Friday, August 15, 2008

War on Drugs: A Failed System?

The United States’ War on Drugs, a Failed System

Introduction
In 1968 the United States began an official “War on Drugs.” Since that year, ineffective policies have been created, incarceration rates have risen, and the costs associated with the drug war increase by the year. The United States currently spends over $40 billion a year to fight the “War on Drugs,” and yet it continues to be the world’s largest consumer of illegal drugs (Williams, 2001, p.1541), which implies that, the cost associated with the drug war far from justifies it’s results. In the past 20 years, the number of inmates incarcerated on drug charges has tripled with sixty to seventy percent test positive for drug usage at the time of their arrest. Federal surveys have shown an increase in drug use between 1991 and 1997, with the rate of first time use for 12th grade students nearly doubling. It appears drug use, incarceration rates, and the cost to fight the drug war continues to mount with no avail and because of this, the United States must change its’ tactics. The following will present data, statistics, and information regarding this failure. In addition, it will be shown that the gross expenditures to fight the drug war have failed to result in a decline in drug usage and rather, have caused an increase in black market profits and violence associated with the drug trade. Finally, recommendations for decriminalization, legalization, and government regulation will be presented. To fully understand the issues, the problems must be defined.

America’s fight to abolish drugs is not a new issue; it has always been a lengthy and costly battle. The origins of this fight can be traced back to 1874 when the Women’s Christian Temperance Union formed to prevent the use of drugs and alcohol. Then in 1914 the Harrison Act was passed. It was the first official drug law created to stop drug use by controlling opium trade. The results of this act were immediate. Just six weeks after this bill passed, on May 15, 1915, the New York Medical Journal writes:
As was expected ... the immediate effects of the Harrison antinarcotic law were seen in the flocking of drug habitués to hospitals and sanatoriums. Sporadic crimes of violence were reported too, due usually to desperate efforts by addicts to obtain drugs....The really serious results of this legislation, however, will only appear gradually and will not always be recognized as such. These will be the failures of promising careers, the disrupting of happy families, the commission of crimes that will never be traced to their real cause, (p. 799).

Six months later an editorial in American Medicine wrote:
Abuses in the sale of narcotic drugs are increasing. . . . A particular sinister sequence . . . is the character of the places to which [addicts] are forced to go to get their drugs and the type of people with whom they are obliged to mix….. The moral dangers, as well as the effect on the self-respect of the addict, call for no comment, (p.800).

Then two more federal laws were passed, the Boggs Act of 1952 and the Narcotics Control Act of 1956, which raised the penalties for all drug offenses by setting mandatory sentences. A first-offense marijuana possession carried a minimum sentence of two to ten years with a fine of up to $20,000 and a third-time offense offered life in prison. After these acts were passed, reports once again showed that drug usage increased, proving these Acts ineffective. In 1968, President Nixon initiated the “War on Drugs” after soldiers came home from Vietnam addicted to heroin. Then in 1970, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act passed. This Act established a plan to regulate and control drugs according to classifications, which were determined by the Attorney General. The same year, congress repealed most of the mandatory penalties for drug-related offenses because the mandatory minimum sentences of the 1950s were often unduly harsh and had done nothing to eliminate the drug culture. Next President Ronald Reagan passed the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, raising the federal penalties for both marijuana possession and dealing. A later amendment to this Act allowed for life sentences for repeat drug offenders, and the death penalty for major suppliers, which reinstated the failed and once abandoned policies of the 1970 Act. Then in 1982, Nancy Reagan created the “Just Say No” campaign and Daryl Gates, Police Chief of the Los Angeles police department, developed the D.A.R.E. program. These programs were designed to teach youths how to avoid pressures to use drugs. In 1989, President George Bush declared that illegal drugs were public enemy number one, again increasing the federal budget for this war. The United States government attempted many times to eradicate illegal drugs, and prevent them from entering and being used within its borders, but has failed. After drastic steps, enacting many new laws, and the increasingly large amounts of money that have been spent for the “War on Drugs”, drug usage steadily increased while crime rates and poverty have risen.

