Reconsidering the
American Drug War
By Samantha Mosier
Why is the Drug War Important?
• Cost
– Estimated at $600 Per Second
• Social Consequences
– Has Greatest Effect on Lower SES and Minority
Communities.
• Strain on Prisons and Judicial System
– Prisons Face Overcrowding and the Large Number of
Drug Offenders Backup the Courts.
• Damaging International Relations
Thinking In Time (Neustadt and May)
• Look Towards the Past to Envision Future
• For Current Policy, Use of History Can Be
Used as Propaganda
• 3 Assumptions
– Particulars Matter
– Policy Decisions Come One at a Time
– Policy Makers Always Act in Uncertainty
Science of ‘Muddling Through’
(Lindblom)
• Rational-comprehensive: Relies on
Theory. Starts From Scratch. Means-End
Analysis.
• Incrementalism: Relies on Improving Past
Precedents. Means and End Intertwined.
– Produces More Realistic/ Obtainable Options.
– Criticized for Being Too Slow When Swift
Action Needed.
The Spanish-American War
until the Harrison
Narcotics Act
Trends and Events
• State and Local Laws Responsible for Narcotic
Control
• Narcotics Used for Medical Purposes
• Acquisition of the Philippines
– Gradual Prohibition Modeled After Japanese
• 1909 International Opium Commission
• 1910 Foster Antinarcotics Bill (Failed)
– Ethnic Associations with Cocaine and Heroine
• 1914 Harrison Narcotics Act
Historical Significance
• Attitudes and Regulations Lay the Foundation
for Future Policy
• Narcotics Become an American Enemy
• Transfer From State and Local Regulation to
Federal Control
• U.S. Makes International Push to Eradicate Drug
Usage
• Professional Standards and Regulations
Emerge
• Foreign Attempt at Prohibition Fails
The 18th Amendment to
the Marijuana Tax Act
Trends and Events
• 18th Amendment (1920)
• The Volstead Act of 1919
– The Prohibition Unit
• Violence and Organized Crime
• Narcotic Education Week
• Continuing International Crusade
– Second Geneva Convention
– Ask Other Nations to Eradicate Narcotic
Cultivation for Sake of Addicts
Trends and Events Cont’d
• Narcotics Limitations Convention
– Drugs Divided Into Two Schedules
• Black Thursday/Tuesday (Oct 24 & 29,
1929)
• 21st Amendment (1933)
– States Responsible of Own Alcohol Laws
• Marijuana Tax Act of 1937
• New Ethnic and Behavioral Associations
with Drug Use
Historical Significance
• Domestic Failure of Prohibition
– Organized Crime and Violence
• Not All Intoxicating Substances Merit Same
Cohesive Negative Attitudes
• International Crusade Continues
– Emphasis on Needing to Solve America Narcotic
Dilemma
– Creates Resentment From Other Nations
• Adjustment to Indirect Prohibition of Certain
Substances.
