Should The United States End Drug Prohibition?

Below is a free term papers summary of the paper "Should The United States End Drug Prohibition?." If you sign up, you can be reading the rest of this term papers in under two minutes. Registered users should login to view this term paper.

Term Paper Title	Should The United States End Drug Prohibition?
# of Words	5286
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	21.14

Should The United States End Drug Prohibition?

     The Federal Government, while trying to protect us from our human nature,
developed harsh anti-drug policies with the hope of eradicating drugs.  At
the time, these policies seemed simple enough: we will impose penalties on
those who use substances illegally, we will intercept drugs coming from
other countries while ending all drug cultivation in the States, and we will
even try to prevent foreign governments from  growing these substances.  The
idea of the Drug Prohibition surely made sense: lower demand of drugs by law
enforcement, and reduce supply through domestic and international means.
Unfortunately, the Drug Prohibition led to heavy costs, both financially and
otherwise, while being ineffective, if not, at times, counterproductive.
Today, we can see the unforeseen costs of the "Drug Prohibition," and we
should consider these costs before expanding the "War on Drugs."
     First, among  the costs of the "War on Drugs," the most obvious is monetary
cost.  The direct cost of purchasing drugs for private use is $100 billion a
year.  The federal government spends at least $10 billion a year on drug
enforcement programs and spends many billions more on drug-related crimes
and punishment.  The estimated cost to the United States for  the "War on
Drugs" is $200 billion a year or an outstanding $770 per person per year,
and that figure does not include the money spent by state and local
government in this "war" (Evans and Berent, eds. xvii).
     The second cost of  this "war" is something economist like to call
opportunity costs.  Here, we have two resources which are limited: prison
cells and law enforcement.  When  more drug crimes take up law enforcement's
time and when more drug criminals take up cells, less ability to fight other
crime exists.  This becomes significant when an estimated 35-40 million
Americans use drugs per year.  In 1994, law enforcement arrested some
750,000 people on drug charges, and of those 750,000, 600,000 were charged
merely with possession. Sixty percent of the prison population are drug
offenders (Wink).  The police, therefore, most work to find these 35 million
"criminals," thereby exhausting their resources.  Also, in major urban
centers, the number of drug offences brought to trial are outstanding.  For
example, in Washington in 1994, 52% of all indictments were drug related as
opposed to 13% in 1981 (Evans and Berent, eds. 21).  All aspects of our
legal system are being exhausted ...

This is not the end of the termpaper! Register below to see the complete version of this term paper.

Membership Plans	Credit Card	Check

1 month membership

3 month membership (You Save 50%)

6 month membership (You Save 67%)

Copyright © 2002-2007 Mid Term Papers. All rights reserved. This term papers website is used for research purposes only.
If you have forgotten your username or password, please click here.
If you like to cancel your account, please click here.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22