Public Policy Topic: War on Drugs

Public Policy Topic: War on Drugs

The battle against drugs in the United States of America commenced in June 1971 when Richard Nixon, who was the president in office, declared war against drugs. The president affirmed that drugs are the primary enemy of the public. (Nixon Foundation 2016). The president came up with a system of developing rules to regulate the production, buying, and selling of drugs.  He reckoned that an increase in criminal incidence would directly indicate that more individuals are abusing drugs. The president requested for more government funding provision from the congress to ensure they could stop drug addiction to individuals that were not yet exposed to drugs and through rehabilitation to assist drug addicts to overcome their addiction. As a result, psychoactive drugs were criminalized, and suspects caught to be abusing them were to be arrested and charged accordingly.

There several illegal drugs that attribute to families and communities’ problems along with drug addiction to the individuals abusing the drugs. In instances when an individual is arrested as a result of abusing illegal drugs, it sets a burden on their families. An instance like this is real, particularly if the convicted suspect has a family depending on him or her. Children affected usually are taken away from the family and left in another responsible family in a capacity to care for them or in other family members if they do have any. In a situation when the kids do not have a family that can care for them, they are often put on foster care. The children’s experience through the family separation can be tough as they are abducted from loved ones they know and placed in a new home with strangers. The arrested parents convicted with drug charges are allowed to have the custody of their children if they finish serving the penalty they were charged after the prosecution of drug charges.

Some of the people earn back their children after serving their sentences but unable to uphold their soberness, and this causes their kids to remain under foster care, and in some instances, the kids end up spending their lives in foster care until they attain the legal age of eighteen years where they are termed to be adults. The major illegal drugs that lead to drug addiction issues along with drug possession are opiates. There a various type of opiates, some are medicinally prescribed by doctors in hospitals such as Oxytocin, Fentanyl, and Vicodin. Heroin is the main abused opiate. The drugs are capable of ruining one’s life. However, they could be used to treat severe pain. An individual prosecuted for abusing such drugs can end up serving a jail term of about two to three years (Sofer and Sofer, 2016).

Another drug that could cause a person many years in jail is Crystal meth. It is a dangerous and harmful drug, and the number of years an offender is sentenced to stay in jail is dependent on the amount in possession of the drug they are found abusing. In times when the crime offenders committed another crime while in possession of the crimes, they are likely to face more years in prison. Another drug that is commonly known as cocaine. Cocaine is a dangerous drug.  Court charges of cocaine depend on the amount the offender is found in possession, and the number of times they have been arrested with the crime. However, the drugs are commonly used by people and are now being legalized in states where Marijuana is legal. It is postulated that there will be an authorization of recreational along with medical Marijuana. Earlier in 1980, Nancy Regan established a movement called ‘just say no’ to create awareness among the youth and kids about drugs to avoid their indulgence with illegal drugs. By enlightening them on the dangers involved with illegal drugs, they would reduce the number of young people being arrested as a result of dealing with illegal drugs. The movement also developed a program for the young law offender with illegal drugs called sacred straight. This program exposes the juvenile law offenders on the experience prisoners undergo in jail, such as the food they eat, their living conditions, and its main aim is to show the juvenile law offender how dangerous jail could be. The program helps them to refrain from illegal activities so that they do not end up in jail again, instead make their lives better.

It is established that substance abuse addiction is a condition that one cannot overcome it unless through an intervention of assistance by a professional. The desire to overcome substance abuse addiction has to come from the offenders. To some offenders, it is very challenging in overcoming their drug addiction, as selling drugs in the streets for survival is their only source of income.   They quickly get back to their old life. Overcoming drug addiction is an outcome that takes time. Even after offenders get sober, they need constant help and supervision as once one is termed a substance abuse addict, they are still drug addicts (Másmela and Tickner, 2017).

