The War on Drugs
Answer
What is the War on Drugs?
The War on Drugs refers to a set of policies and actions in the United States of America aimed at combating illegal drug trade and drug abuse. It originated during the Nixon administration in the 1970s when Richard Nixon declared drug abuse as "public enemy number one", and escalated in the 1980s under the Reagan administration. The War on Drugs included strategies like increasing law enforcement and stricter sentencing laws, even for nonviolent offenders.
Was the War on Drugs a global effort?
Though the term War on Drugs was initially coined in the U.S.A., its reach extended beyond U.S. borders. In an effort to curb the production and smuggling of drugs, the U.S. has sent forces into countries like Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and China, among others. In some cases there was successful collaboration and coordinated efforts between the countries to help combat illegal drug trade and production. However, the U.S.'s aggressive efforts also led to the exacerbation of violence in certain regions and social and economic impacts on vulnerable communities.
Is/Was the War on Drugs effective?
The effectiveness of the War on Drugs is a hotly debated issue. Some argue that in spite of significant efforts from law enforcement and resources invested, there hasn't actually been a substantial reduction in drug use. The emphasis on the criminalization of drug use has also contributed to the stigmatization of drug users without addressing the root causes. It has been argued that the financial resources that have been allocated to the cause could have instead been used towards prevention of drug use, treatment for addicts, and harm reduction strategies. There has been some success in disrupting drug traffickers and organizations, but they just end up finding new routes and methods.
What are some of the lasting effects of the War on Drugs?
The effects of the War of Drugs are still present to this day. One of the most significant effects has been mass incarceration - there has been an exponential increase in incarceration rates, particularly for non-violent drug offenses. Mass incarceration has led to overcrowded prisons, strained criminal justice systems, and has disproportionately affected minority communities. Other lasting effects include ongoing cartel violence, the stigmatization of drug users, and overinflated budgets for law enforcement.
Drug control began as a set of policies intended to restrict access to a dangerous commodity and almost immediately became a tool of oppression. Drugs provided an excuse to crack down on suspect communities, but, more important, they also offered a rationale to explain why those problems persisted in the first place. In effect, drugs let government—and the rest of society— off the hook for larger structural problems and replaced those problems with a compelling enemy to confront. (Pembleton, p. 310)
References
“The Drug War Is the New Jim Crow.” American Civil Liberties Union, www.aclu.org/documents/drugwar-new-jim-crow.
Murch, Donna. “Crack in Los Angeles: Crisis, Militarization, and Black Response to the Late Twentieth-Century War on Drugs.” Journal of American History, vol. 102, no. 1, June 2015, pp. 162–73. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.sac.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/jahist/jav260.
Patten, Daniel. “The Mass Incarceration of Nations and the Global War on Drugs: Comparing the United States’ Domestic and Foreign Drug Policies.” Social Justice, vol. 43, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 85–105. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=118071071&site=ehost-live.
Pembleton, Matthew. Containing Addiction : The Federal Bureau of Narcotics and the Origins of America’s Global Drug War. University of Massachusetts Press, 2017. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1842589&site=ehost-live.
Smith, Benjamin. “New Documents Reveal the Bloody Origins of America’s Long War on Drugs.” Time, 24 Aug. 2021, time.com/6090016/us-war-on-drugs-origins/.
“Special Message to the Congress on Drug Abuse Prevention and Control. | the American Presidency Project.” Www.presidency.ucsb.edu, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-the-congress-drug-abuse-prevention-and-control.