For years, The United States has been in a "drug war." It's roots can be dated back to George Bush Sr. in the 80's. He officially declared a "war on drugs," and since that time the U.S. has spent billions on trying to stop the entrance of drugs, trying to spray crops in different countries, bringing down Cartels and their drug processing plants. Has it worked? Well according to facts, no. The only thing that has worked was President Clinton's National Drug Control Policy which effectively brought drug users in America from about 23 million to about 11 million. That is still a ton of people on drugs. So many in fact it kind of makes you wonder was the guy who sold you that RedBull this morning at the gas station high? Probably. Are your parents high, or your friends parents high? More than likely. The simple matter of fact is that millions of people use drugs daily. Now how do we stop that has been the question since the beginning of the "war on drugs." Here is a video explaining a few things about drug use in America, specifically marijuana...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkYAbGEqCgc . There are many proven and notable facts given in that video. For instance, the U.S. imprisons more people than any other country in history! Are you serious? Even more ridiculous is that one out of every three is there for drugs. Something to consider is the fact that it costs the U.S. taxpayers seven times more money to incarcerate a person rather than rehabilitate them! Why don't we spend more money on rehabilitation centers rather than prisons? (proposition 5). The answer is easy, the prison systems in America are a multi-billion dollar a year industry. Even more astounding, the majority of the prisons in the U.S. are owned by private companies. It seems as though that the focus has changed from justice to profit.
The idea of many is not to legalize drugs, that would cause chaos. The goal is to decriminalize drugs. In order to summarize what that would mean, people should be allowed to put whatever they choose into their bodies, without the government's involvement. The government should only get involved when a crime has been committed. Many people including high status politicians agree that the "war on drugs" is a complete failure and is costing too much money. Check out Obama's view on that issue...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQr9ezr8UeA . Think about what the decriminalization would mean, and how much money we as the taxpayers would save if the drugs were decriminalized. The prisons would not be as full with people serving 30 years to life for a third strike offense for having some cocaine on them. Sure it's a drug, but if they are not commiting a crime to get the drug, or while they are on it, why should the government get involved. Compare the U.S. to other places where drugs are tolerated. For instance in Holland. Holland has one third the drug users that America has. Yes, that is a fact. How is that possible when you can walk into a coffee shop and smoke marijuana or eat a bag of psychadelic mushrooms? The answer seems to be that by tolerating a drug the negative glamorization is no longer there. The rush to know you are doing something illegal dissappears.
Should the United States decriminalize drugs? I don't know, what I do know is the "war on drugs" is not, has not, and will never work.
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