How the war on drugs has damaged our society

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Obama’s new drug czar Gil Kerlikowske stated that he would end the practice of using the terminology of the "War on Drugs" started by Richard Nixon nearly 40 years ago when he founded the DEA. The policy is a a no-brainer, roundly hailed as the right way to go, but after 3 decades of a politicized public health problem, the system has done much more harm than done. It has spent billions of tax dollars and served little purpose other than to make our streets more violent, over-crowded our prisons and done almost nothing to curb the drug trade in our country.

The war on drugs may have been started by Nixon in 1971, but one of the most influential moments in the drug enforcement movement was in 1986, when Ronald Reagan signed into law legislation that instituted mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences. The legislation was accompanies by a rash of similar state-level legislation by politicians desiring to foster an image of being "tough on crime." The legislation had the effect of forcing judges to sentence drug offenders, including those found to be in possession of controlled substances, to mandatory prison terms. The effect was a massive explosion in the prison population. States were ill-equiped to handle this massive increase in prisoners, which led to increased budgets for corrections and a scramble to build more prisons. Which crippled the ability of states to fund other programs including education. The decline of education systems resulted in an ironic cycle, as high school graduates saw fewer professional options and were more likely to resort to crime. To date, the spending on corrections has continued to have an adverse affect on education spending, in 2007 corrections spending in California surpassed education for the first time and showed no sign of slowing.

In the prisons, the overcrowding had dramatic consequences on prison life. What had formerly been moderately dangerous incarceration systems had transformed into a veritable warzone of simple assaults, sexual assaults, and murder. Non-violent drug offenders, many in prison for possession for marijuana were now exposed to massive amount of violence as well as becoming victims of violence themselves. Over time, these non-violent offenders became violent as a result of their exposure and victimization. They also learned to be real criminals by being absorbed into prison culture, including prison gangs and a mentoring system that focuses on commiting crime and avoiding authorities. They can also be exposed to a variety of hard drugs, with no prospects for the future, there is little to stop them from experimenting with whatever they can get their hands on. Through years of conditioning, these non-violent drug offenders enter prison as harmless stoners and come out as hardened criminals and addicts, practically destined to eventually return to the prison system.

Drug policy is an excellent example of how policy in a single area can have dramatic effect on society at large. Legislation aimed at drug abuse, also politicized to foster "tough on crime" positions, have ended up tripling our prison populations, leveraging and bankrupting state budgets, compromising the education system, and making criminals more violent.This area of policy needs dramatic overhaul with the focus on mandating drug rehabilitation and reducing prison populations.