Nixon, Reagan, and
Militarization of Drug Efforts
Trends and Events: Johnson and Nixon
• Johnson’s Prettyman Commission
• Operation Intercept (1969)
• Comprehensive Drug Abuse and Control
Act (1970)
• Nixon 1971- Drug Abuse is No. 1
American Public Enemy
• Reorganization Plan No. 2 and the DEA
• Nixon 1974- Turned the Corner on Hard
Drugs
Trends and Events: Ford and Carter
• Gap in Drug War Advocacy
• The White Paper on Drug Abuse
– Contradicts Previous Efforts of Drug Policy
• “Drugs cannot be forced out of existence; they will be with
us for as long as people find in them the relief or
satisfaction they desire. We cannot talk in absolutes- that
drug abuse will cease, that no more illegal drugs will cross
our borders- because if we are honest with ourselves we
know that is beyond our power.” – President Carter
Trends and Events: Reagan and Bush
• Cocaine, Crack, AIDs, a Revived Parents
Movement, and 49 States with Minimum
Mandatory Sentencing Laws
• Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task
Force
– The Medellín Cartel
• National Assets Seizure and Forfeiture
Fund (1985)
– Money Laundering Control Act of 1986
Reagan and Bush Cont’d
• 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act
• Crime Bills Extending Federal Control
– Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984
– Crime Control Act of 1990
– Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
• “Just Say No” & Red Ribbon Week
• 1988 Anti-Abuse Drug Act
– ONDCP
• January 1990- Bush Proposed 50% Increase
in Military Spending and 1.2 Billion for Drug
War Aid
Historical Significance
• Same Fear of Addiction Mirrors Early
Century/ Always New Drug
• Strict Policy Adaptation Over Tolerance
• Growing Link Between
Terrorism/Organized Crime and Narcotics
• Escalation of Cost
• Continuance of International Crusade
• Conflict with Other Nations
Economics and Alternative
Policy Options
Jeffrey Miron
• Supply and Demand of Drugs is Constant
• Prohibition’s Affect on Demand
– Decrease: Respect for the Law
– Increase: Forbidden Fruit
– Decrease: Punishment Measures
• Prohibition’s Affect on Supply
– Increase Cost of Manufacturing, Transportation, and
Distribution
• Other Side Affects
– Increased Corruption, Violent Crime, IncomeGenerated Crime, Product Quality, Criminal
Redistribution, and Higher Cost of Enforcement
Jeffrey Miron Cont’d
• 4 Ways to View Drug Policy
– Rational-Consumption
– Externalities
– Irrational Consumption
– Immoral Consumption
• Prohibition: Not the Right Policy Option
The Netherlands (Korf)
• Dutch Policy Base on 3 Principles
– Separation of Soft and Hard Drugs
– Normalization of Drug Use
– Harm Reduction Efforts
• No Single Policy Appropriate For All
• Dutch Belief Overly Strict Regulation
Causes Negative Consequences
• Severely Punishes Violators
• Criticism from Neighboring Countries
Robert Charles
• Terrorism and Narcotics
• U.S. Cannot Legalize Narcotics
– Contradiction of Anti-Terrorism Efforts
– “As a nation, we must be willing to project
ourselves around the globe diplomatically and
militarily, but also to pry ourselves from the
sources of terrorist funding we have grown
accustomed to overlooking.”
Conclusion
• U.S. Cannot Keep to Current Drug Policy
• Suggestions
– Adapt Medical Marijuana Approach
– Decriminalize Drug Users
– Reallocate Funding Towards Terrorism
– Continue Iron Fist to Stop Illegal Drug
Trafficking
– Rely More on Negotiation/ Soft Power than
Hard Power When Dealing with Other Nations
References
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Charles, Robert B. 2004. Securing the
Nation: Issues in American National
Security Since 9/11-Narcotics and
Terrorism. Chelsea House:
Philadelphia, PA.
Domestic Council Drug Abuse Task
Force. 1975.White Paper on Drug
Abuse.
“Drug War Facts: Crime”. 2007.
Common Sense for Drug Policy. \
Korf, Dirk and Helen Riper, Bruce
Burllington. 1999. “Windmills in Their
Minds? Drug Policy and Drug
Research in the Netherlands”. Journal
of Drug Issues. 29(3):451-471.
Lindblom, Charles. 1959. “The Science
of ‘Muddling Through’ “. In Classic
Readings in American Politics, ed.
Pietro S. Nivola and David H.
Rosenbloom. Worth Publishers: New
York, New York.
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Miron, Jeffrey. 2001. “The Economics
of Drug Prohibition and Drug
Legalization”.
Musto, David, and Pamela Korsmeyer.
2002. The Quest for Drug Control:
Politics and Federal Policy in a Period
of Increasing Substance Abuse, 19631981. New Haven and London: Yale
University Press.
Musto, David. 1999. The American
Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control.
New York, New York: Oxford University
Press.
Neustadt, Richard and Ernest May.
1986. Thinking in Time: The Uses of
History for Decision-Makers. New
York, New York: The Free Press.