Solving America’s Drug Policy

Potential Solutions

The War on Drugs is a failed US policy as it has not decreased drug abuse and criminal activity.  Instead, it has filled our prisons with generations of young Americans while also increasing the number of Americans dying of drug overdoses. America clearly has a problem with drugs, but we are STUCK doubling down on the same failed policy while our family members die in huge numbers and young lives are destroyed with criminal records for drug addiction even if they are not also involved in drug trafficking.

One option is to continue to wage the War on Drugs. However, given the results to date, that strategy doesn’t bode well for getting us UNSTUCK from our current situation.

Another option is to dramatically increase the penalties for sales and transportation of drugs.  Singapore has some of the strictest drug laws in the world and their justice system delivers swift penalties.  Possession is illegal, not just trafficking.  Consumption can be punished with 10 years imprisonment plus a $20,000 fine (or both) and may involve caning of 3 to 6 strokes.  Trafficking can be punished by the death penalty.  Drug rehabilitation programs are also provided.  Consequently, Singapore has a very low incidence of drug abuse.   https://www.thesingaporelawyer.com/blog/misuse-drugs-act/  

Another option is to de-criminalize, regulate and tax drugs, as we did alcohol by repealing Prohibition.  This option has been done in several countries successfully, including Czechia, the Netherlands, Switzerland and most recently Portugal.  Portugal’s legalization program has yielded excellent results: “In Portugal the drug-induced death rate has plummeted to five times lower than the E.U. average and stands at one-fiftieth of the United States’. Drug use has declined overall among the 15- to 24-year-old population, those most at risk of initiating drug use.”https://time.com/longform/portugal-drug-use-decriminalization/

Yale University has suggested that the USA should consider drug legalization in its article “Why Suppressing Drug Markets Endangers Society” but cautions that a policy to legalize drugs must include a major program to treat drug addiction.  For some reason, even though we know Alcoholic Anonymous and Mothers Against Drunk Driving have worked hard to mitigate the detrimental effects of alcoholism post-Prohibition, we haven’t yet accepted the need for strong drug treatment programs in the USA.  The Yale University article by Nick Werle, J.D, and Ernesto Zedillo, is an excellent read on this potential strategy to address our drug issues:

Click to access we_can%27t_go_cold_turkey.pdf

Or we could do a combination of the above strategies – decriminalize and treat illicit drug use but increase the penalties for drug trafficking, up to and including the death penalty.

Join in.  Suggest solutions.

What do you think?  What could solve our drug problem in the United States?  Remember, comments must stay on topic and not be defamatory of anyone.  Solutions to problems is what this UNSTUCK Blog seeks.

Additional information is provided below to guide this discussion – Current Situation, Historical and Constitutional context.  Given the increased influence of religion in our country at the present time, there is also information on religious perspectives on drugs.

Current Situation

America has spent more than a Trillion dollars on the War on Drugs, declared by President Nixon in 1971.  However; our current situation is worse than it was in the 1970s.

• 80,391 Americans died from drug overdose in 2024 per the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).   Fortunately, this is a decrease from 110,037 Americans who died of drug overdose in 2023; primarily due to the decrease in fentanyl related deaths (48,422 in 2024 vs 76,284 in 2023) due to both increased drug treatment and law enforcement.
• In 2024 Forty-three percent of federal prisoners are in for drug crimes which include individual drug users, continuing America’s record of imprisoning more of our people than any other country in the world.
• $41 billion was spent on drug enforcement in 2022 as we continue the War on Drugs, despite its failure.

History – Humans relationship with drugs

Humans have used substances that induce euphoria or hallucinations for thousands of years as these two interesting articles document:

• Historical and cultural aspects of man’s relationship with addictive drugs https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202501/
• Israeli archaeologists uncover earliest known use of opium in the ancient world https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-archaeologist-uncovers-earliest-known-use-of-opium-in-the-ancient-world/

In the early colonial days, the USA didn’t regulate the use of drugs, but in the early 20^thcentury Americans became intolerant of drug use and abuse.  Consequently in 1914 Congress passed the Harrison Narcotics Act prohibiting non-medical opioid use.  In 1920 Congress passed and the states ratified the 18^th Amendment which made alcohol illegal in the United States.  https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/prohibition

Finally, the Marijuana Tax Act was passed in 1937 making cannabis illegal in the USA. 

We repealed Prohibition in 1933 when it failed miserably. In a CATO Institute article Four Decades and Counting: The Continued Failure of the War on Drugs (Coyne and Hall; April 12, 2017) the authors describe these failures of Prohibition: “Despite these noble intentions, alcohol prohibition was a failure on all fronts. Although alcohol consumption sharply decreased at the beginning of Prohibition, it quickly rebounded. The alcohol produced under Prohibition varied greatly in potency and quality, leading to disastrous health outcomes including deaths related to alcohol poisoning and overdoses. Criminal syndicates formed to manufacture and distribute illegal liquors, crime increased, and corruption flourished.”  

Sound familiar? But we didn’t learn our lesson from alcohol Prohibition since President Nixon declared a War on Drugs in 1971, as a reaction to use of illicit drugs in the 1960s.

President Ronald Reagan ramped up the War on Drugs in 1981 when he put the focus on criminal punishment over treatment. Incarcerations for drug use went up from 50,000 in 1980 to 400,000 in 1997. First lady Nancy Reagan began a “Just Say No” campaign to educate children on the dangers of drug use. Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which allocated $1.7 billion to the War on Drugs and established “mandatory minimum” prison sentences for various drug offenses. Subsequently Congress poured more and more money into the War on Drugs.

US Constitution

There is no reference to illegal drugs in the US Constitution, but Amendment 18 and 21 deal with alcohol prohibition and its repeal:

Amendment XVIII: “After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.”

Amendment XXI: “The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.”

Bible

Biblically, drugs aren’t mentioned in the bible, but wine is often spoken of as a beverage and drunkenness is severely condemned.

Proverbs 20:1 “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Ephesians 5:18 “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”