A War on the People
The war on drugs has been nothing but a failure. For nearly 45 years, this seemingly endless war has brought nothing but mass incarceration, violence, wasteful spending, and fear to the American people. Over one trillion (1,000,000,000,000) dollars invested in the policy and it’s expected results have not shown. Drug use and addiction are just as prominent as they have been before the policy and have not shown any correlation to the time and money put into enforcing this mess. Why do we focus more on putting these people behind bars rather than helping them recover? What if we spent our money getting addicts lives back on track rather than ruining their futures? We as Americans should learn from our mistakes and realize …show more content…
Supporters of the drug war argue that we have created drug free areas for other people in cities or schools. If we do end the war on drugs, it doesn’t mean we still can’t have drug free zones. Most public areas prohibit smoking or drinking alcohol within it’s vicinity, but they remain legal in other places. Why can’t illegal drugs be treated the same way? Supporters of the drug war also argue that it’s a battle of morality, and the immoral drug users should be punished. An important speaker for this ideology was former first lady Nancy Reagan, who said “Each of us has to put our principles and consciences on the line, whether in social settings or in the workplace, to set forth solid standards and stick to them.” Nobody is forced to do drugs. While everyone has some set of morals, everyone makes decisions, good or bad. With the purpose of our government being to protect it’s people, having offenders brought to jail for a poor decision affecting only themselves is immoral. Protection is rehabilitating them and letting them pursue their dreams. The state of New Hampshire has been in the news due to the recent heroin epidemic. Supporters of the drug war want tougher measures because of the near 400 deaths from heroin across the state in 2015. Portugal, a country roughly the same size as New Hampshire has faced a drug crisis much like it, and have solved it 15 years ago. Once Portugal decriminalized drugs and gave addicts easier methods of treatment, they saw a steady decrease in drug use, continuation of drug use, death from drug use, and HIV infections from used needles. New Hampshire and the rest of the United States as a whole should follow in the footsteps of Portugal and see the benefits of ending the war on
The war on drugs has been nothing but a failure. For nearly 45 years, this seemingly endless war has brought nothing but mass incarceration, violence, wasteful spending, and fear to the American people. Over one trillion (1,000,000,000,000) dollars invested in the policy and it’s expected results have not shown. Drug use and addiction are just as prominent as they have been before the policy and have not shown any correlation to the time and money put into enforcing this mess. Why do we focus more on putting these people behind bars rather than helping them recover? What if we spent our money getting addicts lives back on track rather than ruining their futures? We as Americans should learn from our mistakes and realize …show more content…
Supporters of the drug war argue that we have created drug free areas for other people in cities or schools. If we do end the war on drugs, it doesn’t mean we still can’t have drug free zones. Most public areas prohibit smoking or drinking alcohol within it’s vicinity, but they remain legal in other places. Why can’t illegal drugs be treated the same way? Supporters of the drug war also argue that it’s a battle of morality, and the immoral drug users should be punished. An important speaker for this ideology was former first lady Nancy Reagan, who said “Each of us has to put our principles and consciences on the line, whether in social settings or in the workplace, to set forth solid standards and stick to them.” Nobody is forced to do drugs. While everyone has some set of morals, everyone makes decisions, good or bad. With the purpose of our government being to protect it’s people, having offenders brought to jail for a poor decision affecting only themselves is immoral. Protection is rehabilitating them and letting them pursue their dreams. The state of New Hampshire has been in the news due to the recent heroin epidemic. Supporters of the drug war want tougher measures because of the near 400 deaths from heroin across the state in 2015. Portugal, a country roughly the same size as New Hampshire has faced a drug crisis much like it, and have solved it 15 years ago. Once Portugal decriminalized drugs and gave addicts easier methods of treatment, they saw a steady decrease in drug use, continuation of drug use, death from drug use, and HIV infections from used needles. New Hampshire and the rest of the United States as a whole should follow in the footsteps of Portugal and see the benefits of ending the war on