1. Derek Bellamy
Argumentative Essay
Since President Nixon declared drug abuse “public enemy number one” on June 18th,
1971, our fight against the War on Drugs has been nothing but an utter disappointment and
failure. This has been marked with many key setbacks over the past forty-five years as it has
embraced drug traffickers more than strike fear upon them. With the United States having a
trillion dollars in national debt, the government has spent over a trillion on this drug war since
Richard Nixon’s presidency ($793 per second). This aggressive, heavy-handed tactic of
enforcing these drug possession laws has been counter-productive and detrimental to this
country. When an individual who is brought up in a poor urban class neighborhood is locked up
for a drug offense, it marginalizes him or her as a permanent underclass citizen because they
already have few opportunities growing up in such an area. This gives the individual a
minuscule opportunity to make a living due to their being a lack of education and treatment
facilities in the ghetto to begin with. Three out of four Americans feel that the drug war is failing
miserably. However, there is an alternative to attacking this “war” and even possibly bringing it
to a permanent end. If the government devoted more time and energy to treatment facilities,
education, and prevention for drug abuse rather than these heavy-handed military tactics, not
only would we end the War on Drugs but chop down the national debt that has been pulling
America back from economic growth.
Not enough time is spent on educating the youth on prevention of drugs. Instead, it is
made accessible to everyone through TV and movies that glorifies drugs which in turn
“brainwashes” the audience through propaganda. For example, educational systems take time to
create presentations on cigarettes and tobacco but not cocaine, heroin, and other illicit illegal
2. drugs. It is important to not hold back on such an issue with the youth because they will be
exposed to these things at some point in their lives. Just as black and deteriorated lungs are
shown after what long-term cigarette abuse can do to an individual, it is important to educate the
children on the same long-term effect that can concur when an individual uses cocaine or meth
and how it affects the brain. They can learn to develop the attitude, skills, knowledge to
recognize the importance of healthy living. However, because access to watching whatever one
may choose is so easy now due to the Internet, a student may see only the fun lifestyle of using
such drugs and don’t see the negative effects behind them. However, because much of the
taxpayer money on the War on Drugs is spent towards imprisonment rather than educational
improvement, the students will be oblivious to such findings and understandings unless doing
research on their own. America spends an estimated $51 billion annually fighting such an issue
with strict law-enforcement. “Despite a significant and growing body of knowledge
documenting that addiction is a preventable, treatable and manageable disease, and despite the
proven efficacy of prevention and treatment techniques, our nation still looks the other way
while substance abuse and addiction cause illness, injury, death and crime, savage our children,
overwhelm social service systems, impede education -- and slap a heavy and growing tax on our
citizens” (SusanFoster,CNN.com). Students can learn from an early age the benefit of healthy-
living but they simply don’t have access to it because our government doesn’t enough to fund
this into the educational system. Instead, our students grow up oblivious to how these drugs
can have a psychoactive effect on an individual and by the time it affects them it’s too late. If
the government focused more on educating the youth on the effects these drugs have on the
brain (inevitable to completely end drug use), then our students would grow up with at least
acknowledgement of responsible drug use which would lessen these drug offenses.
3. Drug treatment has been proven as the most effective way to end drug abuse.
However, the War on Drugs has focused police to focus more on nonviolent drug offenders
oppose to violent criminals. “The U.S. Justice Department notes that two-third of drug offenders
released from prison will return to jail or prison within three years (for the same predicament)”
(http://www.dualdiagnosis.org/). This shows how highly ineffective these laws have been on our
society due to locking-up the same individual 2-3 times for the same offense. Incarceration is
extremely high in costs considering all the contributing factors of a jail or prison running (staff,
matienence, additional security, etc.). Drug treatment tackles a not only a contributing factor
towards drugs but crime as well because an abuser is being worked with a therapist. This is also
highly beneficial because it costs less long-term. “Maryland, for example, saw average costs for
offenders decrease from approximately $20,000 to $4,000. The same report on JusticePolicy.org
mentioned that the costs for treatment generally range from $1,800 to $6,800, far less than the
cost of incarceration” (http://www.dualdiagnosis.org/). Despite these findings, only 10% of drug
abusers receive treatment which may be a reason why many former prisoners keep coming back
for the same crime. If America wants to effectively end the War on Drugs the government must
due more to focus on drug prevention and treatment which will also put an emphasis on
diminishing crime as well.
It is possible that the War on Drugs can be ended if more emphasis is placed on
educational knowledge on drugs, prevention and treatment facilities. “They readily buy into the
code of the street, settling for what is feasible even if it is not optimal or even viable over the
long-term” (Against The Wall; Poor, Young, Black, Male pg. 25). This is true in today’s society
because there is no educational system teaching these students to not grow up in such a
predicament. To live the American Dream is to live happy and healthy. Drugs will deteriorate
4. one’s health and although they may be happy in the short-term, poor decision-making is still
intact and could lead to depression and stress in the future.