Theory and Research From Prior Research
One reason this drug initiative has failed is the inaccurate system of defining and classifying drugs. In Erich Goode’s (1997) book, “Between Politics and Reason”, he explains that drugs are given many definitions, as; medical substances, either illegal or controlled substances, publicly defined substances, or substances taken for a certain effect, while other drugs are defined by subjective criterion, meaning, a drug is what the members of society say or think is. What becomes apparent is that there is no correct definition for all contexts of its use. Furthermore, many of these definitions actually prevent us from reaching a sound understanding of the drug itself and its possible uses. Hans Van Mastrigt also addressed this issue in his (1990) article, The Abolition of the Drug Policy: Toward Strategic Alternatives, where he evaluates these classifications and gives reasons why people should reject these standards. He focuses on the fact that drugs are currently classified by assessing the harm connected with their use. Under this classification standard “harm” is defined by physical or psychological harm, as well as addiction. Where this definition seems to fail is that it is not used consistently. Alcohol and tobacco should be considered “hard drugs” from a pharmaceutical viewpoint, but they are not regulated. Alternatively, “soft drugs” like cannabis and cocaine have been placed under strict administrations of control (Bean, 1974). Van Mastright further states that the pharmacology of a drug can only provide partial information in regards to the problems associated with drug use and abuse. Many other factors can contribute to the harm drug consumption causes, such as: the amount or quantity used, the route of administration, or the frequency of use. Van Mastright says to fully understand drug abuse it must be understood in a “real world” context because the situation in which the drug is used contributes to its’ physical damage and addiction. The current standards fail to recognize that the risks and dangers associated with drugs are not unique. Serious health risks are related to a wide variety of behavior. Many people die of socially acceptable behavior and the risks associated with them; driving a vehicle, participating in sports, and even work related injuries. It is also ridiculous to classify drugs based on their ability to cause addiction. “The subjective experience of addiction is, for example, not limited to the consumption of substances, but can arise with such "normal" human behaviors as working, eating, playing and loving,” (Peele, 1985, p.13). The ability to become addicted is not caused by the action or substance itself, but by a person’s own unique qualities, beliefs, and convictions. The current definitions of drugs and harm associated with their uses do not make sense, nor are they unique to the drug experience. It is not difficult to understand why the United States is losing this war when years of drug policies were created based on these faulty definitions of what a drug is.

Additionally, the government has “created” facts and distorted the truths about the “War on Drugs”. In fact, these false statements have been so publicized and repeatedly quoted that most Americans and politicians accept them without questioning their merit. The most erroneous distortion is that drug use has actually declined over time. Citizens are often told that America is winning the drug war and regular drug use has been cut in half since 1979. However, federal surveys show the exact opposite. They show increases in use, especially by adolescents, (Monitoring The Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2000). Research conducted by Johnston, O’Malley, & Bachman (2001), found in 1980 marijuana use among American high school seniors dropped for the first time, but then in 1992 it began to rise again. Between 1992 and 1997 the rate of usages nearly doubled, from 22% to 39%, and thirty-day use also rose significantly, doubling from 12% to 24% in 1997. The United States Department of Health and Human Services states that overdose deaths and emergency room visits due to drug usage are at record highs with both consistently escalating since the 1980s. Their data showed that, "from 1990 to 2000, total drug-related episodes increased 62 percent, from 371,208 to 601, 776,” (2001, p. 2). The government often states that America is winning the drug war, but statistics show that drug use is higher than it was ten years ago and the drugs are now more dangerous than ever, causing more overdose deaths and hospitalizations.

The government has created ineffective laws, drugs are improperly classified, misunderstood, and the American people have been improperly informed about the success of the “War on Drugs”, yet they still spend over $40 billion a year fighting a losing, impractical, self-defeating war. The National Drug Control Budget Executive Summary shows that in 1969, The Nixon administration spent $65 million on the drug war; in 1982 the Reagan administration spent $1.65 billion, and in 2002, the Bush administration spent more than $18.822 billion, (these totals do not include state and local budgets). Between 1969 and 2002, the federal budget increased over 292 times, and yet the National Survey Results on Drug Use from 1975-2002, shows that there is little or no change in the frequency and usage of illegal drugs. The monetary costs to Americans for the drug war is enormous and it is apparent that it is doing little or nothing to stop, control, or prevent drug use in America.

