U.S. Public Knows The "War On Drugs" Is Being Lost

Since its inception in the Nixon administration, the government has spent a ton of money fighting its "War on Drugs" (with the expenditure passing the trillion dollar mark several months ago). What has been the result? We have filled our prisons with non-violent drug possessors, and not made even a small dent in the supply or availability of drugs.

In short, the "war on drugs" has been an abject failure -- and the American public knows it. Only 3% of the population (probably those who are benefitting financially from the "war") thinks the government is winning this silly "war on drugs -- while a whopping 84% say the government is losing (and 13% are sure what to think about it.

Why is this? Because as we do so often in this country, we have tried to attack a perceived problem by criminalizing it. But you can't solve all the nation's problems by simply making them against the law. The drug problem has never been, and still isn't, a criminal problem -- and throwing people in jail is never going to solve it. Drug use is a societal/medical problem, and the only way to effectively fight that kind of problem is through education and treatment (for those ready for rehabilitation).

But that education needs to be a teaching of the truth about drug use -- not the lies and propaganda spread by the government (and those benefitting from the drug war) in the past. Silly ads like calling a fried egg your "brain on drugs", and trying to lump all drugs into the same category will not work. They just convince people that they are not being told the truth, and defeat attempts to educate people about the really dangerous drugs. It is simply a fact that while some drugs are dangerous and addictive (heroin, crack cocaine, etc.), other drugs are not dangerous or addictive at all (marijuana, hashish).

And by the same token, treatment must be offered but not mandated. A person who is ready to quit drug use can be helped by nearly any kind of rehabilitation program, while a person forced into a program while not ready to quit will not be "cured" by any program. An adequate number and variety of treatment programs must be made available, but entry into these programs should not be mandated by a court of law (because that is a prescription for failure -- and a waste of money and treatment bed space).

We will never solve this nation's drug problem by throwing drug users in jail. The problem can only be solved by educating people about drugs and offering treatment to the users -- but that education and treatment must be done truthfully and intelligently. Drug use is a complicated problem -- and right now, we are attacking it with a simple and stupid solution that will never work.

The chart above was made from information from a recent Rasmussen Poll. That survey was done on August 3rd and 4th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, with a margin of error of 3 points.