Paper Example: The War on Drugs and Collateral Consequences

The U.S. has been struggling to curb drug abuse since its declaration by President Nixon (Lurigio, 2014). Its primary goal was to eradicate the drug menace, although it was characterized by increased prison populations and financial costs, there is increased drug-related violence across the globe.

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The war on drugs has failed to reduce drug distribution and use. It is evidenced by a UN report which shows that the last decade has witnessed a 145% rise in drug-related deaths and over 71000 overdose deaths getting recorded in the U.S (Guy & Clarke, 2018). Some of the unintended consequences of the war on drugs include prevalent drug use in the U.S. despite law enforcement, making it challenging to access recreational drugs. Over the last four decades, the American government has committed over $1 trillion to fight illegal drug use and trafficking, yet the efforts have not offered the intended results (Lurigio, 2014). There have been over 700000 deaths resulting from drug abuse and overdose from 1997 to 2017 (Yerby, 2020). The war against drugs has also strained the American justice system and led to an upsurge in crime and drug-related violence that has claimed civilians' and law enforcement officers' lives (Coyne & Hall, 2017).

The war on drugs has been ineffective and has created more problems for the American justice system and society. Law enforcement officers focus on arresting drug dealers, while little effort gets directed towards treating drug addicts in the nation. Statistics show that drug abuse has tripled in the U.S since 1990 (Yerby, 2020). As such, drug dealing remains lucrative despite the continued arrests and imprisonment of drug dealers (Belenko & Spohn, 2015).

The Justice Department identifies that the war on drugs has significant adverse economic impacts on the American justice system, healthcare, and environmental destruction, costing the economy over $215 billion annually (Editorial Staff, 2020). It has also resulted in an upsurge in the number of drug addicts dealing with mental illnesses such as depression. More than 20 % of Americans suffering from depression engage in drug abuse (Yerby, 2020).

References

Belenko, S. & Spohn, C. (2015). Drugs, crime, and justice. Los Angeles: Sage.

Coyne, C. J., & Hall, A. (2017). Four decades and counting: The continued failure of the war on drugs. Cato Institute Policy Analysis, (811). Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2979445

Editorial Staff. (2020). Was the War on Drugs Effective? Retrieved from https://lagunatreatment.com/addiction-research/war-on-drugs/

Guy, J., & Clarke, H. (2018). Report Says the UN’s Global ‘War on Drugs’ Has Been a Failure. CNN News. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/21/health/drug-report-un-failure-intl/index.html

Lurigio, A. J. (2014). A Century of Losing Battles: The Costly and Ill-Advised War on Drugs inthe United States. Retrieved from http://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=social_justice

Yerby, N. (2020).Addiction Centre: Statistics on Addiction in America. Retrieved from https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/addiction-statistics/