What Was the War on Drugs Peer Reviewed Articles
For nigh one-half a century, immense resources in the form of time and money have been poured into the empty ideological paradigm that is the "war on drugs-" The logic of this war is predicated on the naïve theory that "if the production can be halted, the market is not supplied, so consumers cannot purchase and use the substance."1 Afterwards decades of feel, the futility of this approach has become clear to scholars and practitioners. Nosotros question, then, why governments, such as that of the US, have remained committed to the state of war on drugs paradigm. In considering this, we draw from the ideas of Kuhn,2 who popularized the concept of image, and from Popper,3 who is best known for his notion of fais inability. In short, Popper claimed that theoretical ideas should be subjected to empirical scrutiny and, when appropriate, be falsified and rejected. Nevertheless, this is frequently non what happens. As Kuhn noted, even in the confront of contradictory prove, social groups may remain committed to a paradigm and reject to discuss the affair further creating and perpetuating a culture of epistemic closure. In spite of this entrenched commitment to the state of war on drugs epitome, nosotros see hope that a competing epitome—a sustainable development or "public health" paradigm—may be gaining traction in at least some parts of the world.
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Islamic republic of pakistan Journal of Criminology 55
5olume 3, No. 2, Oct 2011, pp. 55 - 70
The Failure of the War on Drugs:
A Comparative Perspective
Dr. Gregory Fulkerson and Dr. Fida Mohammad
Abstruse
Later on 9/eleven, Pakistan's involvement in the War on Terrorism has significantly degraded its
security apparatuses, undermined civil society and, due to rampant abuse and
lawlessness, information technology has seen its economic institutions fall into shambles. In a situation where the
writ of country is so weak, opening another front, e.yard., the War on Drugs, can simply be
counterproductive. In this newspaper nosotros will explore the difficulties encountered when various
countries are expected to fight the War on Drugs every bit part of the Due westar on Terror. Even those
countries that may be considered as having a relatively high capacity in the form of a strong
country, such as the United States, still discover that they cannot win this and so-chosen "war." More often than not,
we view the problem of drugs every bit requiring a more sophisticated public health, demand-side
solution. In addition, nosotros conclude that attempts to tie the War on Drugs to the State of war on Tmistake
should exist halted, every bit this just distracts from the focus of treating drug users. In this paper we
will consider the problems on both the supply and demand sides of the drug problem, using a
comparative perspective that evaluates the state of the literature that is presently heavily
focused on the U.South. merely.
Keywords
War on Drugs; State of war on Tfault; Supply Reduction; Demand Reduction
Failure of the War on Drugs in the U.S.
Since U.South. President Richard Nixon get-go waged the War on Drugs in 1971,
edifice on decades of failing efforts that appointment back to the Harrison Act of 1914
(Whitebread 1995, cited in Lurigio, Rabinowitz, and Lenik 2009), information technology has get
increasingly clear that efforts to quell the drug problem have done nothing but
exacerbate them further (Mauer 1999). According to Caulkins et al. (1995), the
almanac toll of the state of war is near $60 billion for the U.S., with major outlays going to
the arrest and incarceration of the drug users and low level distributors. In the year
2000, for case, over 1 and a half 1000000 people were arrested for drug related
crimes, with nigh fourscore% of these for simple possession (BJS 2002). The extremely
high cost of enforcement means that a greater proportion of Federal dollars are at present
going to corrections than for college education (Mitchell 2009). Similar patterns
exist at the state level equally well. For example, according to White (2009) there are
currently about 25,000 people incarcerated in Massachusetts prisons and canton
facilities alone, marker a rise of 368% between 1980 and 2008.
56
Most of the negative consequences of the War on Drugs are related to
incarceration and accept resulted from "social exclusion" (Foster and Hagan 2002).
Incarceration leads to myriad forms of social, political, and economic damages, both
personally as well as for the families and communities that lose their members
(Braman 2002; Mumola 2000). For instance, once convicted, drug users and
distributors find it much more hard to find legal employment or to receive
authorities aid in the course of food stamps or Temporary Aid to Needy Families
(Goodman 2007), and become ineligible to vote. Meanwhile, when a contributing
member of a family is incarcerated, their removal undermines the financial and
social stability of the family. As a result, the children get more likely to commit
drug-related crimes (Lurigio et al. 2009).
