America's Forgotten War On Drugs Past, Present & Future
March 22nd 2009 13:47
If you say, "Would there were no wine" because of the drunkards, then you must say, going on by degrees, "Would there were no steel," because of the murderers, "Would there were no night," because of the thieves, "Would there were no light," because of the informers, and "Would there were no women," because of adultery.
~ St. John Chrysostom, "Homilies," circa 388
~ St. John Chrysostom, "Homilies," circa 388
On July 14th, 1969 the first shots were fired in the War on Drugs from the Oval office as President Richard Milhous Nixon declared drug use “a serious national threat” in what would start the longest prolonged conflict in American history.
An official declaration of war didn’t come until June of 1971. This declaration wasn’t followed by any military action nor did it require an act of Congress to let our troops continue fighting on enemy soil but rather fundamentally changed the culture of interactions between law enforcement and the average American citizen.
In the four decades that followed, battle lines were carved in the sand and cultures were created as Americans defined themselves on both sides of the issue. Like the rise of Italian Mobster families who ran underground speakeasies during prohibition and later built the Casino empire in Las Vegas; domestic and international groups have been emboldened by the black market squeezed out as the pressure became tighter and tighter from the billion dollar war.
As proven with the rise and fall of prohibition the squeeze of law enforcement on any profitable empire will only result in an underground backlash making that product even more desirable for those who crave it as they fight to get it. Infamous mobsters from the prohibition era like Al Capone understood this as well as International Kingpins the likes of Pablo Escobar as they built empires opposing the American system of law.
When the declaration of war was laid down, President Nixon was dead on with his intent but as history continues to prove to us over and over again good intentions are only the first step to catastrophe. In what should have been an effort to reach down ground level and try and rehabilitate the users and put the drug dealers in jail what happened in reality was an all out aggressive push to score political points and make headlines of simply eradicating the drug problem in all its forms.
In a rush to justify the massive amount of funds being dumped into this worldwide effort the broad targets of eliminating all drug use was brought down into small victories of getting whatever points they could on a daily basis.
The average American was now caught in the crossfire for recreational use of the most common non addictive drugs while Kingpins from Venezuela, Columbia and Mexico used their time resources and money to find new ways to win battles against a government that declared war on their way of life.
The problem I see with this four decade war isn’t with the abridgment of freedoms from being able to use drugs in a recreational and responsible manner. There are certain things that need to be controlled in a society to prevent mass chaos and I understand this point in the war on drugs. What I do have a problem with is an over bloated plan with an unattainable long term goal.
When it came to prohibition our government realized that they were only bolstering the pockets of the mobsters by making a common commodity illegal and the law was reversed, the once banned substance was taxed and regulated on the local level and the mobster empires were eventually toppled.
When it comes to the war on drugs we’re continuing to pump money into the absolute definition of insanity by continuing to do the same thing over and over again expecting different results. This cause has become so large over the decades that corruption has seeped into its roots with federal agents taking advantage of the situation for their own benefit prolonging the cause that had no end game in the first place.
As a country we know how to win wars or how to get out if the original goal that got us into the conflict is no longer in sight.
The goal was clear and simple….
To step on the neck of drug use by cutting off all systems that pump it into our country and to hold all those that partake in the use of it in jail.
The end result of this offensive was the rise of gang warfare fueled by the demand of the hard to attain commodities, a massive problem with drug addiction that stretches from coast to coast and crosses over racial, gender and socio economic lines along with billions and billions dollars out of our yearly budget with no end in sight.
While everyone wants to get mad about corporate executives taking advantage of government hand outs to fill their pockets or want to blame the Iraq war for our current recession I am quick to remind you of the forgotten wars that are weighing heavy on the pockets of Uncle Sam.
The problem that has been handed down from President to President, Democrat to Republican, Commander in Chief who wished to stamp out the drug problem with an iron fist to the Georgia peanut farmer who ran on a campaign to legalize Marijuana and ultimately to the list of current Presidents who just didn’t talk about the problem and we stopped asking questions.
For every massive drug shipment that is splashed on our TV screens or headline our newspapers there are 20 more like that or bigger who make it through to our children’s schools and neighborhoods.
As the economic crisis hits a peak the problems with the illegal drug trade will only multiply as people will look for an escape into drug use and others will look for ways of making money both here and abroad.
Signs of the times are already appearing in Mexico as bloody gang wars based on drugs, money and power are escalating at an alarming rate along the US border, gangs here in the US are becoming even more influential and powerful in our communities as they spread to suburbia all while the jobs continue to disappear and disparity takes hold.
If there was a time for a game changer in the War on Drugs it would clearly be at this moment. The problem is only going to grow internationally and we have to be ready to do something besides creating even more socio economic rifts in our prison system by incarcerating the users instead of those who are pumping in the problem.
Anytime we look for true change the problem coming back to slap us in the face is getting past the agencies so engrained in corruption they’ve created their own imperfect system or politicians who can’t admit to mistakes of the past and look for ways to make broken systems work.
This system is what the drug lords and kingpins need to continue funneling money into their empires. This will fund their wars, give them a steady workforce and give them an enemy fueling a reason for their people to stay loyal.
The end result in all of this is a continuance of the scourge in our inner cities as the have’s and have not’s move closer together ultimately making the problems of the inner city the problem of suburban and heartland America.
Interesting Reading:
Al Capone: Chicago Historical Society
Portland NORML: Quotes About Some Drug Users
Timeline: Americas War On Drugs: NPR
Frontline: Thirty Years of Americas Drug War
Biography Of Pablo Escobar
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Comment by Anonymous
~ Jill O'Reilly (Myspace Comment)
Comment by Anonymous
Things have gotten well beyond the point where the average American could call them "out of control" in trying to contain the scourge of addictive substances.
To continue to fight this War the same way we have been fighting would be an act of lunacy and an aid to the already growing problem of international crime in a world dealing trying to deal with an economic crisis.