America's Detrimental Drug Policy
The War on Drugs has been an expensive and colossal failure. There is a better approach.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse to be public enemy number one. The War on Drugs had begun. Through numerous Presidents, Republican and Democrat alike, and dozens of Congresses, the war has raged on over fifty years and at a cost of over $1 trillion to American taxpayers.
What did all of that money get our country?
Illicit Drug usage in 2019 was near a 40-year high
Over 350,000 people are currently imprisoned for drug offenses
~$40,000 per year cost per federal inmate
Increase in drug-related violence
Mexico is struggling with violence and corruption due to cartels fighting for control of supply lines
The War on Drugs has been a colossal failure.
The American public largely agrees with the assessment, and this isn’t a partisan issue. Over 80% of each political demographic, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, believe the War on Drugs has been a failure.
It has destroyed lives and even entire communities, yet we’re still spending over $40 billion annually on this failed policy.
America spends an additional $80 billion every year to cover the cost of the prison system, where almost half of all inmates are incarcerated for drug-related crimes. Another study suggested the true cost to the government and families involved is closer to $180 billion.
It is time for a new approach—one that uses everything our country has learned over the past 50 years, along with what other nations have learned about narcotics.
However, it can be difficult to change our thinking on drugs. Depending on when you grew up, you may have been inundated with D.A.R.E. campaigns and “this is your brain on drugs” commercials. Then there is the ongoing news surrounding Fentanyl, gangs, and cartels. The worst news accompanies any conversation around narcotics.
As with most issues, this is not the whole story.
Marijuana was said to be dangerous, that it will permanently ruin your brain, that it is highly addictive, that it is a gateway drug to cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamines. Yet what we know is that it is less dangerous than either alcohol or cigarettes, both legal substances.
Over 140,000 Americans die each year from alcohol
Over 480,000 Americans die each year from tobacco
There have been no recorded deaths from a cannabis overdose
There have been caffeine overdose deaths, although rare and mainly from powdered and pill forms of caffeine. Caffeine is also more addictive than marijuana.
And yet, cannabis is still federally illegal and is only legal in 38 states so far.
Marijuana isn’t the only drug to have had a smear campaign to make it seem like a deadly scourge on civilized life. Psilocybin, also known as Magic Mushrooms, is a drug that was heavily researched in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, but tighter regulations and cultural views reduced that research until more recent times.
Psilocybin has been shown to positively help combat addictions, PTSD, and numerous other mental conditions, including depression. Like the path of marijuana legalization, a few states have now decriminalized psychedelics. Oregon made psilocybin fully legal for personal use as long as it is at a licensed facility.
Some members of Congress have also been working on legislation to legalize psilocybin for medical use on a federal level.
What have we seen as these substances have had their regulations relaxed or even become fully legal? That life continues to function and that the majority of the population uses legal drugs responsibly. There hasn’t been any detrimental effect on our nation or our society.
Decades ago, Portugal had increasing problems with heroin. Their response was similar to the United States. They enacted harsh penalties for drug use and strict enforcement. By the 1990s, half of their prison population was incarcerated for drug-related crimes, and yet the drug problem continued to exist, again just like in the US. In 2001, they tried a different approach. Portugal became the first nation in the world to decriminalize all personal drug use.
In the years since, Portugal has seen a considerable reduction in drug use, HIV and hepatitis rates (which spreads through needle sharing/reuse in drug communities), overdose rates, drug-related crime, and, of course, incarceration rates. Despite having fully decriminalized all personal drug use, Portugal currently has a drug use rate lower than the average among European nations.
Drug dealing and manufacturing remain illegal in Portugal, but any person caught having a 10-day supply or less of hard drugs on their person, such as cocaine and heroin, is sent to a doctor and a social worker; the types of people best adept at handling drug addiction. That is a far more sensible policy than in the US, and it has been proven to work for decades.
Some US cities have been slowly working towards those types of policies by having safe spaces for drug users to do drugs where there are clean needles, no arrests/prosecution, and where drug counselors can work with the users on their addiction. These policies work. Drug use goes down, overdoses go down, and people get past their addiction to live productive, healthy lives instead of sitting in prison for decades.
There are mountains of evidence that show harsh penalties for drug use make the problem worse, whereas decriminalization of personal use improves the situation in every metric.
We should ask ourselves one final question: Why should the government tell adults what they can or can’t put in their bodies? That is a very anti-freedom stance from a country that declares the greatness of freedom every day.
We have freedoms and rights to ensure that others don’t get to dictate their personal morality onto us. One can’t force their beliefs onto the rest of the public, whether it is beliefs around religion, relationships, or recreation.
If America had spent more time simply thinking about our rights as individuals, we might have been able to avoid the entire War on Drugs altogether.
It is time for America to focus on laws protecting our citizens from each other, not themselves. We must also base our policies on science and data, not personal intuitions or beliefs.
Decriminalize personal drug use. Let doctors and drug counselors deal with addiction and leave the police to deal with more serious crimes.
We can save American lives and taxpayers’ money.