War on drugs is a common term in the United States of America. It refers to the actions taken by the government in its campaign of prohibiting the illicit drugs. The main aim of war on drugs is reduction of the flow of trade of the illicit drugs within the country. Actions taken by the government in fighting the illicit drug trade and use include policies aimed at discouraging the production, distribution and consumption of the psychoactive drugs. There are various drugs that are illegalized by the United Nations body and the participating countries across the world. These drugs include cocaine, heroin and bhang, among others. These illicit drugs are the ones the United States is ever fighting against to ensure it wipes out any dealings in them. There is a special anti-narcotics team within the law enforcement agencies of the United States that is tasked with the role of ensuring the war on drugs is done. It is vital to note the war on drugs has been on in the United States for a very long time. The United States has had some of the biggest drug lords and barons as well as dealers in the world. Significantly, all the actions taken by the United States Government in its fight against drug trade and consumption affects the current and future trends of this industry.
Background of the war on drugs in the United States
As introduced above, the United States of America has implemented various policies and actions to combat the consumers and traders of illicit drugs such as cocaine, heroin and bhang. It is a war that has attracted mixed reactions in the past. Moreover, the actions taken by the U.S. Government in fighting against trading and consuming illicit drugs has had conspicuous impact on the trends in this field (Baum, 1996). This wart has been able to change the way the trade of the illicit drugs is done. The drug lords and dealers have been advancing and sophisticating their means of trade with the main aim being beating the traps of the anti-narcotic police officers. Moreover, the drug lords and dealers have also engaged in inordinate means of ensuring the money earned from the drug trade is not traced by police officers. On the other hand, the anti-narcotic police teams of the United States have also been transforming the manner in which they try to catch the perpetrators of this practice.
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There is a video from the hip-hop musician known as Jay Z together with artist Molly Crabapple, which shows the devastating effect of the war on drugs on the Black Americans. This particular video alludes to the biased law enforcement when it comes to the issue of fighting the trade and consumption of illicit drugs. It is a video, which traces the war on drugs as from the time of President Nixon to the era of Rockefeller Drug Laws, which were widely regarded as extremely draconian. This video is just a bit of the controversy that has surrounded the actions and policies taken by the government in fighting against the illicit drugs.
The war on drugs became necessary to the U.S. Government in the 1960s when drugs were misused by the youths for leisure. Before this particular time, drugs were simply used for medicinal and healthcare purposes. In the 1960s, youths made drugs to become a major symbol of their rebellion to the government (Inciardi, 1986). They used the drugs while committing social upheavals and expressing political dissent. This trend made the government to halt the then ongoing scientific research work meant to establish more medicinal functions of the drugs. President Nixon was the first to become quite clear about the government’s war on drugs. Nixon dramatically increased the size as well as presence of the federal drug control and anti-narcotics agencies. Moreover, Nixon was able to push the passage of policies like mandatory sentences for those found culpable of dealing in illicit drugs. He is the one who also brought about the policy of no-knock warrants for illicit drugs offenders.
A drug such as Cocaine, which is preferred for abuse and trade, has had a major impact on the lives of the Americans. Cocaine drug has quite huge negative effects to users and the sellers. The primary negative consequence of abusing cocaine drug is incarceration and fines because it is an illicit substance. Governments have introduced harsh punishment for the people who are caught associating themselves with cocaine (Dell, 2015). The drug lords and dealers caught in the past were subjected to very harsh penalties. Some have been jailed for the rest of their lives. Therefore, the legal ramifications of cocaine drug are harsh. One can find himself or herself spending long time in the jails.
The family is also adversely affected by the use of cocaine drug. The family is affected when it has to spend a lot of money to pay for the treatment of their loved ones once diseases start. In some cases, the illness is always strong that people end up being bed-ridden. The family is, therefore, left with losses to count as it meets the hospital bills.
