Pros And Cons Of The War On Drugs

Drugs and the price

An alarming fact about the United States of America that it has the highest prison population rate in the world (Walmsley, Roy.1). However, there is hope to fix this problem also with plethora of other problem that come with the war on drugs: jail alternatives. Drug use offenders should be offered treatment or other alternatives as opposed to jail and prison because it reduces criminal offenses, saves the state money and allows more opportunities for people who are indirectly affected. Drug addiction is a health issue that need to be address better because jail and prison time is not effective. With drug awareness and more research the drug user’s epidemic the government can combat the drug epidemic plaguing the country.

According to Federal Bureau of Prisons around 46% of crimes committed are drug offences (“Offenses”).This shows that an overwhelming amount of crime is surrounded by drugs. After the campaign on the war on drugs started by former President Nixon to combat the growing drug addiction in the 70s much more focus have been put upon drug users. But with good intention this “war” has left the country devastated with more drug crime and social ills. Knowing how many criminals are in jail/prison for drugs it is reasonable to suggest that if drug offence are appropriately handled then this can reduce crime. This is supported by the case involving drug offenders in Baltimore city between 1994-1995 75% of the participants did not commit a new offence during the six month follow up ( Lavine, Ashira, 8). In another study it was found that 65% of inmates were re-convicted of a crime compared to 42% who received treatment: this is a 22% difference ( “Can I Go to Rehab…?). This is one of the many benefits of offering alternatives to jail or prison because it reduce recidivism in which criminal commit repeated

In the instance of Baltimore, Maryland Drug treatment court spending decreased — from 20,000 dollars to 4,000 — once alternative sanction were used for drug offenders ( McVay, et. al 5). Furthermore, in a Lipsey & Wilson study comparing several different drug programs and the economic gain for taxpayers from the year 2000 also revels the cost benefits of drug treatment programs. It was shown in the study that In-Prison Therapeutic Community, without community aftercare generated $1.91 ratio of cost to economic benefits and as you could imagen the ratio for non-prison Therapeutic Community was higher yielding $8.87 (Aos, Steve,al et al 84). More over the burden of jail/prison time effects the family income. According to a study about two thirds of family had finical difficulty by way of incarceration (“CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS: The IMPACT of Incarceration” 2). This creates a big issue because it may lead to another problem that also wreak havoc on society: poverty. With such riveting evidence jail and prison alternative should not be disregarded because it also brings forth economic