulging in drug abuse offenses (Glei & Preston 7). The state of Georgia also spent approximately %78.6 million just to jail people of color for drug-abuse related crimes transforming to 1.6 times higher than its budget current for taking care of substance use treatment services (Munro 1). Today, the United States federal government remains wasteful concerning the issue of drug abuse control and prevention.

The federal government still spends more than $10 billion annually on incarcerating people found liable for engaging in drug abuse-related offenses (Meller & Ahmed 1). Also, the federal government continues to spend additional billions of dollars on expanded law enforcement policies. In contrast, using alternative strategies, such as the legalization of marijuana and the creation of public awareness on the effects of drug abuse, could produce positive outcomes. For instance, marijuana legalization can save approximately $7.7 billion annually in terms of averting the enforcement costs and could contribute to an addition of $6 billion in terms of tax revenue (Shultz & Aspe 1). The United States could realize a cumulative total of $13.7 billion as a result of using alternative approaches. As a result, the federal government could effectively send more than 600,000 students public universities across the country (Nicoleta 1). Such students could play a vital role in creating public awareness and educating people on the significance of avoiding drug abuse.

Impact of the Actions Undertaken to Control Drug Abuse in the United States

According to Mohammed and Fulkerson, actions executed to control drug abuse across the United States resulted in widespread adverse effects and harm on the American citizens despite their drug abuse status (306). This impact appears through a corresponding increase in the number of deaths, overdose statistics, rates of incarceration, and a general rise in police brutality. The drug abuse epidemic continues to take a heavy toll in the United States, with a rapid increase in mortality rates in all states, regions, and territories among all racial and ethnic groups. More than 60,000 Americans died as a result of a drug overdose over the last two years (Glei & Preston 9). However, the overall impact of the drug abuse epidemic on the United States mortality rates may go beyond deaths occurring as a result of the direct overdose. Drug use can increase the risk of dying from critical diseases and injury processes in ways not recognized in the assignment of the underlying variables as well as factors contributing to death. Dangerous conditions enhanced through drug abuse, such as trauma, suicide, viral hepatitis, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases, lead to an increase in mortality rates (Meller & Ahmed 1). Also, drug overdose statistics remain high across the United States.

Rummans, Burton, and Dawson averred that the drug overdose rates have a direct relationship with the opioid and pill epidemics, which are increasingly accounting for the rapid increase in mortality rates across the United States (344). The sufferings associated with drug overdose and the resulting deaths highlight the overall unduly harshness associated with the drug abuse policies implemented in the United States. The total number of Americans who died as a result of drug overdose from 1999 to 2019 exceeded 770,000 people (Pearl 1). The rates of drug overdose remained high in 2017, with more than 70,200 deaths across the country, which, in turn, represented approximately 10 percent increase from the results published in 2016 (Munro 1). The United States' drug overdose death rate increased from 6.2 in every 100,000 people to 21.0 per 100,000 in 2018 (Rummans, Burton, & Dawson 346). These drug overdose statistics highlight the overall need of the United States federal government in collaboration with other private agencies to undertake critical counterstrategies to win the war against drugs.

Nonetheless, incarceration rates in the United States as a result of drug abuse-related offenses continue to rise. Incarcerations as a result of having drugs occur every 25 seconds in America (Valenzuela 350). The number of Americans arrested as a result of possessing drugs tripled since 1980 to reach 1.3 million incarcerations yearly in 2015, which is six times the number of drug sales arrests (Mohammed & Fulkerson 310). At least 20 percent of the incarcerated population is in prison as a result of drug charges, with the number of people puts parole and probation for such offenses exceeding 1.15 million (Shultz & Aspe 1). Also, the United States continues to witness a tremendous increase in police brutality as a result of trying to control drug use. Racial disparities remain the leading challenge associated with incarcerations. Statistics indicate that the probability of arresting black Americans is four times higher than their white counterparts. Currently, black Americans make up approximately 30 percent of all drug-related arrests, despite being only 12.5 percent of all substance users (Nicoleta 1). Lastly, people of color account for more than 80 percent of those jailed as a result of committing drug abuse and its related offenses (Glei & Preston 11). Yet the federal government remains hesitant to using alternative approaches to ensure that all drug users receive fair and treatment regardless of their diversities in gender, race, color, language, origin, and ethnicity.

Impact of the Opioid and Pill Epidemics

The current opioid and pill epidemic in the United States has a far-reaching impact on its people. According to Munro, the opioid crisis continues to increase in the United States despite measures, such as drug policies, taken to counter its overall impact (1). The number of people who misuse drugs rose tremendously over the last two decades, with their overall effects varying from drug dependence, addiction, delirium, and death. For example, in 2016, a total of 11.8 million Americans deliberately misused heroin and other prescription opioids (National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) 1). About 3.6 percent of adolescents between the age of 12 and 17 and 7.3 percent of their young adult counterparts with the age of 18 to 25 misused opioids and other pills across the United States in 2019 (Nicoleta 1). The impact of opioid and pill epidemics remains severe in the country to the extent that a person dies every 16 minutes as a result of drug overdose (Pearl 1). These statistics point to the significance of implementing integrated approaches to control the epidemic.

The number of Americans who died as a result of opioid overdoses in the United States was more than 42,000 people in 2016, with these deaths exceeding 60,000 individuals in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Opioid and pill crisis is prevalent among people of color, including blacks and Latinos, as opposed to their white peers. For instance, opioid deaths rose by 84 percent among blacks and 53 percent among Latinos between 2014 and 2019 (Nicoleta 1). The number of Americans living in the contemporary world is less than 5 percent, yet they consume more than 80 percent of all pills and opioids manufactured and distributed globally. About 2.4 million people representing 1 percent of the Americans have a disorder resulting from an opioid misuse (Knestrick 18). This epidemic costs the United States approximately $504 billion annually, including the healthcare expenses incurred while catering to the increasing needs of the affected people (Glei & Preston 13). Lastly, the opioid and pill epidemic put a substantial economic burden on the families of the deceased, the local, state, and the federal government in taking care of the needs of their family members, including feeding and educating their...