In spite of incredible and rising expenditures associated with drug enforcement
at the national and global levels, there is no evidence to propose that the War on
Drugs has actually led to decreases in the global supply of illegal drugs (MacCoun
and Reuter 2001). Mitchell (2009) provides show to suggest that the supply has
not been diminished, every bit evidenced by a survey of high schoolhouse seniors who report
keen ease in accessing and paying for drugs that are now more arable and cheaper
than ever earlier. Even staunch supporters of the drug war, such every bit former Drug Czar
William Bennett, provide show of the policy's failure:
Between 1992 and 1999, rates of current drug use -- defined as using once
a calendar month or more -- increased by xv%. Rates of marijuana utilize increased
11%. The state of affairs was far worse amongst our children: Lifetime use of
illegal drugs increased by 37% among eighth-graders and 55% amidst
tenth-graders. Wdue east have reached the point where more than one-quarter of
all high school seniors are current users of illegal drugs; indeed, rates of
monthly drug use among high school seniors increased 86% betwixt
1992 and 1999 (cited in Redlich north.d.: 76)
Hence, it is logical to ask that if a policy is apparently failing, why would it
proceed to be pursued? This is the question raised by the caput of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy, who admits a general failure of the policy (in Brayton
2010, p. ane): "After 40 years, the United States' war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and
hundreds of thousands of lives, and for what? Drug utilize is rampant and violence even
more fell and widespread." Even the present U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske
concedes the strategy hasn't worked (in Brayton 2010, p. 1): "In the grand scheme, it
has not been successful. Xl years afterwards, the business concern about drugs and drug
problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified."
It isn't just that the war on drugs has failed, but that the war on drugs creates
many, if not most, of the very problems used to justify the state of war in the first place. The
failure of the drug war policy is realized in high level political positions as well. For
case, co-ordinate to Sen. James Webb:
Dr. Gregory Fulkerson and Dr. Fida Mohammad
Pakistan Journal of Criminology 57
Our electric current policy mix is not working the way we want it to. The ease
with which drugs can be obtained, the price, the number of people using
drugs, the violence on the edge all show that. Westwarde need to rethink our
responses to the health furnishings, the economic impacts, the event on offense.
Wdue east demand to rethink our approach to the supply and demand of drugs"
(cited in White Jr. 2009: i).
Thus, the argument that there is a general failure of the Due westar on Drugs is not
something put along by obscure scholars or radical thinkers, but by individuals
straight involved on the inside, occupying top positions, who are enlightened of
inadequacies from personal experience. These critiques are even more troubling
when we consider that alternative measures for addressing the drug problem, such as
those based on a public health model take proven more than effective even while
receiving significantly fewer resources (McLellan 2002). In sum, we have come to
question why the drug trouble remains to be framed equally a War, and why alternative
approaches take not been adopted. Not merely is the U.S.-based War on Drugs
ineffective at addressing supply (it has been somewhat successful at addressing
need), information technology is now a war that is expanding outward across the globe in new and
powerful ways. Rather than witnessing the demise of a failed policy, what we are
seeing is an expectation on the part of the U.S. for the rest of the world to adopt the
very same policy we already know to exist a disaster.
The Internationalization of the War on Drugs
Wdue east maintain that the Westar on Drugs was radically redefined by U.S. President
George Due west. Bush, when he linked it to the Due westar on Tfault. The Due westar on Drugs always
had an international dimension based on attempts at interdiction (intercepting the
flow of illicit drugs) in other countries, and this has been the instance since the time of
Nixon. However, the new kind of internationalization of the War on Drugs means
much more than than interdiction. It means that allies of the U.S. are expected to adopt
their own version of the Due westar on Drugs.
How did the War on Drugs become tied to the Westwardar on Terror? Bush-league based this leap on
the idea that the 9/11 hijackers received their funding from illegal drug sales, and
that therefore in order to stop terrorism, the continued profits from illicit drugs had
to terminate. While this is not entirely illogical, the problem is in the execution of the program.
The U.Southward. based Westwardar on Drugs has never successfully stopped the supply of drugs.
The only success has been on the demand side, helping drug users and abusers to quit
using the drugs. In any case, the internationalization of the State of war on Drugs opens a
new chapter in the long history of the drug war and is already having greatly
negative ramifications.
58
Amongst these is the escalating geopolitical tension resulting from the
expectation past the U.S. that all countries engaged in the War on Terror should besides
simultaneously be engaged in the War on Drugs. This translates into asking some of
the globe's most depleted countries--those who are already spending a fortune to
end terrorism, like Islamic republic of pakistan -- to brand even heavier investments to disrupt the flow
of illicit drugs. The U.S. has had to compensate for this by supplying more funds in
key fronts in the War on Tfault (Lurigio et al. 2009). For example, this is the case
with recent investments in S America. According to Lobe (2001, cited in
Lurigio et al. 2009), adding to an earlier $1.3 billion outlay authorized past President
Clinton to interdict Columbian drugs, President George W. Bush-league asked for an
additional $800 meg to assistance bordering countries such equally Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador,
Peru, Panama, and 5enezuela in fighting the dual Wars on Drugs and Tmistake.
