Argumentative Essay: The War On Drugs
In 1971, President Nixon declared and implemented the War on Drugs. Since that time, the U.S. has spent approximately 1 trillion dollars funding this campaign. Now, I am not a mathematician, but that would be about 25 billion dollars per year or 793 dollars per second. Today, illegal drugs are cheaper and easier to acquire despite astronomical amounts of government spending to enforce a failing policy. The War on Drugs should be ended for two reasons: the dramatic growth of incarceration rates and the overall financial cost.
First, let’s talk about the increasing incarceration rates throughout the country. Drug arrests have significantly contributed to the growing, unsustainable prison population and unfairly criminalize low-income and minority …show more content…
The War on Drugs costs the U.S. government and its tax paying citizens billions of dollars each year yielding little success in curtailing the illegal drug trade. Through research, I discovered that since 1982, countless government drug related programs, despite having little to no effect, received yearly budget increases. The Just Say No marketing campaign received a total of 33 billion dollars, yet, the U.S. remains the top country for illegal drug use. 49 billion dollars was spent on building a 1,000 mile long, heavily fenced concrete wall, drone aircrafts, motion detectors, heat sensors, and border patrol to curb drug trafficking. However, the National Drug Control Policy reports that 330 tons of cocaine, 20 tons of heroin, and 110 tons of methamphetamine are sold in the U.S. every year and nearly all of it is smuggled across the borders. Mexican drug cartels also grow marijuana in vast fields throughout the country and some are inside of our national parks. As for marijuana, most is grown domestically in vast fields inside of some of our national parks. The War on Drugs is the Prohibition of our time, and let’s face it, prohibition didn’t work and neither will the War on Drugs.
So, today we learned that America’s War on Drugs is an ineffective policy that should be repealed for two reasons: first, it has added considerably to the overpopulation of the prison
First, let’s talk about the increasing incarceration rates throughout the country. Drug arrests have significantly contributed to the growing, unsustainable prison population and unfairly criminalize low-income and minority …show more content…
The War on Drugs costs the U.S. government and its tax paying citizens billions of dollars each year yielding little success in curtailing the illegal drug trade. Through research, I discovered that since 1982, countless government drug related programs, despite having little to no effect, received yearly budget increases. The Just Say No marketing campaign received a total of 33 billion dollars, yet, the U.S. remains the top country for illegal drug use. 49 billion dollars was spent on building a 1,000 mile long, heavily fenced concrete wall, drone aircrafts, motion detectors, heat sensors, and border patrol to curb drug trafficking. However, the National Drug Control Policy reports that 330 tons of cocaine, 20 tons of heroin, and 110 tons of methamphetamine are sold in the U.S. every year and nearly all of it is smuggled across the borders. Mexican drug cartels also grow marijuana in vast fields throughout the country and some are inside of our national parks. As for marijuana, most is grown domestically in vast fields inside of some of our national parks. The War on Drugs is the Prohibition of our time, and let’s face it, prohibition didn’t work and neither will the War on Drugs.
So, today we learned that America’s War on Drugs is an ineffective policy that should be repealed for two reasons: first, it has added considerably to the overpopulation of the prison