Will the Drug War Ever Finish?

The issue with drugs is a global concern which involves children, teenagers, and adults.

 

It increases problems like crime and punishment and problems between countries. The war on drugs was set to stop the illegal drug trade. It is made up of different countries, militaries, and the U.S. government. This is what the war on drugs is in the past, present, and what most likely will become in the future. 

 

Drugs are substances that a person can take to affect them for a temporary amount of time; people at times become addicted. Some types of drugs are Marijuana, Cocaine, Crack, Meth, Heroine, Speed, and Hallucinogens. Drugs first started being used in the late 1800's. During the Civil War many soldiers used morphine to treat injuries and relieve pain.They were also used in Food products like Coca-Cola.

 

The first opium war broke out in 1839 when China was importing opium illegally and people started becoming addicted to this drug, which started to bring problems. The use rate started increasing rapidly but then China confiscated and destroyed the Opium. Laws were passed for the use of Opium and the import of it resulting in punishment to those who broke the law. 

 

In 1971 Richard Nixon declared ?'The War on drugs''. He stated drug abuse to be ?'public enemy number one''. The war on drugs meant that they would increase drug funding and the treatment for drug use. ?'In 1973 Congress authorized the formation of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reduce the supply of drugs. A year later the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) was created to lead the effort to reduce the demand for drugs and to direct research, federal prevention, and treatment services.'' (Alters 23). This means there would be a greater look out for drugs more than before.  The Dea During The 1980's the ?'Just Say No'' campaign began. It was a advertisement created by the first lady Nancy Reagan to encourage children to say no to drugs which didn't really work. The percentages of drug use just continued to increase.

 

Today, Powerful drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman Loera, is the head body and lead representative of the Sinaloa cartel.The cartel took over the cocaine trade that goes from South America to the U.S. Not only was cocaine the drug they traded the most but they also traded drugs like heroin, marijuana, and meth. The cartel expanded their business world world wide, spreading to about 5 continents. Their annual salary was thought to be about 3 billion dollars. After years of struggling to capture El Chapo, mexican authorities finally captured him on January 8, 2016. This was a big victory for authorities fighting the drug war.

 

Donald Trump, the president of the United States has recently made a big change to the war on drugs. He provided more funding and treatment plans for drugs more than ever. Trump has now imposed a death penalty to leading drug dealers he hopes that this will make a mass reduction in drug war.

 

Will the drug war ever finish? Is a question that the government has been debating for years. Currently the United States is in an opium and heroin epidemic, which has has caused the death of more than 10,000 people annually. Although law enforcement is strict on drug laws, it does not stop the sell/use of drugs. The drug cartels in Mexico are the most powerful because of the bribery and fear they have with the citizens living in Mexico. Drug trafficking has not reduced in years meaning it is not getting better even with stricter laws taking place. Drugs are seeming to become more popular as time passes and more people are becoming engaged to them. ?'Tens of thousands of our children are caught in the violent network of gangs financed by the drug-trade and hundreds of thousands find their streets and neighborhoods torn apart by drug trade related crime.''(Geers 1) This also includes the people incarcerated for drugs. States has continued to increase incessantly. There was a 300 percent increase in incarcerated individuals from 1980 to 2000, and the United States has surpassed Russia as the world leader of incarceration (Sentencing Project 2000).'' (Patten 1).

 

A solution that has been suggested for many years has been legalization of drugs such as marijuana. Making drugs legal for example marijuana, would reduce crime, mass incarceration, and create a Increase in jobs and income and make a big impact on Tax Revenue. ?'Money is also a major issue of the War on Drugs for those who oppose it. If drugs were decriminalized, they say, much of the $50 billion spent annually by federal and state government agencies might be used in such critical areas as Health Care, Education, low-cost Housing, and programs to reduce dependency on drugs and alcohol''(Gottfried 69). Recently in Colorado, the Marijuana taxes are giving them money to make changes for example rebuild schools, help the homeless, and even help people with drug addiction. Instead of looking at the bad side of drug war maybe we can learn from other states and take action. The war on drugs is a subject world wide that will probably never have a end to it as long as drugs are here.

Cite this page