Argumentative Essay: The War On Drugs

The War on Drugs has been going on for over 40 years, but in that time drug use and abuse has hardly gone down. In 1971 President Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs Campaign. What came with this was a national mission to end the use of schedule one drugs like marijuana, cocaine, Heroin, LSD, and methamphetamine. All of these drugs are defined as drugs with “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse”(DEA.gov). From there the federal and state governments began making ads, commercials, and sending out representatives to speak out against drug abuse, but all the money that goes into pumping out billboard ads and television commercials has to come from somewhere. Since the war began in 1971 the American Federal Government has wasted over one and a half trillion dollars. Demonocracy.info illustrates: Imagine a standard wooden pallet holding one hundred million dollars on it. In

“One in three people admit to trying marijuana at some point in their lives”(“Marijuana Use and ItS Effects”). One year before Portugal decriminalized all drugs another region closer to home decided to take a step in the same direction. In 1973 Oregon was the first state in the United States to legalize marijuana for medical use. For about twenty years after that not much attention was given. Then in 1996 California also legalized marijuana for medical use, and shorty after in 2006 Colorado legalized marijuana for medical purposes. Then in 2012 Colorado decided to legalize marijuana for recreational use. As of 2016, twenty-three states and Washington D.C have legalized marijuana for medical use and many people are in favor for legalizing the drug for medical use. A few countries have already adopted medical marijuana programs for example: “Israel, Canada, and the Netherlands all have a medical marijuana program”