SHOULD WE END THE WAR ON DRUGS?

Several years ago, President Richard M. Nixon declared a war on drugs.  So, how’s that war going?

Not so well, according to statistics and common sense.  The more we try to fight against drugs, the more prevalent they become.  But is it a necessary war?  Let’s consider the facts.

To date, America has a legal system that is staunchly against recreational drugs, such as marijuana.  Yet it permits the consumption of alcohol and the use of tobacco.  HUH???

Surprisingly, about 59% of American prisoners are in jail due to a drug related offense.  Or in other words, American prisons are filled with ordinary, everyday citizens who were caught with a bag of weed on them.  These are not hardened criminals, yet they are frequently housed among the worst of the worst, which often turns them into hardened criminals themselves once released back into society.

To break it down financially, the cost of putting a single low level drug dealer in jail is about $450,000, which includes the following costs

– The cost for arrest and conviction is about $150,000.

– It costs about $30,000 per year to house a prisoner. With an average sentence of 5 years, that adds up to another $150,000.

In contrast, that same $450,000 could be used to provide treatment or education for about 200 people.

Also, we spend billions every year fighting against drug cartels south of the border in Mexico, while they are getting rich off of the underground sale of the social drugs Americans crave.  But instead of SPENDING billions, we could potentially be MAKING billions by merely making marijuana legal and just taxing it.

Right now, our prisons are overrun, underfunded and not doing a good job of rehabilitation.  Hard core criminals are being released back onto the streets in some cities simply because the prisons have run out of space and/or money to continue housing them, feeding them, and giving them full health coverage.  Yet within some other cities, jails are filled to capacity with prisoners who got caught smoking a blunt or carrying a bit of cocaine.  Now what’s wrong with that picture?

Something is terribly wrong here.  We’ve waged an unnecessary war, against an unnecessary enemy, that is costing taxpayers unnecessary dollars, to house unnecessary prisoners — all for a substance that creates a euphoric feeling similar to cigarettes and alcohol — which IS legal!?!?! Prohibition didn’t work with alcohol, so why does America still believe it will work with recreational drugs???