Another major issue concerning the United States is number of inmates incarcerated in its’ prison system for drug related charges. Decriminalizing personal possession would also alleviate the overcrowding of American prisons. “In 1997, there were 216,254 drug offenders in state prisons (out of a total State prison population of 1,046,706 that year). Of these, 92,373 were in for possession,” (Mumola, 1999, p.2), and this figure does not include the additional 10,094 prisoners in federal prisons. In 1997 alone, a total of 102,467 people were incarcerated for possession, and the estimated cost to Americans for their incarceration was over $20 million (based on Jones (1999), who showed the average cost to house an inmate is $20,000 a year). Besides the cost to Americans, the impractical use of the judicial system and the loss of freedom to those prosecuted; there is another issue, the children.

Nearly two million young people in the United States have one or both parents incarcerated many for non-violent drug offenses. Many young people have lost their parents due to incarceration and have been put into the foster care system, both which have shown to increase the likelihood of delinquency (Greenfield, Lawrence, & Snell, 1999, p.8). Children are also incarcerated for drug related offenses for drug related offenses under the current system. In fact “the number of offenders under age 18 admitted to prison for drug offenses increased twelve fold between 1985 to 1997. This increase troubles many social scientists. Thorton (2007) concludes, “Policies that stigmatize and imprison drug users may hurt rather than help troubled young people. The abstractions of prohibition or legalization have little to do with troubled people’s behavior or needs” (423). This statement is not an endorsement of policies that fail to police illegal drug markets, but rather made to identify that the drug war has created black markets that are very dangerous yet attractive to troubled youths with limited opportunities and resources and who are at the highest risk of becoming drug users themselves. “The drug war does not cause the family and social problems that put young people at risk, but rather diverts resources and attention from education and treatment programs that might help them, (Cleveland, 433). As an additional detriment to young people, is that under federal law those convicted of a drug offense lose their right to federal college loans - 43,000 students were affected by this provision in 2001 -increasing the likelihood that they will be undereducated and unable to compete for good jobs,” (Storm, 2000, p.4). As consequence, many young Americans have had their lives ruined, not by the drugs themselves, but by drug laws and their enforcement.

Programs financed by the government to prevent the usage of drugs among youths, such as D.A.R.E, have shown to be ineffective and counterproductive, even encouraging drug use among certain populations. Still these programs continue to receive large amounts of federal funding (Lynam, Milich, et al., 1999). Furthermore, recent studies have shown that youth are more influenced by their peers and their perception of the prevalence of drug usage, and then are discouraged by such preventative programs. One such study conducted by Hammermeister, Roland & Page (2002), Are high school students accurate or clueless in estimating substance abuse among peers, demonstrated this influence. This study was conducted using qualitative research by obtaining investigative data collected through self-report surveys. The self-report surveys were administered to “223 high school students enrolled in health or physical education courses at three separate high schools in the Pacific Northwest (two in Idaho and one in Washington). Health and physical education classes were selected because these are required for graduation and would provide a representative sample of students in each school” (Hammermeister, Roland & Page, 568). The data collected from this survey found that there was a direct correlation between the students’ perceptions of drug usage and their own self reported usage. Although, student’s often over-estimated the prevalence of their peer’s usage, when compared, the data showed that the estimations and self-reported usage of each school were relative to the other two schools. Demonstrating that in those schools where the perception was greatest (see Table 1), the reported self-usage was also the highest (see Table 2). Studies such as the Hammermeister, Roland & Page (2002) research have shown that although educational and preventative programs have become regular installments in the school system, they are less influential on youth’s behavior than peer pressure.