Moreover, it is important to note that cocaine causes loss of social ability among the users. Family bonds are negatively affected when one member cannot mingle with them comfortably and often because of the addictive lifestyle.
It must be noted that cocaine has an effect on the brain of a person. Consumption of cocaine normally distorts the functioning of specific parts of the brain. It is vital to observe that drug abuse among the youths usually has adverse effects on the neuro-cognition of the users. The teens, who abuse cocaine drugs, impair the neuro-cognitive functioning of their brains (Walker, 2015). Scientific studies have established that the excessive smoking of cocaine among the teens usually destroys the effectiveness of their brain memory. Moreover, addicted youths usually have impaired attention and slow processing of information within their brains. In a research that compared cocaine-smoking persons and the healthy control ones, it was established that smokers remembered information at a level that was 10% less than that of the healthy non-smoking teens.
It has been reported that drug and substance abuse also impairs the brain structure. Importantly, the advances made in neuro-imaging have made it possible to closely characterize the structure of the brain as well as function of the teens addicted to drugs. It has been established through the use of magnetic resonance imaging that the structure of the hippocampus is destroyed by cocaine drug abuse. The hippocampus is the part of the brain, which is quite essential for intact functioning of the memory. The structure of this brain part becomes deformed. The use of drugs also deforms the prefrontal cortex volume. This part of the brain is quite significant in planning, integration of the novel stimuli and emotion regulation.
Thereafter, drug laws were passed by the Congress and implemented by the government. The drug that has been subject for legislation overt a long period of time is marijuana. In the past, there has been a debate on whether it is right to legalize its use and trade or wrong. This matter is still hotly debated within the legislative corridors of the United States of America. In fact, it is now a matter of great political rhetoric in most states of the United States. Cocaine and heroin, on the other hand, have been the major drugs that involved active police force action. The combat against cocaine and heroin has always taken nasty scenes of armed war with both the drug-lords and the law enforcement agencies always engaging each other using weapons of mass destruction. It is vital to observe that the latest cause for spirited fight against drug trafficking and consumption is money laundering and corruption.
Actions taken by the United States Government in its war on drugs
The Government of the United States of America has implemented various policies and actions in a bid of ensuring it does manage to reduce the trade in and consumption of illicit drugs. The initiation of actions to be taken and policies for implementation in this war is often done by the existing president. Over time, it is the presidents of the United States of America that has always been on the forefront of ensuring there is active fight against the illicit drugs within the country. Various strategies have been enlisted in this fight against the illicit drugs within the United States of America.
It is important to note that much of the drug trade present in the United States starts from outside this country. Largely, drug-lords import drugs from Latin America nations such as Mexico. Therefore, a lot of the activities like planning and implementation of the trade strategies targeting the U.S. market often starts outside the United States. It, thus, dawned on the U.S. Government that effective fight against drug trade and consumption in the country must go beyond the nation’s borders. Truly, large-scale trade in illicit drugs such as cocaine is done at the international level. The drug cartels operate international networks hence the war on drugs must also go global. It is an idea that the U.S. Government has pursued over time.
There is wide agreement that the international drug trade is what poses the largest health and national security threats for the people of the United States of America. The modern war on drugs started in the 1980s under the administrations of Reagan and Bush. This modern strategy of approaching the war on drugs, which started in the 1980s, focused on stopping the trade in drugs and its consumption right at its source. The sources of drug trade and consumption targeted by this war were in Mexico and other Latin America countries.
Under this strategy of targeting to nip the problem right at its bud, the Latin America Governments were put on pressure by the U.S. Government to intensify their control on drug trade within their territories. In this course, the bilateral relations between the United States and other Latin America countries were highly influenced by the fight against narcotics. Certainly, this strategy that governed the war on drugs led by the U.S. Government has had major effects on the current trends of trade in narcotics. It is also expected to continue having major effects on the future trends of trade in and consumption of narcotics.
