Since the "war on drugs" was initiated in the 1970's, this country has spent more than a trillion dollars on it and filled our prisons with non-violent drug offenders (so much so that we now lead the world in the number of people incarcerated and the percentage of population incarcerated). And yet, very little, if anything, has been accomplished. Drug use has not fallen, and the availability of drugs hasn't either.
The only real accomplishment is the creation of drug cartels to supply those black-market drugs (much like the prohibition of alcohol did back in the 1920's). And the violence of those cartels (to control that black-market) has just added to the tragedy of hard drugs.
It is time we realized that our "war on drugs" has been a monumental failure. Drug use is a medical problem -- not a criminal one. And we should be treating it as such, through treatment and education. Portugal has done that, and they are actually reducing the use of hard drugs in that country.
As the Rasmussen Poll shows, the huge majority of Americans know that the "war on drugs" has been a failure (about 82%). When is the government going to realize that, and take a saner approach to the problem?
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