In considering the viability of the drug war at the international level and efforts
to diminish the supply of drugs, it is important to note that success itself volition be
contingent on the detail logistics of how drugs are manufactured and distributed
in various regions. In curt, distribution is greatly affected past geography, and information technology is
necessary to assess key geographic factors shaping the structural and cultural
evolution of a given region (Oldknow 2000). Mostly, geographic factors take a
tremendous influence on development, and are directly related to the mode we draw
political boundaries and to the way we ship goods and people. For example, the
Gilt Triangle in South-Eastward Asia, where the borders of Thailand, China, and
Burma intersect and where opium is grown, is an area that benefits from geographic
isolation, allowing production to continue undisturbed and out of view of the
authorities. Similarly, geographic conditions of the Afghanistan/1000hyber
Pukhtunkhwa (KPK) region that lies between the Indus Ganges region to its
Southeast, Iran to its Westward, and Primal Asia to its Northward, is perfectly situated to be
both a "corridor" and a "bulwark." This makes it a prime number location for moving goods
back and forth without suspension. As a corridor it is possible to easily send
goods from one identify to some other, while the Hindokush provides a barrier to brand
this send become undetected.
Deserts have historically served the purpose of beingness natural barriers, although
with the advent of air transportation this reality has been changing. The Pushtoon
territory has always provided natural barriers as a result of its difficult mountainous
terrain. Anyone travelling along a major merchandise route entering this territory could
easily disappear on short notice. This geographic condition is important to
understanding the history of this region. For case, if it were apartment like Kazakhstan,
then the Soviet invasion of Transitional islamic state of afghanistan in the 1980s may accept been successful,
radically changing world historical trajectories. The hard terrain thus provides
advantages in warfare, assuasive resistance fighters to alloy in and disappear on a
Dr. Gregory Fulkerson and Dr. Fida Mohammad
Pakistan Journal of Criminology 59
moment's notice. These aforementioned advantages help in the movement or smuggling of
goods such as illicit drugs in KPK Islamic republic of pakistan or in Transitional islamic state of afghanistan's isolated mountain
valleys. As a outcome of the unique geographic weather condition of KPK equally well equally the
Golden Triangle, any attempt at interdiction --a major component of the effort to
reduce drug supply--will confront bug that in order to address would crave
resources at a scale that even the wealthiest nations could not afford.
Based on the fact that each geographic region in the globe will have a unique
set of conditions affecting the supply and menstruation of illegal drugs, many of which are
quite complex, it is hard to hold all regions to the same standard. It is not realistic
to think that a country like Islamic republic of pakistan, with modest economic ways (on a global
scale) can monitor the distribution of drugs in what may well be the world's about
difficult terrain. This is peculiarly true given the fact that the government'south
resources are already existence heavily depleted by the Westar on Terror with profound
implications for its future capacity to address the drug trouble or any other social
welfare matter.
Violence and the Westar
Every bit noted, the scholarly literature evaluating the War on Drugs has identified a
number of social, economical, and political problems that take but been magnified
past efforts to fight. However, this literature has focused almost exclusively on the
U.S. and is missing a comparative perspective. There are therefore pressing
issues that receive piffling or no scholarly attention. When examined from a
comparative perspective, violence may be understood as the biggest problem in the
War on Drugs. In discussing the U.Due south., all the same, Mitchell (2009) comes to the
conclusion that at that place has been success in reducing drug-related violence. Mitchell
believes that this may be due to the fact that in the 1990s there was a lot of crack-
related drug violence in the U.S., only due to lower demand, the supply of fissure
shrank and the vehement crime rate likewise diminished. This trend is of course non
generalizable across the unique conditions of the U.Due south.
At the international level, the effectiveness of violence reduction is evidently
going in the opposite direction than the U.S. This is particularly the instance since the
War on Drugs has been tied to the War on Terror, bringing the number of related
injuries and deaths to an all time high. In turn, violence associated with the War on
Drugs is happening in virtually of the major fronts that the U.S. and its allies are fighting
in the War on Terror, including the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan and
other central regions in Africa, Asia, the Middle E, and South America.
