Decriminalization of Drugs in America

As stated in my last blog post, I had a lot more research to do on the topic of the "war on drugs" in America. Up until a couple of weeks ago, everything I knew about dangerous drugs and the people associated with them was pretty straight forward. How could anyone question whether these harmful substances should be legalized or not? Now, I am not talking about marijuana. I don't believe this is a dangerous drug as long as it is used responsibly, but the more dangerous and addictive substances are what I have a problem with. I have personally seen the abuse of drugs turn people I love into strangers who represent more of a zombie than a live human being. Their home, their family, their children, ripped apart by a series of bad choices that led to an addiction that took over their entire being. Educating myself on this topic as brought me through so many emotions, going back and forth with what I agree with. All the articles I have read, along with the film, talk about how we should end the "war on drugs" and they seem to make so much sense. However, knowing what I know and seeing what I have seen, how can I agree that ending the war on drugs is a good thing?

This is what I came to realize, ending the "war on drugs" is not about saying drug use is okay. It is not about promoting drug use or ignoring the problems associated with addiction. It's about breaking the cycle of unproductive, unfair, and unjust punishment that is targeting communities based on race and social class status, while over crowding our prison systems and costing America billions of dollars each year. With that being said, I still had my doubts. If drug abuse and the violence that is associated with it is so out of control now, what would happen if we made it legal? My fear is that it would only get worse. When researching this fact, I came across an article that answered these questions. In the Forbes business section, an article titled "Let's Be Blunt: It's Time to End the Drug War" talks about the prohibition going on with today's strict drug laws, and how people do not change their drug consumption based on the price of the drugs themselves. The article further explains how drug violence is a result from drugs being illegal and not the drugs themselves. People who are addicted to something will do whatever it takes to satisfy that need. When drugs are illegal, it forces the price of drugs to be high. These addicts then result to criminalized behavior to get their hands on the drugs anyway they can. I believe this direct quote from the article sums it up best, "The more effective prohibition is at raising costs, the greater are drug industry revenues. So, more effective prohibition means that drug sellers have more money to buy guns, pay bribes, fund the dealers, and even research and develop new technologies in drug delivery (like crack cocaine). It’s hard to beat an enemy that gets stronger the more you strike against him or her." In other words, drugs being illegal is actually putting more power in the drug dealers hands and as a result is creating more dangerous drug use and violence.

Of course this subject is so complex, there are so many areas that need to be evaluated. But, the more I question myself on this topic, the more answers I come up with. People do not stop doing drugs just because it is illegal, so I have to believe people may not start doing drugs just because it becomes legal. Decriminalizing drugs is not saying to do drugs, it is just about finding another way to treat the problem of drugs and the unjust punishment that often comes with it. Ending the "war on drugs" is just a start. There would have to be many laws put into place about the use of drugs and drug treatment. If I can start to understand how this would better our society and think of all kinds of ideas to treat addiction itself, better communities, save money, all while still providing jobs to people, than I think others can too. The more we educate each other and learn the truth, the sooner we can start to make the changes that are so desperately needed.

The War on Drugs in America

While watching The House I Live In, I was instantly engrossed into Jarecki's documentary on the "war on drugs" in America. This film has an interesting view on the increasing drug problems in the United States. It states that the "public enemy number one in America is drug abuse." This itself may not be a new idea, but Jerecki's take is that for many people it's a lifestyle that they are born into and is very hard to escape. The film walks you through various communities whose economy is based on the sale of drugs, and in his view, they almost have no other choice. Watching the interviews with the people in his film, gives you a sense of compassion for the problems these communities face, and can make you understand how they got sucked up into these choices in the first place. Having you go through these emotions with these communities, he now brings up another problem; the increasing population in America's prisons.

This increase in our prisons, is directly related to the crack down of the "war on drugs." America has the largest population of drug related convictions in our jail systems; however, it isn't working. The amount of crime related to drugs, and drug abuse itself, continues to sore in our county. This makes you think, should we do something to change it? Most often, drug related crimes, drug sellers, and drug users are often punished the same. This makes me wonder if there should be another approach. The fact is, when people are heavily addicted to drugs it often leads to other serious crimes, which should in fact be punished; but, should the less serious drug crimes be punished to jail?  Before watching this documentary I believe I would have answered yes, of course, but the way the information in this film is presented, has me thinking otherwise. Is America's "war on drugs" really about getting drugs off the streets, or is it about making a profit for our law enforcement systems?   I'm not really sure what the answer to this question is, but it does have me wondering. If our current system is not working, we need to look at other approaches. I like the idea of  putting more money into drug treatment, rather than drug enforcement. Treating the root of the problem, instead of just punishment, seems to make a lot more sense.

I believe a lot more research, on my part, needs to be done to fully understand the complexity of this situation. I think Jarecki's point is presented effectively; however, I'm not sure how much is true without further investigation. The fact that he has me thinking about so many other views on this situation, has definitely changed my thoughts on the problem with drugs in America. Before, I thought of any drug offender as just a bad person, but I now understand that there is much more to the story than that. I do believe drug crimes need to be confronted, but in Jarecki's view, it's the unfair punishment that needs to change.