The War on Drugs began in 1971 after Richard Nixon declared that drugs were harming our society. He said, “America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.” Over forty years later, the War on Drugs is still a widely contested issue in the United States with many people for and against it.
Malcolm Beith argues that there are really not any attractive alternatives to what is currently happening regarding the War on Drugs. In the September 2013 issue of Foreign Affairs, Beith’s article, titled “A Single Act of Justice How the Age of Terror Transformed the War on Drugs,” says that we are winning the War on Drugs. Beith states the total amount of people who are arrested annually on drug charges and why people think the justice system is racist due to the amount of minorities that are locked up on drug offenses. After 9/11, the War on Drugs changed. No longer was the United States trying to stop illicit drugs from entering our country, but it also became a way to combat terrorism. Many of the well-known drug traffickers that have recently been arrested have been involved in terrorist-related activities. Drugs carry with them a plethora of problems that the government is trying to get rid of.
While alcohol and tobacco are legal in the United States, they are still dangerous substances that kill thousands of people every year. The black market for illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine causes an increase in demand and creates an artificially high price for them. Drugs fund terrorist organizations like the Taliban and gangs in general and keep them powerful and afloat. By ending the War on Drugs, the violence associated with the drug trade would decrease, similarly to what happened before and after the Prohibition Era. An article written by the University at Albany, titled “Organized Crime and Prohibition,” found that “Not only did the number of serious crimes increase, but crime became organized. Criminal groups organize around the steady source of income provided by laws against victimless crimes such as consuming alcohol or drugs, gambling and prostitution.”[3] The same thing is happening with the War on Drugs, where organizations are profiting off illegal drugs, and crime is continuing to increase. Also, too much money is being spent on the War on Drugs that should be going to other causes like ending poverty and improving our health care system. Therefore, the United States should end the War on Drugs.
The Failed War on Drugs 