There are a number of international examples of rising drug violence that have
followed in the wake of adopting some version of U.S. drug policy (White 2009).
threescore
For instance, Roberts, Trace, & Klein (2001) discuss the aggressive State of war on
Drugs launched by the Thai regime in 2003, that subsequently led to roughly
ii,700 people being killed in Thailand (Grover 2009). In Mexico, violence related to
its War on Drugs has escalated greatly over the concluding few years based in part on a
backfire confronting the state's War on Drugs. In that location has in turn been a beefing upwards of
military chapters to withstand the backfire (Sullivan and Elkus 2010). As a effect,
Castañeda (2010) states that in 2009, virtually 7,600 people died in the Mexican War on
Drugs, marking a rise of over two,000 deaths since 2008, which was itself twice that of
2007.
Prior to the internationalization of the War on Drugs, well-nigh international
violence was the effect of U.S.-based attempts at interdiction. In the combined War
on Drugs and Terror era, governments are increasingly likely to resort to violence
against their own people. Unlike the U.S., where violence has been declining
internally, many nations are seeing a rapid escalation of violence. The tough opinion
of the Westwardar on Drugs policy means that nations are less probable to view drug users as
ill people in need of handling, and more probable to view them as criminals in need
of punishment. This re-framing of drug use provides a justification for callously
murdering individuals, who are themselves quite often the victims of poor socio-
economical conditions.
The Footing of Drug Violence
Historically, the bulk of drug-related violence has stemmed from efforts to
engage and stop the trafficking of drugs by cartels through the use of force
(interdiction). In fact, this was initially the justification for framing the drug
problem equally a "war" rather than something else like a "treatment" of drugs. In many
respects, drug cartels operate similar any multinational corporation, and accept relied on
"security" forces to protect their interests. As government policy has been to engage
these forces, cartels have adjusted by edifice greater capacity and adequacy.
Wdue east would point out, along with González (2009), that much, if non all, of drug
related violence could exist eradicated were the justification for it removed: the illegal
nature of the business model. Due westere the illegality to be taken out of the equation, and then
the War on Drugs and the associated violent conflicts that occur would no longer
have a cause to be. This fact is supported when we examine the case of legal drugs
like alcohol that are regulated and produced by legitimate corporations. For
example, one would not meet vehement turf wars break out between Stolichnaya and
Skyy, or between Miller and Budweiser, since the product and distribution of
alcohol is legal and violence is thus unwarranted and unnecessary. Instead,
contest betwixt legitimate corporations is carried out entirely in the economic
realm.
Dr. Gregory Fulkerson and Dr. Fida Mohammad
Pakistan Journal of Criminology 61
The violence resulting from the international War on Drugs is fifty-fifty more than
troubling when we consider that it is becoming less focused and targeted leading to
many deaths of innocent people. In United mexican states, according to Alfred Corchado (cited in
Sullivan, & Elkus 2010: 2):
Yet as the level of violence increased, the disharmonize has grown progressively
less coherent. Where attacks once mainly focused on the country and other
drug smuggling competitors, more and more attacks seem directed at
civilian populations and more local in scope and origin. In function, some of
this violence is the result of leadership vacuums, local turf wars, and the
difficulty of controlling violent and reckless inferior henchmen. Withal,
it too seems the inevitable outcome of the escalation of the conflict, which
has ripple effects on lower-lodge crime and violence. Slums have become
state of war zones, with drug gangs recruiting discontented and impoverished
youth to get foot soldiers over turf in such slums as Ciudad Juárez's
Barrio Azul.
Of form, not all drug related violence is on the supply side equally some occurs on
the demand side by the users themselves, many of whom are addicted and seek to
acquire what they demand by any means necessary, including violence. While it is
tempting to view such individuals every bit deserving of a violent reprimand, we would
signal to the broader structural context. In many cases, it is not the drug itself that
causes the violence, but the lifestyle that results and the illicit nature of obtaining
and using drugs. Over again, if illegality were removed, the use of drugs would likely
go much less decumbent to fierce crimes. In turn, such individuals might be
idea of as requiring handling and aid rather than as enemies in a war requiring
injury or death. Treatment approaches have been shown to become a lot further in terms of
effectively helping addicted users and reducing the associated costs of incarceration
of constabulary enforcement (Foster and Hagan 2002). In any case, whether the violence exist
carried out by cartels or by drug users, it is clear that the War on Drugs is making
things worse rather than making improvements.
