The Drug War in America has been going on for over four decades the United States and the “War on Drugs” was officially declared early in Nixon’s Presidency. He declared recreational drugs to be “public enemy number one” and that his goal was to achieve a “drug-free world”. Little did the president know that this declaration of war was going to be the beginning of forty plus years of conflict and unrest within this country. The 60’s and 70’s is when drugs really began to become a large part of American culture, although not without backlash. In 1978, 66% of Americans said that Marijuana was a serious problem within the countries high schools and middle schools and agreed something needed to be done about it. Well something was being done; mass incarceration of citizens who committed drug-related crimes was beginning. Fast forward to 2015, where nearly one and a half million people in the United States were arrested for violating drug laws, which is over 4,100 people arrested every day. In 1972, only 38,000 people were incarcerated for drug-related offenses. Not only has incarceration in the United States gone up exponentially, but also the amount of money spent on the drug war each year has steadily gone up. In the past 40 years the United States has put more than one trillion dollars towards enforcing drug laws; that is a lot of money. On an annual basis the United States spends at least $15 billion each year to enforce drug laws. That is 15% of what the entire globe spends on enforcing drug laws each year. It would seem as if the war on drugs has had the exact opposite effect it was supposed to have. The war was put in place to stop drugs from coming into the country, to crack down on those using illegal drugs, and to get rid of America’s drug problem. It has effectively done virtually none of that. 

After decades of horrible drug-abuse problems Portugal became the first country in the European Union to declare the decriminalization of all drugs. This meant that the possession of small quantities of drugs was now a public health issue, rather than being a criminal issue. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s heroin had become Portugal’s number one enemy, with huge rises in HIV and Hepatitis C infections in drug uses. The Portuguese government had enough; they were determined to do something about their drug problem. The government decided on drug policies that included decriminalization of all drugs. At first, many citizens of Portugal were extremely skeptical towards the new policies being put in place, and they had every right to be.  Many critics figured the policies would fail and thought that Portugal would turn into a “drug paradise”. It has now been more than 15 years since these policies were put in place, and to this point they have silenced those critics with their policies being an outstanding success. Since 2001, the number of Portugal’s drug-related HIV infections has plummeted by more than 90%; they now have the second-lowest number of drug-related deaths each year out of the entire European Union at three deaths for every million people (the average country has 17.3 drug-related deaths per million each year). The number of adults doing drugs in Portugal has gone down each year since 2001. Portugal has the lowest usage of synthetic drugs, usually seen as the most dangerous drugs, out of the entire European Union. The percentage of drug-related offenders in Portuguese prisons has gone down from 44% in 1999 to just 21% in 2012. Most importantly the number of people receiving treatment for their drug problems increased 60% from 1998, when 23,600 people were receiving treatment, to 2011, when 38,000 people were receiving treatment. The way Portugal chose to write their policy is very interesting. The decided that for low-level possession and consumption of illegal drugs one must appear in front of a “dissuasion commission”, made up of one official from the legal arena and two officials from the health or social services arena. The job of this commission is to decide if the offender is addicted to drugs, and if they are addicted, to what extent. The commission can then refer the offender to a voluntary treatment program or impose fines. However, Portugal did not abolish all drug laws. Drug trafficking is still a criminal offense, which is processed through the criminal justice system. One day the United States may recognize the wild amount of success Portugal has had and enact their own version of Portugal’s drug policies. If the American public knew about the results of Portugal’s drug decriminalization it would most likely start to draw more and more support. The way drug policy in the United States has changed over the past few years, that nationwide policy change may be coming in the not-so-distant future. 

