Starting in 1971 the United States began a campaign to combat drug usage throughout the country. The then President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs and labeled drug usage as “public enemy number one”. Presidents after Nixon followed suit and continued this war on drugs and even added on to campaign. Ronald Reagan for example presided as president when the Anti-Drug Abuse Act was passed in 1986. This act lead to mandatory sentence minimums for drug crimes and put non violent offenders in jail or prison for long periods of time. Even Ronald Reagan’s wife Nancy joined in on the campaign to end drug usage. Her campaign utilized a different approach and focused on educating the youth about the dangers of drugs and advocated for youth to “just say no”. 36 years later the federal war on drugs is still waged by agencies like the DEA and the drug abuse is still nationwide. What should be done to actually finish the war on drugs, and what can be used in place of mandatory sentencing and long jail terms? After 36 years and a lack of actual societal change,where do we go from here?
Decriminalization and Legalization
An approach being used around the country to reduce the amount of individuals in prisons and jail for minor drug crimes and non-violent drug offenses is to decriminalize or legalize certain substances. The rationale behind those that adhere to this viewpoint is that individuals will always be deviant and choose to use drugs regardless of health hazards. Instead of focusing on making drug users offenders the government should legalize drug use or decriminalize offenses to better regulate sales, tax drugs, and reduce the number of individuals in overcrowded prisons that are non-violent drug offenders. An important distinction is the definitions of decriminalization and legalization. Decriminalization does not mean it is legal to posses substances however with marijuana as an example it is not a criminal offense to posses small amounts. Legalization is simply the legalization of recreational drug usage. Below is a map that details the current drug laws in the United States.
Countries with relaxed drug laws such as Denmark have implemented progressive approaches to clean up their streets by opening legal drug consumption rooms. These rooms allow the drug user to inject heroin or use cocaine without the fear of legal ramifications. Supporters of this approach claim users can be monitored to prevent overdose but also do not have to resort to using in public restrooms or on the streets. Those that oppose the approach believe it is only enabling drug usage and fear a society that allows drug usage.
Drug Courts
In an effort to reduce offending patterns and the traditional strategy of sending individuals straight to jail drug courts have sprung up for those who are eligible. Drug courts work more as a rehabilitative effort than the method of locking a drug user up and ignoring the root cause of their addictions or crime. Jail itself is not a rehab center and should not be used as one. Drug courts require random testing of participants to stay in the program. Participants are also provided treatment and counseling services to get sober and stay sober.
Drug courts are staffed by multiple types of people such as judges, officers, social workers and prosecutors. To encourage participation drug court participants are given chances to feel successful with their efforts to be rehabilitated. I feel this is an important step to bridging the gap of addiction. In my opinion those that are drug users should not feel stigmatized by being left alone in jail and shunned by the outside world but should be encouraged to continue and maintain an active role in society. Participants stay connected to their community through hearings, programs, and graduation ceremonies.
There is no easy way to combat drug addiction and drug usage. The war on drugs should be seen as a thing of the past. Mandatory sentencing and strict laws on drug use have not worked seeing as drug usage is still a big problem in society. Progressive actions should be sought to replace the war on drugs. One plan of action may not be the solution, but we as a society should work to implement better solutions like drug courts or decriminilization
-http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/1915
-https://www.vox.com/2014/4/9/5595240/40-states-relaxed-drug-laws
– https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/06/economist-explains-10
-http://www.history.com/topics/the-war-on-drugs
-http://www.nadcp.org/learn/what-are-drug-courts
-https://www.nij.gov/topics/courts/drug-courts/Pages/welcome.aspx
"In The World of Drugs" 
I always knew that Ronald Reagan played a role in “the war on drugs” I however was not aware that his wife Nancy played a role in the education of youths on the uses of drugs like you mentioned. It is crazy to imagine that it has been 36 years since the campaign on “War on Drugs” began. In some instances I agree with the legalization of certain drugs, but in another sense I see where it does draw caution, the abuse of these drugs could lead to people feeling as if they can get away with more, or even that some rules no longer apply to them. Denmark is attempting a bold thing with the drug use rooms, I believe that the use of “drug rooms” can be extremely beneficial in terms of making sure over dosing doesn’t occur, but in some ways this could be dangerous if the addict were to become violent towards to overseer. I agree with your opinion on of drug users not feeling as if they are a part of society in some ways this could even push them to continuously return to drugs, because no other option is seen.
-syd bryan
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I’m glad you opened up a discussion about alternative punishments for drug crimes. Our drug sentencing laws are somewhat unique when compared to other countries to which we usually compare ourselves, in that they are so focused on retribution rather than rehabilitation, to an almost Draconian extent. People who do not study crime and criminal justice have a difficult time conceptualizing alternative theories of criminal punishment. Generally, Americans seem to have a very black and idea conceptualization of crime – you are either a criminal (deserving of punishment for your choices) or you are not. This does not leave room for the nuance that seems to be required when addressing drug addiction. Because the use of these drugs is illegal, users/addicts are branded as criminals, and therefore are not seen as being worthy of assistance or guidance. If you really take a step back, this logic makes very little sense. First of all, addiction is considered by many to be a medical issue, and medical issues deserve to be treated. Second of all, there is this rhetoric that we should not be ‘pampering’ these addicts, but who do you really want to return to society? Someone who has been given professional help and has measures in place that will assist them to become contributing members of society? Or someone who has been locked up, offered little to no medical assistance for their addiction, is now branded as criminal, and is thrown right back into the atmosphere they came from?
Now, I understand that not all addicts are simply addicted to some drug and have done nothing else wrong. Some addicts resort to violence and other forms of criminal activity in the course of their drug use/acquisition. Drug courts are great for this reason. Individuals who commit crimes should still be held accountable for the crimes, but due consideration should be made about the circumstances that led to that crime.
– Hannah Hopkins
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I agree with a lot of what you said here in your blog Colton. I strongly believe that addiction is a public health problem, and not a legal or judicial problem. I also agree with the expansion of recreational use of drugs, and could see drug rooms being beneficial. I do not think that the legalization of drugs will result in a positive spike in drug use. People don’t not do drugs like heroin or crystal meth just because they’re illegal. They choose not to do these drugs because they know the mental and physical health detriments that come with them. Do you think there could be any increase due to recreational legalization? I was interested to see the piece you put in about drug courts. I think that could be a really effective way to tackle the problem of addiction in our country, it puts people at their best chance to succeed in beating it.
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I think you have raised a lot of interesting points in this post. The crackdown on drugs and things such as mandatory minimums have been around long enough that we can see how they are doing more harm to our society than good. Due in large part to these policies, we have created an ever-expanding prison system that runs more like a business than a branch of the justice system. The focus has turned from corrections to making a profit. While I have no problem with locking up violent offenders, an overwhelming amount of prison resources and, therefore, American tax dollars is spent on dealing with non-violent drug charges. This money could surely be spent on a more worthy cause. In regards to the “drug rooms” of Denmark, I think this is a worthwhile concept to explore for our country, but I also realize we are decades away from adopting something such as this. In the past I have imagined something similar to this but one step further. I have thought of a facility where not only is there a safe space to use drugs, but also one that provides and regulates the drugs to make sure they are pure and safe and also one that provides medical oversight while participants are using.
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