Americans have been deceived into believing that violence and criminal activity are a direct result of illegal drug consumption. However several recent studies have offered contradictory data to this theory and in fact have found a direct correlation between increased penalties and arrests to an increase in criminal activity. One such finding was produced by Shepard & Blackley (2007) titled, The Impact of marijuana law enforcement in an economic model of crime. This study was conducted using quantitative research whereby investigative data was collected from existing government reports. Data was obtained from 1,200 U.S. counties, which were randomly selected from a national pool for the 1994-2001 time period from; police reports, U.S. Department of Justice Uniform crime reports, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Economic Accounts, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, FBI Uniform crime reports from the University of Michigan, and National Archive of Criminal Justice Data. There was little control over the initial procedures of data collection, but the data can be considered reliable as it was initially gathered from reputable agencies. The results of this provided evidence that “marijuana arrests are positively associated with higher levels of property crime and homicides during the 1994-2001 period. Specifically, possession arrests are found to be related to the commission of property crimes, while sales arrests are found to be associated with burglary and homicide rates” (Shepard and Blackley, p.9), see Tables 3 and 4. Furthermore, it has been found that criminal activity is more associated with the drugs’ illegal classification and its’ governing laws than usage of such substances. The connection between drugs and illegal activity has a greater probability of being caused by: the “effects that involve the manufacture, distribution, and sale of illegal drugs, with no legal mechanisms for dispute resolution” (407), the violent crime directly associated with the attempt to enforce drug prohibition, and because the resources used for drug enforcement cannot be used against other types of crime which in turns reduces the enforcement effectiveness in those areas. Chris Paul (1994), a published economist claims, the
“competition for market control creates negative externalities which take several forms. First, violence increases as sellers attempt to monopolize markets, enforce contracts and protect property risking harm or harming non-participants. Second, as a consequence often-higher 'monopoly' price, the number and severity of crimes increase as buyers attempt to support their use. Third, some of the revenue is used to corrupt police, politicians and otherwise legitimate businesses. Fourth, as illustrated by the current 'war on drugs,' non-participants' civil liberties are eroded as law enforcement agencies attempt to identify voluntary market participants. Finally, steps taken by the public to insulate themselves from these crimes and civil disruptions constitute additional social costs" (114).

With all this information, it is clear that the current policies failing to eliminate the criminal activity associated with the illegal drug trade in the United States, because the main cause of this activity, the underground market, are left intact. Therefore, “the only way to truly eliminate those problems is to legalize the sale of drugs” (Thorton, 430).

Recommendations
Americans must accept the “War on Drugs” is not working and a society without drugs is impossible, if not intolerable. The question then is, “How does America implement policies that will regulate the production, distribution, and consumption of currently illegal drugs in order to create a safer atmosphere for its people?” The first thing United States governments must do is decriminalize personal possession of drugs as other countries already have. In 1976, the Netherlands decriminalized the possession of marijuana and almost immediately discovered a decline in usage from 13% to 6% (Heather, Wodak, Nadelmann, & O'Hare, 1993), proving that sometimes the forbidden fruit really is the sweetest.
The United States’ government has decriminalized personal possession; it must take responsibility for distribution of safer forms of currently illegal drugs. According to a United Nations report, "US authorities reported the mean purity level of heroin to be around 6% in 1987 but about 37% in 1997, in which year levels were even reaching 60% in New York," (1999, p.86). The United States’ government should regulate these drugs, just as they do with tobacco and alcohol. Regulation would ensure there are of safe levels of certain ingredients, while omitting the lethal chemicals often added to street drugs to increase quantity and weight for higher profits. The current policies of prohibition have caused deregulation. “Anarchy now rules the distribution and sale of drugs” (Trebach, 523). By taking control of the distribution of these drugs, the government would then be able regulate the sale of these drugs just as they do with tobacco and alcohol. Once decriminalized, the Controlled Substances Authority (CSA) would be able to issue licenses to competent sellers and be able to establish conditions for sale, such as age requirements. This governmental control of the production, sale, and distribution would eliminate the black market (as well as the violence, crime, and illegal profits) that prohibition of drugs has caused and that society has thus far been unable to control. It is obvious that the only real way to win the “War on Drugs,” is to decriminalize, regulate, and distribute these drugs to the American people, just as it has with tobacco and alcohol.

The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (1998) states “the international illicit drug business generates as much as $400 billion in trade annually… That amounts to 8% of all international trade and is comparable to the annual turnover in textiles,” (p. 3). The United States government has attempted to stop drugs from being produced abroad, by creating crop substitution programs, which grow legal crops, but these efforts have also failed. They have failed because profits from the cultivation and sale of drugs are enormous due to prohibition so as that profits from legal crops cannot compare monetarily. According to a report prepared for ONDCP by Abt Associates in 2000, "Between 1989 and 1998, American users spent $69 billion to $77 billion yearly on cocaine and $19 billion to $22 billion yearly on heroin," (2000, p.5). But if the United States’ government became the supplier of these currently illegal drugs, it would receive the profits from every sale by way of taxes. In addition, billions of dollars would be saved, no longer needed to fight the drug war in such an aggressive manner. This revenue could be used to reduce the actual consumption through better education and treatment facilities.

