War On Drugs And The War On Drugs In The United States

In the United States the non-medical use of drugs is considered a problem that stems from the drugs themselves, which result in crime and violent behavior. This has led to an attack in the form of the War on Drugs, which seeks to eradicate illegal drugs and isolate those who are involved in the illegal drug system by putting them in prison. This kind of approach has not led to effective ways of treating the problems of illegal drug use and involvement in the illegal drug trade. If we consider these things as the problem, a change of approach is needed that looks at why these things occur and how we can change life for people who participate in them so that the problem can be treated in an effective way. To support this argument I will consider …show more content…
takes a punitive prohibition approach to drug use and the illegal drug trade. Punitive prohibition relies on a pharmacological determinism approach and results in the goal being to rid the country of the physical drugs and harsh punishment on drug offenses. Today, in the U.S. punitive prohibition has taken the form of the War on Drugs, which will be the main focus of this discussion. The government has conducted a War on Drugs through passing legislation that has allowed for several tactics to be used to try getting drugs off the streets and out of the country. These tactics include but are not limited to the following: (1) Anti-drug crusades and campaigns by politicians and media that focus on the threat of drugs in our society (Drug Scares); (2) The creation of special and departments to deal specifically with drugs; (3) Collaboration between law enforcement and the military for training and weapons; (4) Collaboration between the U.S. and other countries to stop drug production in foreign countries; (5) The passing of laws that allow law enforcement to circumvent the fourth amendment when it comes to drugs; (6) The passing of laws that allow for increased access of the government to private information and the increased use of informants to obtain arrests; (7) Increased use of strong forces such as SWAT to conduct raids and increased use of tactics such as drug sweeps and searching through communities for potential arrests; (8) The passing of laws mandating harsher punishments for drug offenses such as mandatory minimums; and (9) The Incarceration of the U.S. population for non-violent drug offenses for long periods of time. These tactics have been used to try and get rid of physical drugs and to try and keep them away from