The US has gone to war 14 times since the end of the II Word War, combating from Korea to Afghanistan. But there is one war that historians usually fail to add to the list, and it is the one Washington has been fighting – and losing – for the longest period of time.
The war on drugs, launched in its modern version by Richard Nixon in 1971, and still presented as a success by it supporters, has failed to reduce consumption in the US or diminish the business of the drug cartels. It has increased drug related crime, provoked an explosion of incarcerations in the developed world and aggravated conflicts in different parts of the world, as the example of Mexico clearly shows. Aren’t we repeating the mistakes of the years of alcohol prohibition, in a much bigger scale?
Five charts suggests that a new approach is needed and could have a bigger chance to work. It would have to include the legalization and regulation of drugs and the allocation of the billions spent today in “warcotics” in addiction treatment, crop alternatives in countries were drugs are produced and tobacco like health campaigns to educate people on the dangers of drug consumption.
The 18th Amendment of 1917 brought an era of national prohibition of alcohol in America. But those who wanted to drink always found a way to do it, feeding the underground world and its crime networks. The war on drugs and the tough laws of the last decades have also done little to stop consumption. The graphic shows that the increase in spending on the war on drugs has had little effect on the number of addicts.
Since Nixon launched the war on drugs, the number of people incarcerated in the US has skyrocketed. There is not a single study that suggest this policy of punishing small traffickers and in some cases consumers has reduced either the trade or the addiction rates.
Data show, on the contrary, that the current drug policies have increased crime related to the drug trade. This is specially true in the black communities hit by gang violence.
$50,000,000,000. This is what the US spends on its fight against drugs on a yearly basis. This graphic shows that not even in the countries where Washington has thousands of soldiers deployed, this offensive against narcotics is working. Mexico is another example where the failure of the US policy is having a great impact, with increasing violence and crime related to narcotics.
So what has worked? Taxing, regulation and prevention. In the case of tobacco, all of these factors have contributed to reduce consumption in the US. Teen smoking rates have been declining since 1997. While regulation and taxes made sure that the government (not the crime gangs) profited from the tobacco trade, prevention campaigns have made tobacco less appealing.
David, nice job. You’ve picked some graphs that succinctly make your points. What was your process for finding them? Did you have your claims outlined in advance and then go looking for the data, or did you find the charts first and construct your argument around them afterwards?
Thanks Ali,
I had the claims outlined first, but I knew already there was data to support them from reports I had read in the past. I then looked for the charts and there was plenty of data suggesting there is something wrong with the US approach to drugs. It would be interesting so see what data could come out from those with a different view on this. Best
David