Billions of Dollars Lost

The War on Drugs has long had a huge impact on America’s economy. There are thousands of people each year being arrested and even locked up for many years due to drug offenses. In 2011, the Huffington Post reported that the U.S. median annual wage was $26,364. While that is not considered to be a large sum of money, just think about how all of the people in jail are unable to support their family and/or partners. Children should have the financial support of both parents because living below the poverty line is not considered to be an ideal situation. By throwing people in jail for petty offenses like possession of marijuana is not only harming said offender, but it is also putting a burden on his or her family that he or she was trying to support.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy “estimates resulting productivity losses of around $40 billion a year” just from people who are in jail on drug charges. It is not just the families of drug offenders being impacted by the War on Drugs, but America is falling behind in terms of economics productivity. While we should be competing with the likes of China, Brazil, Germany, and Russia in the economic sector, we are continually being put at a severe disadvantage by incarcerating our citizens for drug offenses. Jail should be designed for murderers, rapists, child molesters, and other serious offenders. The United States needs to wake up and allow for the release of people who are in jail for drug offenses. Jails are a big moneymaker, however, we as a nation are losing out on many of the services that drug offenders should be providing for if they were not locked up. We need to act fast before we fall behind even more.

Drug Cartel Violence (WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW)

Fans of the TV crime drama Breaking Bad will recognize the violent images and deaths below. For those living under a rock, Breaking Bad centers on the story of a former high school chemistry teacher, Walter White, who changes his life drastically after discovering he has cancer. He starts to cook the schedule II controlled substance, methamphetamine and becomes involved in a drug cartel that results in many violent and disturbing deaths, like the ones below.

Although Breaking Bad is a fictional story, the violence associated with drug cartels is, unfortunately, very real. According to Bas Van der Bossen of the Bleeding Heart Liberatarians, Drug cartels tend to “to decapitate their rivals, mutilate their corpses and dump them in public places to instill fear into the general public, local law enforcement, and their rivals.” Warning: The images below are actual, very graphic representations of the violence resulting from the War on Drugs

Ending the War on Drugs would mean ending the bloodshed as a result of drug cartels. According to the FBI, there were roughly 400 to 600 drug-related murders annually between 2007 and 2011, which doesn’t even include gang violence. It is has been proven over and over again that prohibition increases violence. Yale Law professor Dan Kahan explains, “Illegal markets breed competition-driven violence among suppliers by offering the prospect of monopoly profits and by denying them lawful means for enforcing commercial obligations.” From human trafficking to death of innocent children, the brutality resulting from illegal drug trade is truly sickening.

There will always be drugs among us and there will always be people who use them, but banning them is not the solution. It is not the government’s responsibility to play the role of strict father to its citizens. By restricting the freedom to do drugs as we please, the government is making the situation worse by causing psychological reactance, a proven theory by Jack Brehm (1966). Taking away our freedoms results in defiance, which is evident through the increased violence that has resulted from the ban and the ironic increased drug usage. The only way to put an end to this corruption of the drug cartels is by getting rid of them and the only way to get rid of them is by ending the War on Drugs and legalizing all drugs.

The Medicinal Need for Drugs

One of the lesser-known topics surrounding the War on Drugs is how it affects people who are in need of certain drugs. Cancer patients and people with chronic pain are struggling to get the painkillers and other prescription medications they need that can help alleviate pain. Suffering from severe pain is something that no human being should have to go through in life. “According to the World Health Organization, these measures simply result in 5.5 billion people – including 5.5 million with terminal cancer – having low to nonexistent access to opiate medicines. More powerful opiate preparations, such as morphine and diamorphine (heroin), are unattainable in over 150 countries.”

Cancer patient expressing her frustration for being arrested for marijuana possession

The government should not be able to prohibit someone from getting the necessary treatment that he or she needs. The people that truly need medicine are being severely penalized in this War on Drugs. While marijuana is becoming more accepted and even legalized throughout much of America, there is still a stigma attached to it. Many people think smoking cannabis is associated with laziness and apathy. However, the medicinal value of the drug cannot be ignored as many cancer patients, HIV/AIDS patients, and those suffering from chronic back pain have used it to reduce pain. The fact that it is easier for someone with ADHD to obtain a drug like Ritalin than it is for a cancer patient to obtain a painkiller or marijuana that can ease his or her pain is unfortunate, and that has to change.

In the end, the War on Drugs, much like many other government policies, is mostly about the money. There is so much money tied up into our prison system, and with the excessive amount of people incarcerated due to drug-related offenses, it is no wonder why the United States continues to fund the War on Drugs.

Prohibition

We live in a modern day society where you can connect with people halfway around the world in seconds, go shopping without leaving the comfort of your own home, and some of us even have cars that park themselves. So if we are supposedly living in Marty McFly’s era (Back to the Future for the uninitiated), why are we still holding onto the times of Al Capone?

Prohibition of substances, whether it be alcohol or drugs, has never effectively worked and continues to fail to this very day. In the 1920’s the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement and the Anti-Saloon League were concerned about many American’s drinking behaviors which prompted them to pressure Congress to take action…and so the 18^th Amendment was born. As we are all aware, people continued to consume alcoholic beverages despite the Volstead Act. Due to the overall noncompliance of the American citizen, the nation saw the 18^th Amendment repealed not 20 years after its passing. It should be noted that this is the only U.S. Amendment of all 27 that was ever rescinded.

This brings us to present day prohibition in America. This new form of prohibition picked up steam sometime around the 1970 Nixon era; though not titled “Prohibition” any longer, it held the same meaning. This time Congress entitled it “The War on Drugs.” DrugPolicy.org states, “The number of people behind bars for nonviolent drug law offenses increased from 50,000 in 1980 to over 400,000 by 1997.” In 17 years the amount of American citizens incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses rose 700%. That’s 700% more of your tax dollar going toward the incarceration of nonviolent criminals.

Let’s consider the word war. War by definition is a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation. This suggests that a conflict is being carried on by force of arms between our government and nonviolent “criminals.” Does anyone not see the problem here? Let’s just assume that this war they are referring to just involves the violent criminals that deal in drugs. Well if that’s the case, then you have to factor in that the government has fashioned a workplace for them in which to operate in the form of a black market. This means good ol’ Uncle Sam is the one starting the war.

The incarceration of violent offenders coupled with nonviolent drug offenders equals a lot of damn tax money. We have to start asking ourselves why. Why are we allowing the government to spend our tax money on a war that they have created? Why are we allowing the birth of more violent criminals, when if we removed the market all together they might become productive citizens? Why are regular everyday citizens under constant threat of being arrested for what they put into their own body? Does the government own our bodies? If that’s their plan maybe we should at least take a vote on it first. The bottom line is that prohibition has never worked, in fact the only thing its ever worked is our tax dollar. It’s high time (see what I did there) we write our congressman, end this war, and smoke um’ peace pipe.