The War on Drugs, Really?

     The War on Drugs is a clear example of one of America's worst handled polices. According to drugsense.org the U.S. government, "spent over $15 billion dollars in 2010 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $500 per second."  Now to me this seems like an outrageous amount of money for a failing policy. The war on drugs is no doubt failing. If the purpose of the war is to completely eradicate the presence of drugs in America, then it is most definitely failing. There have already been 416,408 people arrested for drug law offenses this year alone and 214,874 people have been arrested for cannabis law offenses this year. This means that roughly half  of all drug arrest this year were for a virtually harmless drug. Lets be honest people, weed is not a dangerous drug. In fact there has never been a recorded death due to an overdose of marijuana. But thousands of people die yearly from alcohol overdoses. Yet alcohol is legally available at almost every corner-store. 

     If the government had the people's best interest at heart they would rehabilitate drug offenders who are users and not just incarcerate them. There is a revolving door for drug offenders in America's current criminal system. By this I mean that people who are arrested for drug offenses are very likely to end up in jail again for the same offenses. The problem is that these people are addicted to drugs and locking them up is not a means to help them kick their habits. Addicts need to be rehabilitated in order to have any chance of recovering from their addiction. Also when people are convicted of drug offenses their permanent record is negatively effected. Thus making it harder for those individuals to find a decent job that can help them be a productive member of society. This may force them into a life of crime and eventually behind bars yet again.

     GreenWellness blog post best describes the War on Drugs when stating,

I think we can all say that the “War on Drugs” seems to be some what of a disaster. Millions of citizens are irresponsible put through the court system, Billions of dollars are pumped into the fighting Marijuana’s “dangers” from reaching our neighborhoods, but still crack, heroin, and disease run ramped in most slums around the the country, not to include the huge increase in our youth getting hooked on pharmaceutical drugs.