The Supply Side and Police force Corruption
Subsequently violence, another neglected trouble resulting from the Due westar on Drugs--
one that besides affects the U.South. in a negative style--is corruption from those fighting the
War: police force and other related law enforcement officers. It should not exist surprising to
notice that it is hard to reign in the supply of drugs amidst a host of conditions and
factors that make constabulary corruption a much greater likelihood. These factors include
exposure to large sums of money and/or access to large caches of drugs for use and
distribution. Placing private officers in situations where they must weigh the
benefits of a police salary against huge sums of drug money can for obvious reasons
62
lead to corruption. Police in turn may current of air upward either ignoring or else directly
participating in the acts of drug smuggling and/or distribution for personal gain, or
else in drug use for personal recreation. This is a problem for the U.S., where law
enforcement chapters is relatively high. In countries where constabulary enforcement pays
significantly less, and where the moral justification for the drug state of war is even murkier,
the likelihood for corruption increases dramatically.
In the context of the U.S., an of import document on this upshot is the Mollen
(1994) report. Overall, this study finds that the rates of both violence and abuse
take recently been elevated. The report suggests that the police have themselves
become "far more criminal, fierce and premeditated" when compared to previous
generations of those fighting the War. The written report identifies some of the key changes
leading to elevated violence, including more frequent and routine police force raids to
steal resources including money, drugs, and weapons. In add-on to raids, which
though morally repugnant could ostensibly be considered acceptable in the context
of a state of war, are the various supporting roles that law play for drug cartels. According
to the Mollen report, the law tin wind upward "riding shotgun," becoming the hired
hands that provide cover and protection to the cartel's interests. In other words, they
become independent mercenaries, not unlike that of other privatized security forces
that the armed services or legitimate corporations like Haliburton utilise. Finally, in
addition to more frequent raids and cases of being hired hands, are the cases wherein
the police force get central figures in the cartels, responsible for organizing and
arranging new distribution networks for narcotics.
The problem of police corruption has been evolving and becoming an
unintended byproduct of the War on Drugs. The ludicrous nature of the State of war is so
evident to those fighting it--particularly those in loftier level positions discussed
earlier--that they no longer have a moral ground to stand on, leading to a general
constabulary civilisation that is skeptical of the State of war itself. A New York Times reporter noted,
"We found that the New York Urban center Police Department had largely abandoned its
responsibility to police itself and had failed to create a culture dedicated to rooting
out abuse" (Herbert 1994: 30). If officers come to view the War itself as decadent,
then not playing by the rules becomes much easier. In a study on the New York
Police force Department, the Mollen Commission (Tran 1994: A5; Mollen 1994: 18)
found the post-obit:
They utilize the police radio network and code names to mountain and co-
ordinate operations. They oftentimes utilise department equipment to forcefulness entry.
They manipulate fellow officers, their supervisors and the courts to their
advantage. And they fuel each other's corruption through their eagerness
to prove their loyalty and toughness to ane another...
Dr. Gregory Fulkerson and Dr. Fida Mohammad
Pakistan Journal of Criminology 63
For obvious reasons, the Mollen report found that profit was a central cause of
police corruption, though it was not the only motive. Many of the officers enjoyed
the control and power of undermining the State of war on Drugs and its weak internal
supervision of law enforcement practices (Crains 2003). This supervision is weak
due to the lack of internal oversight, as well as the general norm against "ratting out"
other officers. This is a theme picked up more often than not in the news, too equally in other
official reports.
Every bit reported in the New York Times, police abuse in the War on Drugs
should not be understood every bit a new miracle. However, while previously the
trouble took the course of constabulary "looking the other way" and ignoring illicit
activities, the new generation of law enforcement finds itself much more willing to
directly participate and capitalize from narcotic trafficking ("Corruption in
uniform" 1994: two; Gladwell 1994). These trends were noted in another important
U.S. based certificate that explores the viability of the War on Drugs, past the Rangel
Commission. Their written report concluded (Rangel 1998: 4):
One commonly identified gene associated with drug-related corruption
was a police culture that was characterized past a code of silence,
unquestioned loyalty to other officers, and cynicism about the criminal
justice organization. Such characteristics were found not only to promote police force
corruption, but to impede efforts to control and detect it. A second
associated factor was the maturity (due east.g., age) and pedagogy of police
officers. Officers lacking in experience and some higher education were
considered to be more susceptible to involvement in illicit drug-related
activities.
Though both the Mollen and Rangel reports are based on observations in the
U.S., the general conclusions could likely be generalized to other contexts, such as
Pakistan. However, the problems identified are in many cases underestimated, every bit the
profit motive holds more sway and the moral footing for fighting the War is
significantly weaker. The legitimacy of the State of war on Terror is already questioned
heavily by many in Pakistan also every bit on other fronts, and efforts to link the War on
Drugs to the State of war on Terror are going to further undermine the state's legitimacy.
How can police force enforcement--let alone the government or society--be expected to
endorse a policy in Pakistan that has already failed the U.South., where both senators and
leaders of Federal agencies criticize the supply-side approach and telephone call for a
transition to the more effective demand-side public wellness arroyo? How can an
underpaid police officer risk life and limb and plow down dingy money for a morally
cryptic cause?