The society has changed their perception of drugs as a result of drug utilization over the past years. In 1914 the Narcotic tax act was the first law to be enacted in the United States of America. Francis Burton was the one that proposed the law. The law was intended to tax as well as govern the Coco products, and opiates. The Act also regulated the manufacturing and the transportation of Narcotics inside and outside the country. In the twentieth century, drug use changed how people see drugs in America and globally. Alcohol was among the earliest drugs to be banned early in 1920. There were few employment opportunities at the time, and this led to a rise in set up crimes in the country. As a result of inadequate employment opportunities, many people turned to crime, looking for quick money to provide for their families. Individuals that enjoyed taking alcohol after a long day or with acquaintances were now deemed convicts after alcohol was banned in January 1920. This move made by the government was to help reduce the crime rate at that time. However, this move was unsuccessful as there was an increased number of criminal bars along with saloons following the outlawing of alcohol. Consequently, this led to the flourishing of crimes with gangsters like Al Capone, Clyde, and Bonnie. The gangsters innovated new ways of hiding alcohol once they had it, and they also bribed the police officers, which attributed to their organized crimes successful. The gangsters mostly hid the alcohol in hollow canes, bookshelves, and sometimes even in flasks on their hips. Continued smuggling of alcohol led to a continued rise in crime in the United States, which, as a result, attributed to a drop in employment opportunities. Most people turned to crime as it was their only option to make more money to help them survive. With the illegitimate market being alcohol, it became very risky with individuals fighting in regards to who controls the market and is toughest and powerful than their competitors. Since alcohol was banned, it was most individuals started making alcohol in their homes, and since there were no regulations, the quality of alcohol produced was very low (Holland, 2015). As a result, there was alcohol poisoning, which led to the rise in deaths, about four hundred percent, and this made the police take off the quest to fight against illegal alcohol. This case affairs led to alcohol being made legal again in 1933. Earlier in the eighteenth century, one could buy a syringe and cocaine for $1.50 from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Earlier on, one could buy drugs that some are now illegal and other drugs such as antidepressants without a prescription as there were no regulations to govern the buying usage and selling of the drugs. On 14^th June 1930, there was the establishment of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics by the Treasury Division. Throughout the 1930s, intellectuals presumed that the Marijuana tax enacted law made in 1937 was intended to abolish the Marijuana businesses. On the other hand, business individuals like Du Pont family presumed that Marijuana was an inexpensive alternative for the paper pulp, which was being utilized to manufacture newspapers and thought this would jeopardize the existence of timber holdings. Most of these events took place in the late 20^th century, along with drug policies. In 1970 a regulatory act was passed by congress to ensure pharmaceutical companies to complete as well as monitor strict records of certain drugs. The Act was known as the Drug Abuse and Prevention and Control Act. This enacted law was to ensure the pharmaceutical companies created some strict rules in connection to drugs that caused addiction. After Richard Nixon proclaimed war against the abuse and trafficking of illegal drugs in 1971, most people were arrested and sentenced with harsh and stricter penalties when found in possession of a drug. The president developed a compulsory prison sentence for law offenders in possession of Marijuana to serve a period of between two to ten years. Throughout that period, individuals that we are serving a jail sentence as a result of drug abuse were obliged to undergo treatment for substance abuse addiction. The declared war on drugs by the president led to many individuals getting arrested. The African American descent was the most targeted compared to the white community, which had more individuals getting arrested. The amounts of people getting arrested rose to twenty-eight percent while the amount of arrest for drug charges increased to 126% in the 1980s (McVey 1989). The Justice Department of the United States pointed out that the rise in the number of drug felony represented twenty-seven percent of the overall growth of black prisoners, fifteen percent whites, and seven percent Hispanic inmates. Alleging to the states attempts to lower drugs from 1990 to 2000. Conviction, along with penalties for individuals found guilty of drug abuse were harsh and strict in the late 20^th century towards the early 21^st century. The president that followed after Richard Nixon, including; Clinton, Bush, along with Obama also continued with the war on drugs. In 2010 an unprejudiced conviction act on time spent in prison on individuals convicted for drug felony of crack cocaine along with powdered cocaine was signed by Obama.

In the course of the Vietnam war, substance abuse was prevalent. It was approximated about over thirty thousand soldiers in the military forces were heroin addicts. This estimate for fifteen percent of the soldiers in the service. Both females to male soldiers who protect the country with their life see horrible things and use drugs as comfort as well as a sort of energy to hold them up for their responsibilities. Many individuals do not affirm with the idea of juvenile detention, where the offenders experience what it means to be in jail with other drug addicts. This is because some think that the drug offenders get to be exposed to other criminals, thus are more enlightened to be better criminals than before. Most of the people establish the drug addicts are to be placed in facilities that they will undergo rehabilitation through their addiction until they recover instead of being detained in a jail cell or prison. In a research poll conducted in 2014, the majority of the Americans, six out of ten supported the idea of moving away from harsh jail penalties, would be a good thing. A different poll carried out by Pew Research discovered that much less than 10% of the American population considered the war against drugs to be effective (Scheier, 2015). When a person is arrested due to drug felony, they lose their capacity to get over their addiction in the right way. Arrested drug addicts are forced to get over their addiction to stay without drugs. However, in the cell, other drug addicts do not intentionally want to get sober, and this consequently leads to criminals getting better in committing crimes. Detention facilities are dangerous as they are overpopulated, and exposure of such an environment to a person could cause distraught.

The battle against drugs has cost over one trillion dollars to the United States of America. The government continually pays for the criminals in jails and prisons via the tax paid by the American citizens. It approximately costs about thirty thousand dollars for a prisoner in a year, and they are about two thousand prisoners. A person is getting arrested for substance abuse possession every twenty-five seconds. Drug utilization in America is a great challenge in the country that costs a lot of money. Some people suggest that instead of the drug offenders being detained, they should be sent in a rehabilitation center to help them overcome their addiction as well as determine the cause of addiction as this would cost less. While interviewing different criminals convicted with drug charges, they claimed to have issues with their hygiene, mainly since they had no idea of their self-worth. (Netherland and Hansen, 2017).

The fight against drugs will not yet end as there will continuously be substance abuse addicts, and drugs will continuously be there. Law enforcement police always have to prevent the buying and selling of illegal drugs away from the streets. The legal system is supposed to change their focus to the rehabilitation of drug addict criminals, for their condition and their sentence.

References

Austin J, McVey AD. The 1989 NCCD prison population forecast: the impact of the war on drugs. San Francisco: National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 1989.

Holland, D. L. (2015). The rise to power and construction of drug trafficking as a foreign threat in the United States. Journal of Trafficking, Organized Crime and Security, 1(2), pp-99.

Másmela, C. C., & Tickner, A. B. (2017). Desecuritizing the ‘War on Drugs’. In Power dynamics and regional security in Latin America (pp. 295-318). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Netherland, J., & Hansen, H. (2017). White opioids: Pharmaceutical race and the war on drugs that wasn’t. BioSocieties, 12(2), 217-238.

Scheier, L. (2015). Handbook of adolescent drug use prevention: research, intervention strategies, and practice (First edition.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Sofer, D., & Sofer, D. (2016). The High Cost of Prescription Drugs in America. The American Journal of Nursing, 116(12), 14–14.