War on Drugs - Essay Sample

Introduction

The phrase "war on drugs" is commonly used to refer to the campaign towards the prohibition of the illegal drug trade (Carlson, 2016). Throughout the American history, it has been the longest war. It was started in 1971 by the then President Richard Nixon. His aim was to achieve a drug-free society. However, despite all the efforts and resources used in the war on drugs, not many intended goals have been achieved. On the contrary, drug use and trade are as abundant as ever (Carlson, 2016). Moreover, the war has affected so many lives both of those using drugs and those not using. Also, the techniques used in the war have made their way into the lives of all citizens depriving them of some of their rights. The war has numerous negative effects which questions its profitability in the country.

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The war on drugs has led to an increase in racial injustice. The unfairness is portrayed by unlawful racial discrimination by police officers and the misery communities of color undergo. For instance, the use of drugs among Americans, African-American, and Latinos is relatively at the same level. However, African-Americans and Latinos are arrested 13 times more than the whites in the USA and in some states, the rate is up to fifty-seven times (Carlson, 2016). According to the diagram below, more blacks are arrested than whites for marijuana possession between 2001 and 2010 by Edwards, Bunting, & Garcia (2013). The same applies to other illegal drugs and for Latinos.

Additionally, during the many instances people with color are arrested, it is not due to the increased drug use, but rather because the law enforcement officers have much concentration on them than other ethnic groups in the country (Cooper, 2015). Moreover, statistics show that most of the arrests are among people involved in low drug sales. It may be due to people from color communities being stereotyped as drug addicts and physically violent people. Thus, they are always perceived to be on the wrong side of the law every time. For example, when blacks or Latinos are stopped by traffic police, maybe for over speeding, the police conduct an unnecessary search in their vehicle and always treat them as suspects (Cooper, 2015). Also, racial injustice has its origin since the war on drugs strted. Hence, it has greatly stigmatized African Americans and Latinos making them feel unwanted in America.

The war on drugs has resulted in wastage a lot of taxpayer's money. The government has spent over one trillion dollars since the war started and it does not seem to work.

The money is spent in many instances, for example, the US government uses billions of dollars in fighting drug use and cartels abroad. It is estimated that at least 40 billion dollars has been spent since the war on drugs started in fighting the cartels only (Hunter, 2015). Moreover, a lot of funds are used in securing American borders so as to defeat illegal drug trafficking. However, low progress has been achieved since about 25 million Americans use illegal drugs in one year which is 10 million more than in the 1970s (Hunter, 2015). Furthermore, a lot of taxpayer's money is used on convicted drug felons in federal prisons. For the last 40 years, 450 billion has been used in locking drug criminals (Hunter, 2015). Additionally, a lot of money is spent on anti-drug marketing campaigns. According to AP, despite the numerous campaigns such as "Just Say No" carried out, illegal drug use levels remain relatively the same (Hunter, 2015). Also, the number of illegal drug overdoses has been increasing at a steady rate for the last forty years. Although funds have been used in plenty to fight illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and others, they are still easily available and cheaper than ever before.

Neighborhoods are highly unsafe due to the war on drugs. Most of illegal drugs based violence do not originate from their use but rather from their prohibition. For instance, a lot of violence resulted under alcohol Principal Al Capone (Cooper, 2015). Additionally, the high killing rates in various US cities and Mexico do not originate from marijuana and other illicit drug use, but from cartels and police fighting (Cooper, 2015). The cartels value their drug plants more than human lives hence they would rather sacrifice human lives than lose their drug business. Moreover, police raid poor neighborhoods more as they believe it's easier to catch a drug felon on the street than in their homes (Cooper, 2015). Similarly, the police are usually after the money they get after arresting drug traffickers. And since more arrests translate to more federal funds, the police most of the time have financial gain goal hence will arrest easy targets on the poor neighborhoods (Cooper, 2015). Thus most of the poor neighborhoods are usually unsafe due to police and drug traffickers often collisions.

The war on drugs has resulted in a violation of various constitutional rights. For instance, it is responsible for the illegal surveillance people are under (Ringwalt, Garrettson, & Alexandridis, 2015). Law enforcers completely undermine all civil rights as long as they get what they want. Moreover, they engage in illegal spying in the name of looking for evidence. Additionally, every year millions of Americans are forced to go through drug testing. For example, when looking for employment 80 percent of employer's state that in order to be hired one must take a drug test. If the drug test shows a trace of any illegal drug one automatically gets disqualified (Carlson, 2016). However, in some instances, a person may be under prescribed medication that is the reason for the positive blood test. Therefore, they have to explain to their potential employer the reasons which are a clear invasion of privacy. Also, they face a lot of discrimination due to their exposed health conditions (Carlson, 2016). Hence, as long as employees do their work effectively and efficiently they should not be subjected to such treatments. Similarly, the Supreme Court was in favor of random drug tests to be conducted in high schools. Anyone found positive of for drugs is kicked out of any extracurricular activities and also get banished from their sports group (Carlson, 2016). Hence, the affected students endure the consequences of the lost benefits associated with sports such as university scholarships. Likewise, they also feel left out and may follow the wrong path influenced by their frustrations.

