Drug laws and drug law enforcement since the late 19th century, the federal and states governments of the united states have enacted laws and policies to deter the use and distribution of illegal drugs. These laws and policies have not only deemed what drugs are legal and illegal, but have also established penalties for the possession and distribution of these substances and established federal agencies to control drug use and administer drug law enforcement. This essay will not only examine the landmark drug laws and policies established by the federal and state governments, but also the enforcement of drug laws.

This paper will prove that america's drug laws are ineffective and cause more harm than good. The notion that a state of freedom exists in america is completely voided by narcotic laws. Narcotic laws cause a black market, which raises the prices of drugs to astronomical levels. These high prices cause drug addicts to turn to crime in order to support their habit. There exists substantial evidence that marijuana is less harmful than legal product like alcohol or nicotine. The war on drugs is comparable to the vietnam war in its harm on the current generation of minorities. The government avoids ending anti narcotic legislation because of the vast amount of capital which is spent on the war on drugs in terms of law enforcement and prison systems.

Also there are many legislators whose campaign corner stones are often getting tough on drugs, to make an about face would mean political suicide. However the illegality of the substances in question do not stop all people from using. Despite the severe punishment users of illicit drugs face if caught, illicit drug use is widespread in the united states. According to the national institute on drug abuse's 1992 national household survey, more than one in three americans 36.2% have used illegal drugs at least once in their lifetime, nearly 28 million americans 11.1% used them in the previous year, and almost 14 million americans 5.5% used them during the past month skolnick 3.

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Drug addicts will continue using drugs regardless of the penalties associated with procession, simply because they are addicted to these dangerous substances and that takes precedence over fear or respect of the law. The white house office of drug control policy estimate that 20 percent of the nations cocaine users consume 66 percent of the nations cocaine eldredge 9. For these addicts, attainment of drugs takes precedence over the attainment of these drugs is a problem for these addicts. Considering that the entirety of drug trade is done on an illegal black market, prices are astronomical. Many of these addicts are at a point where they are so addicted, that they can no longer function in a workplace environment. Silverman, former associate director of the national academy of sciences' assembly of behavior and social sciences, found that a 10 percent increase in the price of heroin alone produced an increase of 3.1 percent total property crimes in poor nonwhite neighborhoods.

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Armed robbery jumped 6.4 percent and simple assault by 5.6 percent throughout the city miller 3. The street crime, which most political candidates pledge to clean up, is a direct result of the measures which the united states has taken in order to make it a so called better place. Fifteen billion dollars are fed into the federal drug control budget annually norml.

This money would be better spent on schools, roads, and other things that the people of america could use. Instead it is spent on prisons, police forces, and other government institutions. The reason why people become involved in the drug trade is no different than why people became involved in the bootlegging trade during prohibition, money. That same kilogram sold for $300,0 on the streets of the united states scott 82. With a little organization you can create an intertwined network of buyers, wholesalers, transporters, and sellers. The only problem that you face is someone in your organization being caught by law enforcement.

If this happens though, there are plenty of people who can step up and take the persons job. In illinois it is a class x felony to sell crack cocaine within one thousand yards of a church, school, or park, that carries a six to sixty year sentence. Therefore in chicago a number of the people selling crack on the streets are under eighteen.

Most people would agree that one thing they don't want to see children involved in is drugs. However, the current laws on the books create a system where it is beneficial for children to deal drugs, especially in urban areas with large minority populations. As marijuana is a substance which is bulky and harder to transport than say cocaine. Therefore the dea has been more successful in finding marijuana than say cocaine.

This creates a shortage on the streets, following the law of supply and demand, this drives the price of marijuana up. There are seventy million people in america who have used marijuana, ten million continue to use regularly buckley 1. So a physically non addictive substance which does not cause its users to become violent is illegal. While two substances that are addictive and can cause their users to become violent are legal.

The myth is that a single marijuana cigarette equals sixteen cigarettes in terms of the amount of tar consumed. A more widely accepted estimate is that a marijuana cigarette has about four times the tar of tobacco norml. The dangers associated with consuming tar can be lessened with the use of vaporizer smoking devices. Toxicity wise there has never been a reported death of a person by marijuana alone. This is compared to 400,0 tobacco related deaths, and 100,0 alcohol related deaths, as of jan 1997 norml. Though it is harmful to drive a car or operate heavy machinery under the influence of marijuana, numerous studies have been shown to find that it is not as harmful as driving under the influence of alcohol norml.

The study has never been duplicated again, and further studies with larger test populace has debunked a 1991 study found that there were 6,001 deaths due to illicit drugs skolnick 1. A heroin user becomes accustomed to using a certain amount of heroin in order to get high. If a shipment of high quality heroin hits the street, then that same user will use the same amount of drugs and invariably over dose. If the drug was offered in a legal fashion, where quality would be equilateral, accidental overdoses would happen with much less frequency. One of the prices of the war on drugs is larger prisoner populations than ever before. With nearly five in every 1,0 americans behind bars on any given day, the united states has the dubious distinction of incarcerating a higher percentage of its citizens than any country in the world. Thanks in large part to the country's war on drugs, us prison and jail populations are 2 1/2 times larger than they were in 1980.

Each week the united states must add nearly 1,0 prison beds for its rapidly growing inmate population. Prisoners incarcerated for drug offenses cost the american tax payers more than 315 million dollars a year horowitz 6. Even the most expensive in patient treatment programs cost no more than $20,0 a year. The numbers show that it is cheaper to treat people for drugs than it is to incarcerate them. Blacks and hispanics make up approximately 20% of the us population, they make up nearly 75% of the men and women in jails and prisons for drug violations skolnick 2. Whereas it takes more than a pound of powdered cocaine to get a five year sentence horowitz 7. Crack is the cheaper version of this drug and because of this it has flooded urban non white areas of the country.