64
The Demand Side: Drug Employ and Prevention
Of course issues related to the supply of drugs would be moot were there no
demand for drugs in the first place. Therefore, any analysis of the drug problem
would be incomplete that did not also examine the demand side. We would concur
with Mitchell (2009) that need-side approaches take been more than constructive than
supply-side approaches, just we would besides notice some problems. For instance,
programs aimed at youth have been largely ineffective, based on the faulty premise
that juvenile drug use tin can be completely eliminated while ignoring the underlying
social forces that give rise to drug abuse and other problem behaviors in the first
identify. (King County 2001: thirteen). Such programs therefore ignore such things as
family-related problems, educational deficiencies, a weak job market, and other
structural factors that prevarication exterior of the control of any individual in full general, and
youth in particular. For example, information technology is difficult to convince a youth to piece of work long hours
at minimum wage when the alternative is much more lucrative and at least in some
contexts, more prestigious.
Of grade, effective drug prevention programs need to accost the social and
psychological problems underlying drug abuse, so equally to assistance provide young people
with genuine opportunities to pb fulfilling lives. However, drug abuse prevention
should be part of a broader youth development strategy, allowing youth to larn the
social and self-direction skills needed to make responsible decisions in the
broader contexts of their lives, including those parts that they cannot personally
command. Successful programs volition focus on the prevention of legal drug use (e.one thousand.,
booze and tobacco), and focus greater efforts towards helping "high-risk" youth
whose life weather condition are the most conducive to drug use.
A report prepared by the King County Bar Clan (2001: 24), outlines a number
of critiques of the War on Drugs and considerations for culling solutions,
and and so nosotros quote them at length hither:
i. Drug education programs should provide honest and consummate information
about drugs, carefully distinguishing between the degrees and types of harm
and risk associated with the utilize of different drugs. Such programs should
include a discussion of the appeal of drugs, as well as the physiological and
psychological furnishings that tin also pb to excessive and harmful use.
2. The War on Drugs has promoted criminal offence at the local, national and international
levels. The drug merchandise is exempt from regulation and control, and high profits
from inflated drug prices (reflecting the risk of having to evade law
enforcement) create stronger incentives to continue doing business. Increased
constabulary enforcement efforts take spawned college levels of violence. Even every bit retail
Dr. Gregory Fulkerson and Dr. Fida Mohammad
Pakistan Journal of Criminology 65
prices have declined, specially for cocaine and heroin, the international
business in illicit drugs generates about $400 billion in merchandise each year.
3. The criminalization of drugs has undermined public wellness in many ways,
including AIDS manual through unclean needles, the distribution of
impure and hazardous substances and the development of higher authorization and
synthetic substances that may exist more easily concealed, but are much more
harmful to wellness. In addition, the risk of criminal sanctions has, arguably,
prevented drug users from seeking medical attention, especially for addiction,
and physicians are inhibited from providing effective pain treatment due to
federal auditing of prescribed controlled substances.
4. Drug cases take clogged the courts and acquired filibuster in the processing of other
criminal and civil matters. At least half of King County's criminal caseload is
drug-related, and the recent increase in the active pending criminal caseload is
due in pregnant office to controlled substances cases, which business relationship for the
highest number of pending criminal cases (even excluding drug court).
5. The War on Drugs has taken a especially hard toll on economically
disadvantaged communities, both through the massive incarceration of poor
young men and through the sense of danger and disorder brought about by
heavy police force presence, open up-air retail drug sales and the threat of vehement turf
battles. Incarceration of drug offenders has disrupted their families, interfered
with their educational and employment opportunities and deprived them of the
right to vote, perpetuating and exacerbating the social conditions that gave rise
to drug corruption in the first place.
6. Citizens' constitutional rights accept been compromised as a result of stepped-upwardly
drug law enforcement, every bit street sweeps, wiretaps and home searches accept
impinged upon individual privacy. Persons bedevilled of drug offenses lose the
right to vote, the right to concord public office and the right to serve equally a juror, and
getting those rights restored later completion of the sentence is very hard.
The U.Due south. now leads the world in per capita imprisonment, and many of those
prisoners are non-violent drug offenders.
seven. Corruption among criminal justice officials has risen dramatically during the
War on Drugs, equally the payoffs are high and the risks are depression. Enormous profits
from the drug trade have likewise corrupted foreign nations, specially where the
raw materials for illegal drugs are cultivated and processed. U.Southward.-led efforts to
eradicate crops and to fight drug enterprises have brought most political and
economic destabilization and environmental destruction.