The war has caused teenager's safety to be compromised. According to drug war protectors, other ways of curbing the use of illegal drugs other than prohibition would "show the incorrect message to kids" (Carlson, 2016). However, prohibition has achieved nearly zero intended result in preventing young people from consuming drugs. According to statistics, despite the numerous campaigns intended to keep youths from using drugs, about 50 percent of teenagers attempt marijuana before graduating. Additionally, 75 percent drink alcohol (Carlson, 2016). Moreover, young people are the most affected by the war as they are the most arrested among all arrested drug users. Nevertheless, the arrest does more damage than good. For example, after being arrested they get a criminal record that makes the rest of their life difficult. Therefore teenagers should be taught more about drugs and its effects to enable them to make more responsible choices. That is, their safety should always be the first priority.

Public health is also compromised in the war on drugs. For instance, many drug users share the same unsterile syringe (Csete et al., 2016). Hence are prone to infect each other with dangerous diseases such as HIV. For example, the use of the same syringe among drug users has caused more than 100,000s HIV/AIDS infections in the US (Flath et al., 2017). Also, they transmit the disease to their sexual partners, wives and children. However, state paraphernalia and medication laws put a limit on the access of syringes in pharmacies in the name of fighting illegal drug use.

The use of the DEA registration number inconveniences people. Every dentist, physician, nurse, and veterinarians are required to have one and it costs 731 dollars (Ringwalt, Garrettson, & Alexandridis, 2015). The DEA uses the number to track prescriptions for controlled stuff, especially narcotics. Hence, every time a prescription for the controlled staff is written it is recorded in the DEA's database. As a result, they conduct raids and arrest medical staff who are charged with illegally prescribing the controlled substances (Ringwalt, Garrettson, & Alexandridis, 2015). Thus, a lot of medical personnel have been instilled with fear towards prescribing narcotics to patients. Moreover, they over ration pain medication ignoring the pain patients are enduring and sometimes refuse to treat patients with pain problems. Consequently, people suffering from chronic pain syndromes who are in need of narcotics have had to undergo the pain torture. For example, in a certain case, a patient was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome and had to take oxycodone in order to live a normal painless life. However, despite traveling to three different states to see different doctors no one prescribed her any oxycodone due to fear of getting arrested (Ringwalt, Garrettson, & Alexandridis, 2015). Furthermore, ironically the DEA still requires such patients to take a drug test in order to make sure that they do not sell their drugs.

Many people have been denied entrance to education, public accommodation, and benefits. According to the Higher Education Act that was passed by Congress in 1998, anyone who has ever been convicted of a crime or any minor drug offense, including possession of marijuana, gets his federal financial aid delayed or denied. Furthermore, a drug crime conviction also results in a whole family getting kicked out of public accommodation. Also, there are 32 states in America that prohibit anyone with a drug felony record from collecting food stamps.

The war has also led to the destruction of many families due to the vast number of people arrested from drug abuse. The number of people arrested for drug offenses in the US has skyrocketed from 50,000 in 1980 to more than a half a million in 2012 as presented in a report by Pfaff (2015). It has resulted in millions of families to have a brother, sister, mother or father arrested. Thus, members of the affected families have also been dragged in the crimes of one of their family member (Pfaff, 2015). For instance, if a father who is the breadwinner of a family gets arrested his family will suffer in many ways. For example, the children will have to grow without their father's love and guidance. Moreover, the wife will have to live without her husband. Hence, they may turn to unsafe ways to deal with their loss such as adultery (Pfaff, 2015). Additionally, they will lose their source of livelihood.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the drug war can be perceived as really being a war on people. Despite its good intentions and goals, it has resulted in so much damage to so many people in different ways. Therefore, everyone has a reason to oppose the failed drug war. Moreover, efforts should be enacted to stop it in order to prevent its continuous tragedies and casualties. For instance, there have been various initiatives that have been started to end this war such as legalizing marijuana. Also, countries like Latin America have held debates on the alternatives to drug prohibition. Additionally, countries in Europe have executed public health policies like prescribing medical heroin to help curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce overdose deaths. Similarly, some states are offering substitutes to jail for people with low-level drug offenses. Hence it helps reduce ov...