Back To The Beginning: Just What Is This War on Drugs Anyway? And Who Is Winning?

This too is another post written by me several years ago when I was trying to understand everything and I kept going back to The War On Drugs. I think if we are to really understand we must first go back to the beginning. I know we've all asked this question before, but just what exactly is this

War on Drugs Anyway?

Most of us don't understand it because of where we are today in this heroin epidemic. It's hard for us
to understand how billions of dollars a year is spent on this and we are no closer to ending drugs then we were decades ago.

The War on Drugs is:

"A campaign of prohibition of drugs, military aid, and military intervention, with the stated aim being to reduce the illegal drug trade to this country."

Year after year even after billions of dollars is spent in this country to keep illicit drugs from coming into your borders and yet they still get in here.

In June of 1971, United States President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse "public enemy number one".

His message to the Congress included text about:

"devoting more federal resources to the "prevention of new addicts, and the rehabilitation of those who are addicted", but that part did not receive the same public attention as the term "war on drugs".

Yet look at this heroin epidemic we have today. Doesn't it make you wonder about this so-called war? I know I do. Is anyone really winning in that war? With heroin creeping into more and more states and towns day after day; year after year.

Here we are in 2016 no closer than we were decades ago in combating the illegal drugs from entering the United States. It's not because we haven't tried.

The United States has a long history of Drug Prohibition

Today, the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for an end to the War on Drugs, estimates that the United States spends $51 billion annually on these initiatives.

A self-appointed Global Commission on Drug Policy released a critical report on the War on Drugs, declaring: "The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world."

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)—signaled that the Obama administration did not plan to significantly alter drug enforcement policy, but also that the administration would not use the term "War on Drugs", because Kerlikowske considers the term to be "counter-productive". ONDCP's view is that "drug addiction is a disease that can be successfully prevented and treated... making drugs more available will make it harder to keep our communities healthy and safe"

I think it is time to rethink everything. With the amount of heroin flooding into this country and the number of Overdose statistics just here in Berkeley County  and Martinsburg West Virginia as well as the number of heroin related deaths here my guess is that the federal governments fight is not winning.

Did any of that information surprise you? OR Did you already know about most of it already? 

To be continued....(I am sure)

Resources for this post was found at wiki:

The History of the U.S. Drug Prohibition 

The War On Drugs

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