66
The use and corruption of drugs creates a series of problems both directly and
indirectly. The directly furnishings are well documented and understood, but are often
confused with the indirect effects. Few drugs are responsible for directly creating
fierce behavior, for instance. The lifestyle that is involved with obtaining drugs and
maintaining oft expensive habits are indirect effects of drug employ. These indirect
effects can be minimized or eliminated with policies that decriminalize drug use and
promote treatment based solutions.
Towards a More than Reasonable Solution than a War
Every bit discussed throughout this newspaper, there is a high level of awareness from both
within and outside the War on Drugs that information technology is a flawed policy, but for some reason information technology
volition not give way to superior alternatives. This outcome is noted by Blumenson &
Nilsen (1998: 65):
... one might wonder why substantially the same strategies persist year after
year, untouched by the wisdom of twenty-v years of experience. And
why exercise and then few public and police force enforcement officials speak out against this
policy? The answer is that the Drug War has accomplished a self-perpetuating
life of its ain, because nonetheless irrational it may be as public policy, information technology is
fully rational as a political and bureaucratic strategy. The institutional
mechanisms we take explored are but 1 office of an anti-drug
mobilization that continues to have profound effects on the liberties and
well-beingness of our people. We sink more securely into this war year by twelvemonth,
failing to adequately examine or comprehend the choices nosotros are making.
Essentially, they are stating that the War on Drugs continues to be fought
because of institutional momentum. We continue to infuse the War with funds, to
create jobs, to build prisons, and to need the same of other centrolineal countries.
Because information technology has been the de facto policy for several decades, it is difficult to pull the
plug.
Still, we claim that a more reasonable approach to the supply side of
the drug problem would exist to create policies that decriminalize and regulate the
production and use of drugs. It is prohibition that artificially inflates prices and thus
creates the conditions for violence and corruption. It is the illegality of drug use that
leads to then many family and community members to be locked away with a range of
negative consequences. Drug use could be treated like booze apply -- regulated,
taxed and restricted to adults. Drug abuse could be treated similar alcohol abuse -- as a
public health problem, not every bit a criminal problem. Excessive reliance on such
criminal sanctions has been securely unsuccessful, and we have ended that it is
time for a new approach. As Brayton (2010) observes, it may be time to declare
defeat in terms of the War on Drugs and ship out a call to bring the troops dwelling house.
Dr. Gregory Fulkerson and Dr. Fida Mohammad
Pakistan Journal of Criminology 67
In order to move towards a more than reasonable solution to the drug problem, an
open up and honest appraisal and word is required related to the criminal justice
system'due south electric current inability to achieve the desired results of reducing the damage done
by drugs while not creating more impairment along the way. Instead of relying primarily on
criminal sanctions to bargain with those who possess or distribute relatively small
amounts of drugs, we should be moving decisively towards a public health model
for those individuals (King County 2001: five).
The War on Drugs is in some respects a "feel expert" strategy because nosotros would
similar to believe that the "bad guys" are being sought out and killed. In this respect, it is
easy to see how information technology has been tied to the State of war on Terror. However, this imagery does not
accurately convey the reality that many of the "bad guys" are addicted drug users in
demand of assistance, while the remainder belong to cartels who detect it necessary to engage in
violence in guild to protect their interests as part of their business model. If the state
were to regulate the use of drugs in a manner that uses scarce public resources every bit
efficiently every bit possible it would remove the motivation for violence amid cartels
and push contest into the economic sphere (King County 2001: ten).
The internationalization of the War on Drugs policy is therefore not a positive
development in the historical trajectory that we have been discussing. Linking drugs
and terrorism is non completely illogical, but the connexion is a loose ane, and
combining efforts to accost both simultaneously distracts from succeeding in
either front end. Weste argue that the drug problem exist addressed primarily on the demand-
side, thus making a crackdown on supply a moot signal. Piece of cake steps to achieving this
are the legalization and regulation of substances coupled with a public wellness policy
aimed at educating and aiding people using and abusing illicit drugs. This should
atomic number 82 to immense cost savings and a major subtract in social, political and economic
collateral damage for families, communities, and nations.
