War has decorated and engraved itself throughout history, whether it be political, religious, civil, or even worldwide. Four decades ago, on the 17th of July 1971, former President, Richard Nixon declared war, but not on another country, but instead on something one can explain as an addiction or a reoccurring problem. President Nixon declared what became the war on drugs, a war that has been raging on for the past four decades and has failed to become victorious. Former U.S. Congressman, Ron Paul once said, “When you actually study the beginnings of the federal war on drugs, you uncover a history of lies, bigotry, and ignorance so extensive it will leave you speechless” (“The Revolution” 127). The war on drugs, producing a handful of
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For starters, one must acknowledge that the United States of America owes about $18 trillion dollars of debt to several nations, including China, Brazil, and the United Kingdom, but about sixty-six percent of that, America owes to itself for numerous reasons. Additionally, the United States spends about $50 billion dollars annually on the war on drugs, around “$39 billion dollars on prisoners” (“The Price”) and a “$80 billion price tag for incarceration” (Picchi). According to an article in the Press Democrat in which Devin Blong stated, “The federal government spends upwards of $17 billion to try to stop these drugs, though some reform analysts estimate the number to be closer to $50 billion” (D8). As a case in point, the war on drugs has lasted forty-four years, which means that the United States has spent approximately over two trillion dollars on a war that is incapable of succeeding. The way that money is distributed in the caring for inmates is simple. Inmates require housing, food, healthcare, guarding, and supplies. In a research conducted survey, Vera Institute of Justice revealed that the annual cost per inmate ranges from the lowest $17,285 which is in Alabama to $60,076 which is in New York (“The Price”), “but the nation spends only an average $11,665 per public school student” (Brandson). As a nation that spend more money on people locked up, it seems to look like the prisoners are the real winners throughout this whole ordeal instead of the nation’s current, former, and future
For starters, one must acknowledge that the United States of America owes about $18 trillion dollars of debt to several nations, including China, Brazil, and the United Kingdom, but about sixty-six percent of that, America owes to itself for numerous reasons. Additionally, the United States spends about $50 billion dollars annually on the war on drugs, around “$39 billion dollars on prisoners” (“The Price”) and a “$80 billion price tag for incarceration” (Picchi). According to an article in the Press Democrat in which Devin Blong stated, “The federal government spends upwards of $17 billion to try to stop these drugs, though some reform analysts estimate the number to be closer to $50 billion” (D8). As a case in point, the war on drugs has lasted forty-four years, which means that the United States has spent approximately over two trillion dollars on a war that is incapable of succeeding. The way that money is distributed in the caring for inmates is simple. Inmates require housing, food, healthcare, guarding, and supplies. In a research conducted survey, Vera Institute of Justice revealed that the annual cost per inmate ranges from the lowest $17,285 which is in Alabama to $60,076 which is in New York (“The Price”), “but the nation spends only an average $11,665 per public school student” (Brandson). As a nation that spend more money on people locked up, it seems to look like the prisoners are the real winners throughout this whole ordeal instead of the nation’s current, former, and future