War On Drugs
Geoff Varney
West Virginia University College of Law, 2L
Thursday, May 29, 2008
War On Drugs
Breaking bread together for one of the last times in Guanajuato during our closing social with University of Guanajuato Law Students
Today our lecture topic was the war on drugs in Mexico and the United States. The U.S. government gives billions of dollars to Mexico to try to stop the drug cartels before the drugs can make it across the border into the United States. The money being spent is having little to no impact on drug use. The U.S. needs to focus more on the demand for drugs as opposed to the supply aspect. If the U.S. put more money into rehabilitation programs the demand for drugs would go down. If the demand goes down then the drug trade in Mexico would not be as lucrative and the violence would decrease.
The United States is a very proud country. Some would classify the United States as an egotistical country as well and would not be very far off. Despite the numerous statistics showing that the War on Drugs is not effective, the United States government will not even consider the fact that another alternative may prove more successful in combating drug use. The U.S. government releases statistics to show that the War on Drugs is a success, but the majority of drug arrests and incarcerations are for simple possession of marijuana. The drug dealers are rarely caught, and the more harmful drugs are still rampant.
The U.S. also dictates to Mexico how to fight the War on Drugs in a quasi-imperialistic manner. The U.S. should consider using the billions of dollars spent to fight simple possession of marijuana and the money given to Mexico to fight drugs to start government funded treatment programs to help addicts in the United States. Only when the demand for drugs is eliminated will the violence and addiction end. Criminalization obviously is not working to eliminate drug use, so perhaps education and treatment programs should be adopted. The U.S. and Mexico would both benefit from such a system.
Articles
“The anti-marihuana law of 1937 was largely the federal government’s response to political pressure from enforcement agencies and other alarmed groups who feared the use and spread of marihuana by “Mexicans.” Recent evidence also suggests that the Federal Bureau of Narcotics resisted the enforcement burden of the antimarihuana law until mounting pressure on the Treasury Department led to a departmental decision, probably in 1935, to appease this fear, mostly in the Southwest and West, by federal legislation.”
– The History of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937
By David F. Musto, M.D., New Haven, Conn.
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