The United States of America is the historic land of the free; however, its people are being enslaved by materialism and the pleasure of drugs.  The United States drug laws are not only outdated; but also, wrongly enforced.  The most outdated law revolves around opioids.  The United States should adopt a harsher stance on drugs such as opioids in response to the growing crisis.  On the other hand, marijuana is illegal for the wrong reasons.  We should decriminalize marijuana because of the numerous studies that have come out in its favor.  If the United States Government reviewed the nation’s drug policies with the help of modern research and statistics, the citizens of this country would have a fair chance to live a healthy life.  

The modern day opioid crisis originated in the late 1990’s.  According to the Government’s drug abuse website, “pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates.”  Following this, there was a substantial increase the number of opioid overdoses.  While patients turned to addicts, the types of opioids changed.  As prescription opioids became harder to get, synthetic forms such as heroin and fentanyl gained popularity.  As precautions were added to the prescription system and the government cracked down on faulty prescriptions, users transitioned to heroin.  The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that, “about 80 percent of people who use heroin first misused prescription opioids.”  Addicts would buy from street dealers, not knowing exactly what their choice opioid contained.  This would put vulnerable American communities at risk.  The United States Department of Health and Human Services proposed solution includes: increased accessibility to treatment, surveillance, and substitute pain management practices.  However, this problem calls for all Government resources to prevent the crisis, instead of temporary solutions to the nationwide epidemic.   

After at risk American populations were introduced to opioids, addiction spread rapidly.  According to EPIC, “Any long-term use can put someone at risk of addiction, even if the substance is used as prescribed.”  Addiction is the biggest problem with these types of drugs whether prescription or black-market.  Once a tolerance is built up, risk of overdose skyrockets.  EPIC proposes a solution with its Opioid Treatment Team.  These treatment teams may be useful in recovery; however, we should take more drastic measures to prevent use and cut off supply.  These laws should be tightened, and penalties should be harshened for repeat offenders.  We should treat those who are addicted, rather than ostracize them.

Towns across the nation have be plagued by the opioid crisis.  Some towns have been hit harder than others, such as those in industrial regions.  An example of this is shown in Youngstown, Ohio.  Soulman documented a factory director describing the situation as, “You don’t have a lot of industry coming here because they know there’s not a lot of skilled workers here, and then workers who can also pass a drug screen.”  Also in this video, we are able to hear the side of three former addicts in Youngstown.  Michael Oates, a former welder, states “I would wake up in the morning and take four pills and snort two. That’s just to get out of bed.”  Along with other former addicts, he describes the difficulties of holding onto a job while addicted to opiates.  It is a demoralizing sight to see the once great industrial America crumbling and turning towards opioids.  Another example of this tragedy is unfolding in Boston, Massachusetts.  The epidemic not only effects the user but also those close to them.  We receive an example of this in an article by Macquirre that shows how deep the effects of abuse are.  Macquirre describes the situation of a family destroyed by heroin by writing “Mason was born dependent on heroin, the child of Lopes’s drug-addicted son and a woman who overdosed just three days later while her baby struggled in the hospital.”  Tragic stories like these are not uncommon in local media across the nation.  In Boston, the Department of Children and Families has reported a lack of resources to deal with the growing problem.  Currently, caseloads are at an alarmingly high level in areas of Massachusetts.  This agency works to make sure children are brought up in a safe house, free from exposure to drug abuse.  If this is not provided by the family, the department find the child a safer living situation.  Without more financial and staff assistance this problem will only grow, as children such as Mason are too late to receive the help they need.  

 In addition, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency has created five schedules to classify dangers and penalties of similar drugs.  However, this system is corrupted.  After looking through the dangers of opioids, it is troubling to see how the DEA classifies drugs.  According to the DEA schedule two drugs include, “hydrocodone per dosage unit (Vicodin), cocaine, methamphetamine, methadone, hydromorphone (Dilaudid), meperidine (Demerol), oxycodone (OxyContin), fentanyl.”  Opioids have clearly caused a public health problem across America and need to be treated as such.  It is troubling that these drugs are not a priority.  According to the scheduling, Marijuana belongs in schedule one with heroin.  However, the statistics on marijuana are not quite as terrifying as those from heroin and other opioids.  

Many government officials believe marijuana is an extremely addictive drug.  Yet, numerous studies have come out to disprove this myth.  We are given an example based on the health side effects of marijuana by Philip Boffey in “What Science Says About Marijuana”.  Boffey cites a study done in Britain where a panel evaluated the health side effects of every drug, and discovered alcohol to be the most harmful.  One of the biggest health effects is addiction.  Boffey states that casual marijuana gives little to no user risk, while alcohol causes dependency and poor judgement.  Marijuana is shown to be less addictive than tobacco by 25%, according to the Institute of Medicine.  In the same study, it was shown that 23% of heroin users become dependent, while only 9% of marijuana users do.  Nevertheless, legal drugs with higher addiction rates than marijuana are bought and sold without prison time.