U.S. drug control policy
It is vital to observe that the war on drugs in the United States is guided by policies. The drug control policy of the United States has had some level of consistency since the 1960s. All the actions taken by the government of the United States are based on the existing policy. One policy that has been used in the war on drugs is the Operation Intercept. Operation Intercept is the action of the United States, which entailed rigorous inspection program along the country’s border with Mexico. This practice was started by President Nixon in the early 1970s. It is still in practice today (Bourgois, Auyero, Bourgois & Oxford, 2015). All people entering the United States using the U.S.-Mexico border are always screened and inspected to ensure that they are not drug smugglers and traffickers. The only thing that has been changing in this action is the kind of technology employed. Advancement of technology used in screening and inspecting people along this border to identify narcotics is a phenomenon that has been witnessed over the years.
The Operation Intercept is part of actions being taken by the U.S. Government in its supply-side drug control strategy. Although the demand-side drug strategies have also been used by the country, more focus has always been paid on the supply-side ones (Kilmer & MacCoun, 2017). The U.S. Congress has put much of its budgetary allocations on the supply-side drug control strategies because that is where a lot of spending is expected. It is vital to understand the fact that the supply-side drug control strategies involve going into other countries to try fighting the cartels present in that nation. A lot of diplomatic arrangements and resources are required in kind of actions meant to reduce trade in drugs.
It is also vital to note that the United States drug control has for long time been premised on a containment model. The policymakers involved in this war believe that cutting the supply of drugs into the country is the most effective approach to eliminating consumption of illicit substances in the nation. Most of the cocaine and heroin entering the United States of America often comes from the external locations beyond the borders of the U.S. Therefore, this model holds that containment of drug supply is key to the elimination of consumption and trade among local citizens.
It is factual that the action of containing the supply of drugs into the United States has had some significant impact in terms of reducing the level of use within the country. This considerable success achieved from the use of the containment model has boosted the faith of policymakers in it making it to remain the most preferred to all the others.
Notably, a change in the methods of producing opium in Turkey from gum, which is illicit, to just the poppy straw concentrate made it possible to control the prohibited production of opium poppy as well as heroin. This specific change in technology and the following actions of enforcement by both the U.S. and the Turkish Governments significantly cut down the imports of this drug into the United States during the 1970s (Duke & Gross, 2014). There was also the aerial eradication campaign in Mexico, which was supported by the U.S. Government that was successful in reducing drug trade in U.S. It significantly reduced the level of marijuana imported into the United States of America. These are some of the strategies that have helped to enhance the belief of the U.S. in the supply-side drug control mechanisms. The authorities in the United States of America have often felt that it is the best action for allocating the dollars earned from anti-drug money.
President George Bush is also a person who favored the supply-side control of drugs. He agitated and pushed for the actions aimed at stopping the drug trade right from its source. He talked of wiping out the crops from wherever they were in order to ensure the business does not even reach the border of the country. This approach made much focus to shift on to the nations where the drugs are most produced. These countries include Mexico and Columbia.
Militarization of the war on drugs
The United States of America has also militarized the war on drugs. The U.S. military now has a team in it that is charged with the responsibility of fighting against the drug trade. It is vital to note that the U.S. military was enlisted in the war on drugs in the course of the 1980s through laws passed by the Congress. For instance, the Congressional amendment to the Posse Comitatus Act in 1981 permitted the U.S. military to help in the war on drugs. It is also the Congress that gave the U.S. military license and powers to search, seizure and arrest drug barons outside the border of the United States. The major reason for involving the military in the war on drugs is that trafficking and smuggling had become a major external threat to the security of the country. It is known that securing the nation from external intrusion is part of the special roles of the U.S. military.
Other actions taken to fight the trade in illicit drugs include implementation of penal policies for those caught trafficking drugs. Many people have been jailed for dealing in illicit drugs within the borders of the United States. Suspects who hide in the foreign countries are also followed to wherever they are and captured. To ensure the trade on drugs is totally not tolerated, the U.S. Government has limited and continued to even discourage the use of illicit drugs for medicinal purposes. The rational fear is that drug barons may start to use it as the disguise for smuggling illicit substances to be abused. All these actions have lasting impacts on the trends in drug trade and consumption.
