DRUG

Drug Abuse in America In one month, it will be the 100th anniversary of America’s war on drugs, implemented with the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914. A full century of headstrong battle against countries held responsible of breaching our borders with drugs, as well as the 1.53 million American citizens annually held legally accountable. When averaged throughout the span of a year, a drug arrest is made every 21 seconds according to the FBI. That puts 1 in 99 adults behind bars, the highest incarceration rate in the world. Alarming as these numbers may be, it should be no surprise… After all, who do you think funds the police? The government spends about $51 billion of taxpayer money each year on a solution disproven to work for the past hundred. That amount does not include costs for trying, imprisoning, or writing a judge’s paycheck. Truth is in the numbers, and this failed war has proved our unsuccessful policies have done nothing to reduce consumption of drugs. It’s time for a second look at the strategies used to battle the war or drugs. Yet, there is no committee charged with the task of reviewing evidence to determine whether a law-enforcement dominated policy is the most effective policy. A long overdue reform needs to be addressed; a drastic change in the system must transpire. The first issue attention needs to be shed on is the individual user; in many cases a victim of the system, in others the antagonist. If the number of users is either even or rising in positive correlation with more arrests, then maybe arrests need to be seen as a non-effective solution. The source of the problem is not with law enforcement, it lies within the user’s mind; Addiction is a psychological matter, and should be confronted by proven psychological systems and handled as a medical case. The most effective way of doing so is extreme application of the support system.
A support system is something which needs to be mentally healing and especially gentle to the