Another myth associated with marijuana is the gateway theory.  Recently it as be learned that research marijuana is not the gateway drug to drugs such as heroin, amphetamines, and Cocaine.  Miriam Boeri, the author, is very experienced in the field of ethnographic studies of drug user populations.  According to Boeri, “Research shows that the clear majority of marijuana users do not go on to use hard drugs. Most stop using after entering the adult social world of family and work.”  This article states that factors such as poverty and social environment serve as a gateway to hard drug use.  Through this article we can see that the solution to the gateway drug problem lies in those in less fortunate living situations.  A solution is to increase government funding to poverty programs.  The facts become misguided because many poverty-stricken populations also smoke Marijuana but, research has shown that poverty is more of a gateway to drug abuse.   

Comparatively, alcohol was once illegal due to fears of addiction and its view in society.  This prohibition in the 1920’s was extremely unpopular and broken nationwide.  George Will writes of the similarities of prohibition to the modern-day situation with marijuana.  Will addresses America to “learn from the psychoactive drug used by a majority of American adults — alcohol.” Although prohibition led to a substantial reduction in deaths caused by Cirrhosis, it caused widespread bootlegging and criminal activity.  Just as alcohol during prohibition, criminal organizations continue to profit from the transportation and sale of marijuana.  According to Will “alcohol causes as much as half of America’s criminal violence and vehicular fatalities.”  Despite the dangers of alcohol, 500,000 Americans are imprisoned for the sale of illegal drugs.  The potential benefits the nation can gain from legalization outweigh the cost of marijuana prohibition.  It would most importantly lead to a reliable and consistent quality under the FDA.  Those who wish to purchase marijuana would no longer be skeptical of the quality or origin of the product.  Rather than fueling a criminal operation, profits would help legal employees who work in the new industry.  In addition, the government would have the ability to gain income through taxation and reduce the amount of taxpayer funds spent of failed prohibition. 

In the meantime, the war on drugs will continue to rage on. This war has impacted the lives of many Mexicans and Americans.  According to the Drug Policy Alliance more than 100,00 Mexicans have been killed since 2006.  This large loss of life can be taken lightly, as these people have died in a meaningless war fueled by politics and greed.  In the United States, there was 1,488,707 arrests for drug law violations with 84% of those being only for possession.  The Drug Policy Alliance states that the United States has “the highest incarceration rate in the world.”  Keeping these inmates in jail leads to overcrowded prisons and financial problems.  Each inmate costs about $31,000 a year while it costs about $12,000 a year for a year of public schooling for one student.  Rather than education, taxpayer funds are being used in overwhelming amounts to keep minor criminals in jail.  Students college educations have been ruined over drug convictions.  The Drug Policy Alliance states that more than 200,000 students have “lost federal financial aid eligibility”.  The government should help educate those convicted of a drug charge, rather than turning them into career criminals or addicts.  The United States spends $51,000,000,000 a year on this war.  Despite all these funds there has been no change, drugs are still easily available.  Drug overdoses continue to rise, and in 2015 there was 52,404 deaths resulting from an overdose.  Instead of wasting this much money, the Drug Policy Alliance calculated that $46.7 billion worth of tax money could be gained annually if these drugs were sold legally and taxed similarly to alcohol and tobacco.  Statistics of the drug war reveal the harsh casualties in all aspects of society. Are we willing to continue to sacrifice these things?  If the war on the drugs continues at its current rate, we will see an increase in these numbers.          

 Unlike our harsh drug policies, Europe has a different approach.  Instead of large amounts of jail times, they implemented a system that focuses on addiction treatment and recovery.  In Portugal, all drugs are decriminalized.  Nadelmann describes the system in Portugal as “where nobody goes to jail for possessing drugs, and the government's made a serious commitment to treating addiction as a health issue.”  Although it is unreasonable to think that complete decriminalization of all drugs would work in America, we can learn from policies like these.  Now that a few states have decriminalized marijuana, nationwide decriminalization is not unheard of.  It is important that we adjust our drug policies appropriately to keep up with the changing times.  Furthermore, countries such as: Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and England have made major improvements in solving opioid addiction.  According to Nadelmann people in these countries “who have been addicted to heroin for many years and repeatedly tried to quit and failed can get pharmaceutical heroin and helping services in medical clinics, and the results are in: Illegal drug abuse and disease and overdoses and crime and arrests all go down, health and well-being improve, taxpayers benefit, and many drug users even put their addictions behind them.”  The United States’ policies on opioids are insufficient to aid the large scale of people that need help.  Replacing jail time with medical clinics and pharmaceuticals would not only lower the countries incarceration rate but also lower the amount of overdose deaths.  Recently, numerous other successful countries have turned to a more liberal drug policy.  As more research comes in later years, the United States will have no choice but to change its current drug policies to adopt to changing times.     

In conclusion, the United States drug policies are outdated and not based on research.  There are many different parts that need to be fixed, but those dealing with the opioid crisis are the most urgent.  It is time to stop using prison time on those arrested for possession, and implement a way to help the user become clean and successful.  Until a change is made more inmates will fall victim of the American jail system.  Once charged with a drug charge, finding a job becomes difficult.  Without a job these once minor criminals will turn to a life of crime and end up costing the American people a more money.  Treating addicts and stopping the problem early is essential in these situations.  Although there are many stories of addiction from industrial and lower-class areas, addiction is everywhere.  It is important to help these people out and give them support because most of the time there was a cause to the addiction.  Unfortunately, this a common problem and should not be taken lightly.   