The drug war has been identified as the root cause of the rise in street crime over the last four decades. In Chicago, a notably drug stricken city, more than 80% of all homicides happen due to gang violence; as Jim Gierarch, a former Chicago-area prosecutor said, “And what’s the business of gangs? Obviously drugs. Changing the drug policy is the easiest way to reduce violence, that is obvious”. Mr. Gierarch has years of experience in prosecuting drug-related offenders, and from personal experience he knows that the American drug policy has a lot to do with the amount of violence out on the streets. A study done by the United Kingdom Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit in 2003 stated that drug users are directly responsible for more than 56% of all crimes. Then you also have low-income drug addicts, often times women, that resort to street sex work in order to support their drug habit. The United Kingdom’s Home Office estimated that 80-95% of street sex work is drug-motivated. Compare these problems to legal drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine and you will see that these problems are almost non-existent in those circles. However, if you go back to the times of Prohibition of alcohol you will notice these same types of crimes happening in order to obtain alcohol. It is not a coincidence. The United State’s drug policies did not directly lead to organized crime, but it definitely caused in increase in that market. One of the most prevalent forms of organized crime, the illegal drug trade, is booming and is only growing by the year. In 2005, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) put a $332 billion retail level estimate on the drug trade worldwide. Many people that grow up in low-income areas will grow up witnessing all of the struggles happening directly around them. Often young, impressionable kids will see drug dealers who use their unconventional trade to boost themselves out of poverty and into a life of luxury. Many of those kids will grow up to deal drugs. The number of drug dealers in the United States is growing by the day, and it is a real problem. The industry is becoming more and more profitable due to increased supply and demand, thus becoming more appealing to those struggling to survive. With more people distributing drugs, the United States has cracked down on those offenders, resulting in 240,000 arrests for the manufacturing and sale of illegal drugs. That seems like an excellent statistic until you realize that it means almost nothing. The United States is arresting the minor drug dealers and traffickers; the ones being arrested are responsible for an estimated 1% of all illegal drug sales. The people that the United States is failing to arrest are the leaders of the Cartels and Black Market dealers. The Black Market and Cartels are responsible for an approximated 90% of all illegal drug sales. The drug trade has grown to become a lot like Charles Darwin’s Natural Selection theory. The strongest, smartest, dealers who commit the most crimes are the ones that make it to the top and stay out of prison. A leader like that is very rarely pinned down and arrested. The most notable example in recent years is “El Chapo”, who even used his money and power to escape out of prison. The Cartels in major trafficking countries have in some cases become more powerful than the government of their own countries. They often have more weapons and ammunition than the law enforcement, and often have the money to buy influence and corrupt public officials such as politicians. This makes it very hard for the governments of these countries to fight the Cartels and the illegal drug industry will only continue to grow unless policies are changed.

One of the biggest problems that is most apparent to America’s public is the mass incarceration of drug-related offenders. It is most noticeable by the public because it is something that comes up in the media very often and many Americans are either personally affected by it or know someone who has been affected by it. Nearly one and a half million Americans are arrested for drug-related crimes each year and nearly half of all federal prisoners were incarcerated for drug-related crimes. With only 5% of the world’s population the United States is responsible for 25% of the world’s prison population. That number is absurd. Most of those who commit drug-related offences and are incarcerated for it do not commit violent crimes; the majority of them are arrested for minor possession charges and may end up getting sentenced for years if they happen to be repeat offenders. In Ukraine 1/200th (.005g) of a gram of drugs can lead to a three-year prison sentence. If you are unfortunate enough to be arrested for a drug-related crime in the United States, then you can almost certainly kiss your future goodbye. In some US states a drug conviction makes the offender ineligible for many jobs, food stamps, health benefits, or financial aid. These restrictions can be for misdemeanor convictions as well. In those same states a convicted rapist, pedophile, or robber are all given access to food stamps, health benefits, and financial aid. Who would have thought that a convicted rapist has more rights than someone who was arrested for possession of 1g of marijuana? If the arrestee is convicted of a felony they are then denied the right to vote. One of the most valued American rights can be taken away for one life-destroying mistake. If the drug offense is great enough then the death penalty is often on the table. This is for a drug offense, not a murder or a serial rapist… someone who is arrested for possession or trafficking a drug can be put to death. Often times when people that have been incarcerated for drug-related offenses get out of jail they return to the same thing that got them their in the first place. The biggest reason for this is because they cannot get a job; employers see that they have an arrest record and are much less likely to hire that person. Another reason inmates return to their old ways is because they never receive help for their problem in the first place. They do not need a prison sentence; they need to go to a drug rehab facility where they would receive medical treatment. Not only is the United States ruining the lives of minor drug offenders, but they are also targeting certain groups when doing it. For example a black adult male is 10 times more likely to be imprisoned for a drug offence. It gets even worse. In the low-income New York City neighborhood Brownsville, you are 150 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than someone in a high-income neighborhood.

In conclusion, the war on drugs in America is a war that is unfair, one that is unethical in some cases, and one that finally needs to be put to a stop. The United States needs to stop its current drug policy and adopt a policy almost identical to Portugal’s. A change in drug policy would result in less crime, fewer drug related deaths, fewer drug related diseases, fewer arrests, more people in the workforce, and a more ethical country. It is embarrassing, to say the least, to see what this war has done to our country. People have died over it, diseases have spread like wildfire, and most importantly it has divided our country. We have minorities being treated differently than the non-minorities and that is not what this country is about. This country is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave, but who knows what is has actually become. This war is dividing our country and it needs to end.
