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Leo Jang

Professor J. Brody

ENGL 301

February 20, 2019

A Failure of Policy: A Critical Look at Drug Control in Modern Society

The policy of government control of psychoactive substances, on the basis of harm to

users and society, have been a point of contention in the United States since the nineteenth

century (Reuter, 2013). The targets of drug control legislation in the nineteenth century involved

alcohol and tobacco, cocaine and opium in the twentieth century with the passage of the Harrison

Act, the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, and others as well (Reuter, 2013). Drug laws in the United

States, up until the twentieth century, mainly consisted of state and local laws which regulated

use and distribution of psychoactive substances (Reuter, 2013). Due to the concern of lax

enforcement of state and local drug laws, the federal government began to enact legislation that

would regulate psychoactive substances throughout the United States (Reuter, 2013). Ever since

the passage of drug control laws in the United States there has been debate as to the effectiveness

of such laws, the fiscal impact of the enforcement of these laws, and the public health impact

drug laws have had throughout the country. The new movement of medical and recreational

marijuana legislation in several states has popularized the idea that drug control laws have been a

failure and should be revised in modern society. I believe that drug control in the United States

has been a failure and new policies such as decriminalization or legalization should be studied as

a possible solution. Furthermore, I believe that many problems in regards to the law enforcement

aspects of drug control, mass incarceration and overcrowding, fiscal waste, and public health can

be solved by the decriminalization and/or legalization of psychoactive substances,

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It is widely accepted that the use of psychoactive substances may and can lead to

addiction and health problems. The current laws in the United States which focus mainly on

enforcement and incarceration exacerbate these problems and have no effect on curtailing use of

illegal drugs (Shepard & Blackley, 2004). The focus on prevention and use of drugs through the

use of law enforcement interdiction and arrest has had the consequence of increasing unhealthy

drug use practices and a disregard for medical based prevention programs/research

(Polomarkakis, 2017). While decriminalization and/or legalization is not a completely foolproof

solution to the addiction and public health problem, it would allow more resources to be

allocated to medical research and treatment approaches instead of mainly funding law

enforcement efforts of drug control.

The issue of mass incarceration and law enforcement efforts to curtail illicit drugs may

also be closely connected. Drug offenses in the United States has been the only crime where

arrest rates have steadily increased over the past decade (Schoenfeld, 2012). While violent crime

(and other crimes) rates have been steadily decreasing since 1994, state level incarceration rates

have been steadily increasing since that time (Schoenfeld, 2012). From 1994 to 2000, the violent

crime rates decreased by 8% per year while state level incarcerations rates increased by 22%

while from 2001 to 2009 there was only a 2.3% increase in the incarceration rate while crime

rates from all categories, except drug crimes, continued to fall (Schoenfeld, 2012). With the issue

of mass incarceration rates in the United States being a hotly debated topic in the current political

theater, the reform of current drug laws and sentencing guidelines is something that should be

seriously considered.

An unintended consequence of drug prohibition has been violence in relation to the illicit

drug market. As law enforcement efforts to curtail the drug supply is increased the levels of
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violence in the drug markets increase as well (Werb, et al., 2011). Examples of increase in

marketplace violence, mainly due to leadership voids after interdiction efforts, include the

killings related to alcohol in the US during prohibition and the elimination of the Cali and

Medellin cartels in Columbia in the 1990s (Werb, et al., 2011). The criminalization of drugs has

also caused a problem with conflict resolution within the drug trade as business and trade

disputes are solved using violence instead of formalized, non-violent negotiations (Werb, et al.,

2011). Another consequence of interdiction efforts by governments have given rise to militarized

gangs and cartels, such as the Zetas organization in Mexico, in order to protect their criminal

enterprises (Werb, et al., 2011).

The continuing drug control policies in the United States have been focused mainly on

enforcement of laws, incarceration, interdiction, and prevention. Throughout the decades, as

enforcement efforts and incarceration have increased, the use of and trafficking of drugs in the

country has not decreased. As many states in the country experience budgetary deficits and an

increasing prison population, new policies and methods should be explored by reexamining

current drug control laws and policies. The current trend of recreational marijuana legalization

has widened the public’s perspective on the problems of current drug laws and the possible

solutions to fix it. The current debate on mass incarceration has many scholars exploring the

possible connection of law enforcement centered drug policies and the growing prison

population. The decriminalization or legalization of drug use needs to be seriously considered in

the debate of public health, mass incarceration, and drug market violence. The inclusion of

decriminalization or legalization of drug use in this debate will allow a shift from criminal

enforcement of drug use to a medically centered approach to drug use. After the paradigm is

shifted to a medical approach, then law enforcement resources and efforts can be shifted to non-
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drug use related crimes, which may decrease prison populations. In addition to shifting law

enforcement efforts away from drug use crimes, those resources can also be better used to

conduct operations against gangs and cartels instead of drug users. While decriminalization and

legalization is not the only solution to these problems, it is my belief this is a piece of the overall

solutions that must be implemented in order to correct these issues in the United States.
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Works Cited

Polomarkakis, K. A. (2017). Drug Law Enforcement Revisited: The "War" Against the War on

Drugs. Journal of Drug Issues, 47(3), 396-404. doi:10.1177/0022042617697017

Reuter, P. (2013). Why Has US Drug Policy Changed So Little Over 30 Years? Crime and

Justice, 42(1), 75-140. doi:10.1086/670818

Schoenfeld, H. (2012). The War on Drugs, the Politics of Crime, and Mass Incarceration in the

United States. The Journal of Gender, Race, and Justice, 15(2), 315-352.

Shepard, E., & Blackley, P. R. (2004). U.S. Drug Control Policies: Federal Spending on Law

Enforcement versus Treatment in Public Health Outcomes. Journal of Drug Issues, 34(4),

771-786. doi:10.1177/002204260403400403

Werb, D., Rowell, G., Guyatt, G., Kerr, T., Montaner, J., & Wood, E. (2011). Effect of Drug

Law Enforcement on Drug Market Violence: A Systematic Review. International

Journal of Drug Policy, 22(2), 87-94. doi:10.1016/j. drugpo.2011.02.002