Treatment facilities and harm reduction programs are necessary and could be effective if governmentally funded. The funds required for these programs could be made available by reallocating a portion of the current drug war monies. Previously, monies had been dispersed for addictive treatment, but Reagan’s administration had discontinued this allocation, even though it encountered opposition from many members of congress. It is important that treatment be available, inexpensively and repeatedly on demand, as it is understood that relapse is often part of the process of recovery. It must be understood that treatment is an essential step in getting one off drugs, and that “it is very difficult to rehabilitate a dead addict” (Trebach, 522). The United Kingdom has already implemented such programs in which they dispense maintenance medications of oral and injectable drugs, free needle exchanges, provide instruction regarding the correct use of needles, free condoms and safe sex education all in an effort to stop the spread of AIDS, detoxication, abstinence, and mental health therapy, in addition to general health care. And although crime remains in this county, there has been a reduction in criminal activity, an example that could prove to be valuable to the United States.

“There is persuasive evidence from experience with other drugs that the most effective way to reduce consumption is through education,” (Chambliss, 1995, p.102). Chambliss has found that education programs for addicts have significantly impacted tobacco and alcohol use and that these individuals have found benefits from self-help groups. Americans would be more likely to seek the help they need to overcome their addiction, if drugs were legalized and the stigma of criminality was not attached to them. Contrary to popular beliefs, addiction is not a major problem. The fact is that most people who report using cocaine and marijuana are occasional users and most claim they have no trouble stopping if they decide to. Additionally only three percent of the people who tried cocaine say they had difficulty stopping, (Chambliss, 1995). These statistics contradict previous information given by the United States government, and shed an entirely different light on the subject of addiction. The most important factor in reducing the consumption of drugs will be education. Education has been proven time and time again as the most powerful tool available, and therefore stands to reason, that those fully educated on the risks associated with drug use are less likely to try it in the first place.

Conclusion
In conclusion, it is imperative that the United States change its current policies to gain control over drug use within its borders. “The United States has been conducting a drug war for seven decades, during which time there have been steady increases in the seizures of illegal drugs, the numbers of people using drugs, and the health and social costs of drug taking,” (Smith, 1995, p.1655). Economists have argued that the drug war has been destined to fail due to the financial gains one has to receive through illegal sales. “Any success in reducing the supply will raise the price of illegal drugs. Addicts must then commit more crime to feed their habit; and a rise in the profit margins of drug smugglers urges them on to greater efforts,” (Smith, 1995, p.1655). The United States government has created illogical, unfounded, counterproductive drug policies, based on inaccurate drug definition, moral beliefs and distortions of fact. Americans have been led to believe that the drug war is imperative to their safety, and drugs themselves are responsible for the increase in crime and poverty. The fact is that most drug related crime is not derived from the use of drugs, but by the black market, which has been created by the drug war. Many Americans and prominent legislative supporters such as; Superior Judge James Gray of Orange County as well as Judge Robert Sweet of the Manhattan Federal Court, believe that the only way to win this war is to decriminalize personal possession. Additionally, fifty senior federal judges have refused to hear drug cases, and recently, former United States Surgeon General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, publicly supported decriminalization. The United States’ “” is doomed to fail, and while other countries that have decriminalized or legalized drugs have shown promising results, the drug problem in the United States seems increase. The United States government must create new policies that allow decriminalization and legalization, which would be more likely than prohibition, to succeed in achieving everybody’s aim of minimizing the harm from drug abuse.

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Stephanie Lowrance-Henckel

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Very thorough explanation of the war on drugs. It is amazing the oversights or misconceptions that many of us believe regarding this phenomonon. I wonder if you forsee us actually being legalizing drugs and how this would play our in American's society of excess. We would just destroy ourselves with this usage eventually?