The Cycle of The War on Drugs Essay Sample

Addiction is a disease; it’s been studied for years and can even run in families. The interesting part about this disease is that there is no other illness that is treated the same. When people are sick with a physical illness, they are cared for and given treatment in order to recover. That same standard does not apply to mental illnesses. So the question is, why are people punished for being ill? The way drug addicts are approached is as if they are criminals. People are painted with a stereotype of being crazy and shouldn't be allowed into the world because they pose a danger to the public. If a deeper look is taken into addicts' lives, it is clear that they are victims of a system that has left them forgotten and neglected. The issue with the War on Drugs is that punishment is the only form of treatment. It targets minority communities where addiction runs in bloodlines because of the inaccessibility to treatment centers. Economically, this issue is having a large impact on where Americans are spending money as well as the extreme amount of funding that the war on drugs takes to operate. The cycle of drug abuse, jail time, and using again once released from jail will continue until this problem is solved with a different plan of action. The Justice System should create a widespread system where people are not placed in jail for drug abuse and instead sent to rehabilitation centers. 

One significant issue with the War on Drugs is that people do not recover from their addictions by being put in jail. When they are released, they return to drugs and the cycle continues. It would be more beneficial to place addicts in rehabilitation centers in order to stop the drug abuse problem in our country. People may say they feel uncomfortable or unsafe around drug users, and that is an understandable feeling to have, but when people feel fear towards another person, their first reaction is to send   them into our prison system. If the government and our society as a whole want fewerless drug users, then treatment needs to be the first reaction. It is important to understand how this issue impacts individual lives. Many people have dealt with jail time for addictions or even just possession since Nixon created the War on Drugs in 1971. David Vartabedian, someone who fell victim to this system, says, “The war on drugs has been a failure largely because we have not clearly identified the enemy”(Vartabedian). He continues to talk about how drugs will never stop flowing into the US until people are treated. He explains this as supply and demand. The more addicted people there are, the more drugs there will be. This is enough reason for the change, the Justice System needs to create a new system because the War on Drugs simply does not work. This “War on Drugs” has never been successful because it  doesn't teach addicts anything. It is not possible to punish someone out of a disease; they need treatment instead. The cycle of this drug abuse can start from a young age. The kind of area someone grows up in and who they are surrounded by can influence their susceptibility to havehaving a drug addiction in the future. A lot of people say that there is a “history of addiction in their family”, which can be to any type of substance. This just means that certain people are more likely to become drug addicts because of family history or genetics. The cycle then continues after the person has been imprisoned. These hundreds of thousands of people serve their time for their disease, and when they are released is when the cycle comes full circle. The rate of reoffense is 65% from jail and 15% from rehab (Rehab, Not Jail), this proves what really works in terms of stopping this cycle. Once rehab is implemented more and the War on Drugs is eradicated, we will see the overall rate of reoffense go down dramatically. It is crucial that our Justice system makes a change to the laws in order to get to the goal of reduced drug abuse rates.

Solutions are being proposed to this issue. In some states such as Oregon, they are making the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs a noncriminal offense. When first proposed, the general reaction of the public was that Oregon is going to turn into the state with the biggest drug abuse problem. But regulating the offenses of using drugs does not stop the use of drugs. The only thing that can do that is reducing the number of drug addicts. “Public safety could be better achieved by spending less money incarcerating people and spending more money on health care, education, housing, and jobs programs”(Alternatives to Incarceration). As stated before, this can be explained as supply and demand. When the amount of addicted people is reduced due to proper treatment, there is not as much of a demand for drugs. We will in turn spend less money because incarceration rates will be lower and since people have their lives back, they will become working members of society. Overall, the benefits outweigh the initial reaction to this solution.

 In order to make this more widespread, the stigma against drug users must end and they should be treated as if they had any other sickness or disease. With the rate of reoffense, personal stories, and the economic consequences, it is more than enough reason to change the system completely. It has been 50 years since the War on Drugs was created and with the only change being extremely high incarceration rates, it seems ridiculous that we are still practicing this system. When correct treatment is given, new habits form. These people are being punished for their disease and it is never going to be successful. The justice system needs to get rid of the War on Drugs and create a new system where people are sent to rehabilitation centers instead of jails.