The longest and most silence war in American History, The War On Drugs. Public enemy #1, but its really our #1 enemy, when drug use haven’t increase over the past few decades, the cost of fighting drug crimes has drastically increase. It doesn’t take economist to figure out that the money spend on fighting this war is being gone to waste, while there are many areas where that money could be put to good uses, such as education. Not only is the money being gone to waste but the cruel reality of using War on Drug as a excuses to criminalize minority is a outrageous injustice.
The future for the war on drugs does not look good. With the taboos attached to marijuana use being stripped, and the violence that’s procured through the war being more evident and devastating; were arriving at a crossroad. Organizations such as the Marijuana Majority, are attempting to unite the country in its recognition of a supreme injustice to our society. This is the time for reform, and policy change. There is no silent majority, just a back room full of itchy palms, prisons, and pharmaceutical drugs. End the war on drugs, start a war on literacy. If we used the now Trillions of dollars on education, that was spent on the War on Drugs; I can confidently say our country would be in a better place. For what started as a fight for the Silent Majority, has become a silent fight. Jimmy Carter was president in the infancy period of the war, and his entire platform for his campaign was on the decriminalization of marijuana. This was thirty years ago, and a yearly budget that was laughable in respects to today’s spending. However, current politicians and presidential candidates remain silent on issues regarding policy reforms. As we have seen in this past election, the people are fed up, and are banding together to reform policies on their own. Perhaps that’s the beauty in a democratic society; sometimes it just takes forty years and 15 trillion dollars to wake everyone up.
Unfortunately, the war on drugs will not end with the United State’s current administration, or possibly in the next few decade or so. It is unreasonable to say that the United States government will declare the war on drugs a failure, and stop funding the program altogether. However, as with most government programs that fail, we realize that a reform is necessary. Now the question lies on what type of reform would be best suited for such an issue. Should we follow the Obama administration’s approach and attempt to view the war on drugs as a public health issue and attempt to fight it at its source through prevention? Should we follow Governor Romney’s approach and try to make an example of those who disregard the current laws enforcing the illegality of drugs such as marijuana? Or should we go to the other side of the spectrum and follow Governor Johnson’s approach and legalize marijuana in hopes that the federal government can regulate it and tax it, while limiting the cost on the war on drugs?
The only way to combat the United States’ war on drugs is to essentially make it a part of the presidential campaign and for presidential candidates to publicly announce their campaign to combat it . Hopefully American citizens will realize that the war on drugs has taken a toll on the American society for the last forty years, and it will continue to for decades to come, and will encourage it to be a major platform for the next presidential election.
Obviously, there is no right answer or solution to the current problem that the United States face in the war on drugs, but we would love to hear what you would propose to rectify this matter. Please use the comments section to voice your opinion on the current platform, or if you wish to ask us questions on any aspect of our attempt to figure out why the war on drugs has not been a prominent aspect of the 2012 presidential elections.