The War on Drugs

Began by Richard Nixon in 1967 and kicked into high gear by Ronald Reagan during the 1980’s. It instituted mandatory sentencing for drug offenders. Since, our prison population has increased by 113%, creating an overpopulation problem. What are the reasons for the “War on Drugs”? And what effects has it had on the American prison system and society?

We began the “War on Drugs” with the intention of ending harmful drug use. One of the main tools used in fighting the “War on Drugs” is the use of mandatory sentencing that forces judges to give a minimum number of years of incarceration to drug offenders. Someone caught with a small amount of marijuana may be sentenced to 3 years in prison. Politicians pass these laws to show they are tough on crime, although most drug offenders are non-violent addicts. According to Franklin Zimring, a criminologist at the University of California Berkley, who states “with the power of release taken away from parole authorities, and judge’s discretion removed, it was left to the legislatures to set sentencing policy”. They have been passing stricter drug laws ever since, the rational being that if jail time is involved people won’t use drugs. Religion also plays a part in our “War on Drugs”. Drug use is considered immoral by most religions. We are preached to on Sundays about the harm to our souls by using drugs, which creates a mind set that if you’re using drugs you are doing something wrong. This leads to people voting for legislators that are tough on drugs. These beliefs have had huge ramifications on the prison system and society.

According to the United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice statistics, between 1985 and 1995 over 80% of the increase in the Federal Prison population was due to drug convictions. In 2002 they concluded that that it constituted 55% of the population, making it the largest group of prisoners. Murphy J. Painter, in her paper “The Economics of Incarceration 1970-2001” says “Americans will spend nearly 40 billion on prisons and jails in the year 2000. Almost 24 billion of that will go to incarcerate 1.2 million non-violent drug offenders”. The Social Justice News, April 2003, says “on average it costs $20,000 per year to maintain one prisoner, $100,000 to build a single cell, and $20,000 per year to staff a prison cell”. This comes at a high cost to tax payers, considering that it has done little to stop the problem. Since 1973 the crime rate has decreased only 6% and violent crimes are up 24%. In Lisa M. Hammond’s paper she goes on to say “from 1987 to 1995 general fund expenditures for prisoners throughout the country increased by 30%, while general fund expenditures for universities decreased by 18%”.