68
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Dr. Gregory Fulkerson and Dr. Fida Mohammad
The author Dr. Gregory Fulkerson is the Chair, Search Committee, Section of Sociology,
SUNY College at Oneonta, NY 13820-4015. He can be reached at (fulkergm@oneonta.edu) and
the writer Fida Mohammad is an Associate Professor, Sociology Department, State University of
New York, Oneonta, New York 13820 Usa. He can be reached at mohammadf@oneonta.edu.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
- William Northward Elwood
While much has been written on illicit drug use, policy, and drugs' relationship to criminal offense, this study examines the drug war as nigh Americans accept experienced it--through mass-mediated rhetoric: presidential drug war declarations, news stories and hype, public service announcements, and the similar. Such rhetoric influences public opinion about illegal drugs, drug users, presidents, and the drug war itself. And according to this author, such rhetoric is also used as a public relations campaign designed to increment the popularity of government officials and to assure quiescence regarding item policy programs. This study demonstrates the underestimated influence of rhetoric, political uses of public relations and the powerful influence they have on public opinion and the policy process. http://world wide web.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=D7366C
This article explores intergenerational implications, specifically the troubled transitions of the children of incarcerated fathers from adolescence to machismo. Although law-breaking rates have decreased annually since the early on 1990s, the social exclusion of fathers through imprisonment has increased, as has the farther exclusion of young adults through homelessness, health-care uninsuredness, and political nonparticipation. Our latent class analysis indicates that xv percent of youth are socially excluded, an judge similar to administrative estimates of severely "disconnected" youth. We combine the logic of a cumulative disadvantage theory and the status attainment image with three waves of the National Longitudinal Report of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to examine the effects of father's imprisonment on the social detainment and exclusion of children during the transition to machismo. Bug of socialization and strain associated with the incarceration and absence of biological fathers, also as land sanctioning of youth from these disrupted families, are important aspects of the cumulative procedure of disadvantage that nosotros identify in these data; however, the interconnected roles of begetter's incarceration and intergenerational educational detainment are pivotal in producing exclusionary outcomes for children in emerging adulthood. Although there is much evidence that the effects we examine are generic across gender, there is besides more specific evidence that the absenteeism of biological fathers from households associated with incarceration leaves daughters at special risk of abuse and neglect past nonbiological father figures and through homelessness during the transition to adulthood.
- R. Crandall
The Colombian government and people are losing patience with a peace process that has produced few tangible results and a guerrilla group that does non seem inclined to play past the rules of war. Any moves by the next president toward more aggressive military actions against the FARC volition be applauded in Washington. In the post-11 September era, Washington has little patience for the FARC's bad faith at the negotiating table, growing involvement drug trafficking and increasingly fell rural and urban activities. However, before the Bush assistants decides to brand whatever major moves in Republic of colombia, information technology would do well to first incorporate lessons learned from Nib Clinton's Colombia policies, particularly the vaunted $1.3 billion Plan Colombia plan. If it is non careful, the Bush team could stop upward committing the same errors in the war on terrorism as the Clinton administration did in the war on drugs.
- Francisco Due east. González
Given the rising tide of violence and the mounting show of drug-related corruption at all levels of government, it is probably fair to say that, so far, the cartels have managed to take the lead in a psychological war against the Mexican land.
- Thomas Southward. Kuhn
Scitation is the online home of leading journals and conference proceedings from AIP Publishing and AIP Fellow member Societies
- Bruce Michael Bagley
Us Principal Executive Ronald Reagan Declared WAR on drugs in February 1982, and pledged his administration to the task of curtailing the burgeoning drug epidemic in the The states. To accomplish this urgent "national security" objective, the federal government rapidly increased expenditures for narcotics command programs during the ensuing 7 years of his 2-term presidency, reaching $iv.3 billion annually in 1988. Enthusiastically backing the president's initiative, the US Congress canonical tougher national drug legislation, widened the US military machine'due south involvement in the war, supported the administration's bulldoze to intensify interdiction efforts along U.s.a. borders, and expanded USdesigned eradication, crop substitution, and law enforcement programs in foreign source and transit countries. First Lady Nancy Reagan launched her "Just Say No" entrada, flooding the American educational system and the public media with anti-drug messages. Ostensibly, all sectors of American society enlisted in the war on drugs and the country began mobilizing for battle.
- Femi Adegbulu
America'due south sense of security was shattered past the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This has culminated in ostentatious 'war on terrorism' which, to all intents and purposes, has been misconstrued. This newspaper explores the historical antecedents of terrorism and the attempts at quelling information technology. It views the unfolding tendency of the use of force to 'eliminate' terrorism as faulty. The newspaper believes that until the basic psychology and motivations of terrorists are understood and some of their reasonable grievances addressed, rather than stemming the tide, electric current approaches will exacerbate the incident of global terrorism. The paper concludes by recommending inter alia: that policy and attitudinal change rather than military bravado, volition reduce the ugly incident of terrorism.
Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304880511_The_War_on_Drugs_A_Failed_Paradigm
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