The Effects Of The War On Drugs

The War on Drugs, a collective term for the series of federal anti-drug efforts run by the United States government, attempted to significantly reduce the import, manufacture, sale, and use of illegal drugs and narcotics (Head, 1). Regardless of the intention, the four-decade long legal movement left a staggering amount of political and social unrest, such as the monetary costs for the efforts, the harsh laws associated with drug possession, and the inflated penalties for relatively low-end crimes, in its wake (Moore and Elkavich, 782). The combination of these factors creates the nationwide issue of prison population, which offers a variety of negatives on its own as well, including the formation of prison underclass (Zakaria, 2). According
From these effects and many others, the United States’ harsh incarceration policies and drug prohibition laws directly resulted in the present-day incarceration problem lingering in the nation. The early stages of the War on Drugs, as it exists today, served as a government reaction to the ideals of the counterculture of the 1960s. Drugs symbolized the spirit of rebellion and social change, and with an increase in the momentum of the cause, drug abuse and distribution remained rampant (“A Brief History of the Drug War”). The policies and regulations associated with the government’s anti-drug stance began as early as 1914 with small, yet compounding regulations on the distribution of narcotics, such as heroin and opiates. The more pronounced stance occurred under President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s
Per 100,000 citizens, the United States has, on average, has 760 prisoners. Comparatively, countries such as Japan, France, Germany, and South Korea do not even reach 100 per 100,000; that’s an average of a 600% increase from other first world countries. Although the United States comprises of only five percent of the world population, it holds 25% of the world’s jailed prisoners (Zakaria, 1). Since the Nixon administration’s tough-on-drugs announcement, the United States has spent over one trillion dollars funding the War on Drugs, a cost that only increases with the need for more and more room for prisoners (Zakaria, 2). For those currently incarcerated, the federally mandated healthcare provided is often substandard, and leaves many inmates suffering from plentiful infectious diseases. And, those already suffering will be unable to receive the proper medical attention they require (Moore and Elkavich, 784). Even after incarcerated persons are released, more issues arise in not only the communities, but also within families. Released inmates often face challenges such as alcoholism, increased drug addiction, and unemployment, most of which are worsened by time spent in prison. Community and societal ties are also often damaged or severed, leaving the inmate jobless and alone after release, gravitating him or her towards a repeat drug