Harsh minimum sentencing practices around drug offences exist because of the Reagan administration’s rhetoric that blamed drugs as the primary cause of violent crime in the US during the 1980s. Prior to Reagan’s “War on Drugs” era, drug crime in the US was relatively minor, however, beginning in 1980, the number of prisoners in jail for drug related offences skyrocketed. While there were just 41,100 of these prisoners in 1980, by 2010 that number had tripled, an increase of 1,100%. One of the biggest reasons for this seemingly outrageous increase is mandatory minimums, a system devised to enact harsher sentences for first time offenders, with the goal of making them reluctant to commit the same crime again. In her book, The New Jim Crow, professor…
One of the hottest topics that has been widely discussed lately is the “drug war”. A regular columnist and professor of economics at Samford University, Art Carden argues in his article Forbes, “Let’s Be Blunt: It’s Time to End the Drug War” for the end of the drug prohibition. The purpose of the article is to persuade the readers that the war on drugs has been a costly failure, causing unintended negative economic consequences. Overall, Carden’s argument is convincing because he offers a strong, clear thesis with persuasive logical evidences as supports.…
Maybe instead of the War on Drugs, the government should have pursued a War on Drug Distributors since they’re the ones who commit the violent crimes and have created a multi-billion-dollar black market selling illicit substances to anyone willing to pay, including children. Studies have shown that rehab generally doesn’t have a lasting impact or high success rate of getting drug users clean, but it’s the best solution I can think of currently and it’s far better than locking them up in the same cells with dangerous murderers and rapists. In a way, I agree with the structural functionalists that the increasing drug use in society is largely a response to society’s weakening norms and moral values. Still, in a society where up to 7% of people use illicit drugs on a somewhat regular basis and where a criminal record…
Dickinson, Tim, and Ethan Nadelmann. "The War on Drugs." Rolling Stone no. 1261 (May 19, 2016): 30-35. Academic Search Premier (accessed June 16,…
Throughout world history, societies have used drugs, such as ayahuasca, opium, and marijuana, for spiritual and medicinal purposes. Even in our own country during the, heroin was prescribed to treat respiratory illness and cocaine was consumed recreationally via Coca-Cola products. In relatively recent years, however, the American government enacted numerous policies targeting the sale, possession, and use of specific drugs. In 1915, The Harrison Narcotics act enforced a policy with restrictions on manufacturing and selling marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and morphine for the first time. After the creation of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics under the Hoover administration, drugs were increasingly criminalized through the enactment of The Boggs…
Yet there are people in the United States serving life sentences for first-time drug offenses, something virtually unheard of anywhere else in the world” (215). Even though everyone had at least violated the law once in their life, but the most severe violation are endangering someone else life. However, in the United States the police care more about drug…
However, although crime has decreased, drug use has not decreased, and imprisonment rates are growing more drastic. Between 1993 and 1996, serious crime decreased by 5% and adult arrests increased by 12%, but adult arrests for serious crime only increased by 3%; in contrast, arrests for less serious crimes, like drug possession, grew by 14% (Cunniff 9). Yet despite the lack of impact of anti-drug programs, the government continues to take the same approach. Even despite the increase in prison populations, there are little to no regulations of prison populations (Schlanger 199). Clearly, the federal government must discontinue the emphasis on drug sentences and begin to put more effort into decreasing prison populations.…
In the 1980s and 1990s political figures across America declared a “war on drugs”. During this time period Americans believed that the nation’s number one problem was drug abuse. The crack cocaine epidemic was in full effect during this time, and the main users were young poor African Americans. As the war on drugs gained popularity, policing agencies arrested more and more users resulting in increasing incarceration rates. The “war on drugs” resulted in locking drug users up to keep them off of the streets instead of assisting the users in turning their lives around.…
Reagan ranted and raved about the War on Drugs, started the ridiculously ineffective “Just Say No” campaign, and significantly increased the budgets of many federal law enforcement agencies; it was pure hypocrisy (73). The populations of jails and prisons increased exponentially all across the country, becoming incredibly overcrowded. The War on Drugs makes it nearly impossible for people like Susan Burton and the many women she has helped to break the cycle. A profoundly flawed criminal justice system, systemic racism, redlining, education policy, and poverty are surely all to blame (8). It is a system that survives on a culture of power, a system that runs on the “idea that punishment was always the answer and was always deserved, that getting tough would solve everything” (123).…
On September 15, Jay Z released an informative video titled “The War on Drugs Is an Epic Fail.” In the video Jay Z addressed the discrepancies of the drug war and its negative affects on society. The issues that were spoken about in the video have been the main points made in the anti-drug war argument. There has been many studies done on this topic which produced many supportive results. However, there still people who do not see the drug war as a failure.…
In his paper “America’s Unjust Drug War” Michael Huemer presents an argument for the drug war called the Harm to Users argument that is laid out as such: (P1) Drug use is very harmful to users. (P2) The government should prohibit people from doing things that harm themselves. ( C )…
Thesis: The American war on drugs has been a problem since it began in the late 19th century. This so called “war” has been an embarrassment and a failure to the American nation. The war on drugs uses an excess of tax dollars, violates state and individual liberties, and is causing a speedy and frightening deterioration of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Why has the War on Drugs Failed and What Can We do About It??…
The judicial system was buckling down on different drug offenses such as crack-cocaine, marijuana and opium. In 1985 marijuana was marked as the nation’s “number one problem” when it came to drug abuse. More people started using excessive amounts of marijuana since there was a decriminalization law. Eventually, it reached a high of sixty-four percent; programs and treatments were brought upon such as D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) and G.R.E.A.T (Gang Resistance Education and Training). These programs were not just for adults, these were mainly targeted towards the youth so they will be pushed in the right direction.…
The type of offender that would be affected by my change in criminal justice policy would be nonviolent drug offenders. It's important to note that the nonviolent drug offenders would only be drug users, not dealers. The proposed policy decriminalizes drug use and instead would impose fines and a probationary period for violators. By decriminalizing drug use, real change may occur. Instead of throwing addicts in jail, there will be a greater emphasis on rehabilitation.…
The drug market is stronger than ever, yet the drug war has been in full force for several decades. The effects here in the United States, are quite similar to the effects internationally, but there are many solutions other than a drug war, to stop the use of drugs. Nobel laureate and economist Milton Friedman remarked on the issue, “However much harm drugs do to those who use them…seeking to prohibit their use does even more harm both to users of drugs and to the rest of us…Legalizing drugs would simultaneously reduce the amount of crime and improve law enforcement. It is hard to conceive of any other single measure that would accomplish so much to promote law and order” (Donohue 146). Friedman is right.…