The Ongoing Battle with Drugs essays

The Ongoing Battle with Drugs essays Have we lost the War on Drugs? The War on Drugs officially started in 1972 with President Nixon declaring that drug law enforcement was not strict enough. To enforce the laws of the original Harrison Act, a new and intensified plan was to be enacted. The war reached its peak during the Reagan and Bush administrations, in which $67 billion was spent in enforcement of drug laws. The plan had worked relatively well until near the end of the Bush administration and drug use overall was down. But the Clinton administration has not been as effective and it is time to determine what our next course of action will be regarding drug enforcement. Prisons are becoming increasingly overcrowded and many people are being labeled as hard criminals as a result of experimentation with soft drugs. There are many possible courses of action to take, but the best one is not very clear-cut. America has always had a tremendous demand for illegal drugs. And simple economic principles will show that when the re is a large demand for a product someone will supply it. It is just like any other precious commodity and follows the same theory of buy low, sell high. Foreign sources have historically supplied this great demand. Latin Americas drug lords have always been a very big problem for the United States. It can be virtually impossible to catch them in a position to make an arrest. The power and support that these drug lords receive can almost overwhelm authorities trying to stop them (Burdge 2). One of the largest ever drug traffickers was Pablo Escobar Gaviria, he was so large and powerful, not even the court system could punish him when he was arrested and detained. The arresting officers were killed and nine different judges would not try the case due to threats on their lives. Then the official records disappeared from the courthouse and there could not be a trial. His net worth grew to almost $2 billion and he was helping the ...