Effects of U.S. war on drugs on current and future trends
As noted, the actions of the U.S. Government in fighting against the trade in illicit drugs have always had significant impact on the trends in this field. For instance, the Operation Intercept action that is done along the borders, coast and the international airports of the country has affected the way smugglers and traffickers do their business. The drug smugglers and dealers now have sophisticated methods of hiding their products as they face the police inspections along the borders and at the international airports. One of the trending methods used to hide a drug like cocaine from the police searches is assorting it in imported goods. The smugglers assort the cocaine drug product within the other commodities being imported into the country and this enables them to escape the police traps along the borders and at the international airports within the United States of America.
Another trending method of beating the supply-side drug control strategy of the government and operation intercept is carrying the product in the body. Some people carry the products within their bodies and sometimes manage to escape traps by the police. In other cases, women are now used to smuggle drugs. Women hide the drugs in their private parts while at the international airport or when approaching the border checks. It is natural to hold women as innocent creatures of God. Therefore, the inspection police often overlook women during the searches or just do not search them thoroughly as it is for the men. This phenomenon has enabled most women to manage escaping the police traps and inspections.
One trending way in which the smugglers now beat the U.S. anti-narcotics officers implementing the supply-side drug control strategy is through corruption and collusion with the local police. Mostly, the U.S. anti-narcotics teams depend on the local police in order to trace the drug-lords cartel networks. It becomes for the U.S. officers to make any reasonable progress when working with corrupt local police who receive monetary bribes from the cartels to get their protection.
It is expected that as the U.S. anti-narcotics advance their fight against illicit drugs, the future trends will significantly shift. It is expected that drug-lords will enhance their corruption means as a way of beating security traps and inspections. Moreover, the future will see a war on drugs that is highly combative armored. It is going to be a war that involves much blood and deaths. Currently, some countries are contemplating legalizing some illicit drugs. It will be interesting to see the way the United States then goes about its supply-side strategy of controlling drug trade. The future will see the supply-side strategy of the United States grow weaker because of uncooperative nations.
The United States of America has been on the fore-front of fighting against drug trade and consumption because of the effects this practice has on its people. The country has implemented various actions in a bid to ensure it minimizes the trade in illicit drugs. Various strategies have been implemented in this course including the supply-side drug control strategy. Some have worked successfully while others have failed. What stands out is the fact that the actions and policies made by the U.S. Government in its war on drugs have had huge impact on the current trends. It is expected that they will also affect the future trends in illicit drugs. Some of these trends include the medicinal use of these drugs, trafficking and smuggling mechanisms and the overall survival tactics of the drug-lords, traffickers and dealers.
References
Baum, D. (1996). Smoke and mirrors: The war on drugs and the politics of failure (p. 21). Boston, MA: Little, Brown.
Bourgois, P., Auyero, J., Bourgois, P., & Oxford, N. S. H. (2015). Insecurity, the War on Drugs, and Crimes of the State: Symbolic Violence in the Americas. Violence at the Urban Margins , 305-321.
Dell, M. (2015). Trafficking networks and the Mexican drug war. The American Economic Review , 105 (6), 1738-1779.
Duke, S. B., & Gross, A. C. (2014). America's longest war: Rethinking our tragic crusade against drugs . Open Road Media.
Inciardi, J. A. (1986). The war on drugs: Heroin, cocaine, crime, and public policy (Vol. 1). Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company.
Kilmer, B., & MacCoun, R. J. (2017). How medical marijuana smoothed the transition to marijuana legalization in the United States. Annual Review of Law and Social Science , (0).
Walker, M. A. (2015). Borders, one-dimensionality, and illusion in the war on drugs. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space , 33 (1), 84-100.
