Drugs Worldwide
Why do people come to California? If you were to ask local rapper Kendrick Lamar he might respond, “women, weed, and weather,”(Lamar, “The Recipe”). While California is known globally for its year-round great weather and for having some of the most attractive women on the planet, for the purpose of this paper I will be focusing on the weed as well as other drugs that are found across the Golden State. In 1996, California voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes and has since then been known as a place that has very liberal views towards marijuana. In 2016, California voted to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes and that brought the topic of legalizing drugs to the dinner table across the United States (California Cannabis Portal). The debate surrounding the legalization of drugs has intrigued me especially because the United States has been in a constant state of conflict with those who sell or use drugs for the past 50 years. This conflict, commonly known as the War on Drugs, has not only affected the people of the United States, but has reached the shores of every country and has touched the lives of countless people. Using the same strategy for 50 years without an end in sight to the conflict has caused many to be curious about how other countries have handled the issue of drugs to see whether or not there is a way for the United States to better handle its drug problem.
The prohibition in place surrounding drugs in the United States is eerily similar to the prohibition against alcohol during the 1920s-1930s. Eliminating the legal market to access drugs such as marijuana or cocaine instantly turned thousands of people into criminals, created demand for an illicit market, and gave hardened criminals the opportunity to make millions of dollars. In an article by Norman Stamper from the Seattle Times, a retired police officer compared the drug laws to prohibition of alcohol by saying, “Our drug laws have given rise to a new generation of gangsters with names like Sinaloa, Los Zetas and La Familia. These evil and greedy cartels are raking in profits that Capone and his ilk could only have dreamed of.” (Stamper). By keeping this harsh attitude towards all drugs, the United States government has in fact helped create many of the problems it is trying to solve in the War on Drugs. The drug cartels that it is facing only became powerful as a result of the legal avenues to access drugs closing up, similar to how the Chicago and New York mafias became very powerful following the implementation of Prohibition in the 1920s. The incarceration rate in the United States, the highest in the world is largely due to the fact that so many people are being imprisoned due to drug-related charges.
The Philippines is a nation that has been strongly influenced by the United States for over 100 years. From being a colony of the United States, to being one of the United States chief partners in the Pacific, the two countries have always shared a strong bond and have taken similar attitudes towards various issues. The issue of drugs is one such issue in which the two nations have taken a very similar approach. The Philippines has waged its own war on drugs but has recently taken a much harsher approach since the election that placed current president Rodrigo Duterte into power. According to Amnesty International UK, “In an election campaign speech broadcasted on national television on 5 June, Duterte encouraged citizens to kill suspected drug dealers or users as a ‘duty’, and offered huge bounties to people who turn in drug dealers — ‘dead or alive’,” (Amnesty). This approach towards drug users would shock even the most fervent supporters of the War on Drugs in the United States where hardly anyone would support openly killing drug addicts. The Filipino approach is based on the belief that if the punishment is severe enough, then people will be too scared to ever try drugs. There has not been enough data collected to see whether or not this approach is truly effective but the human cost of this conflict has been tremendous. The people who are addicted to drugs are being treated as if they were vermin and this has torn apart thousands of families. This approach is inhumane and it should end immediately to prevent any further loss of life. This approach is drastically different from the approach taken in Portugal, an approach that actually valued human life.
Since the 1970s, the United States has been steadfast in its militaristic approach to solve the issue of drugs. The United States has militarized its law enforcement agencies, excessively punished all who use or possess drugs, and has used propaganda to make the population view all drugs as evil (Huff Post). Throughout the 1990s, Portugal used similar tactics to the United States to try and end its drug problem. During the 1990s, in Portugal, “an estimated 1% of the population-bankers, students, socialites-were hooked on heroin and Portugal, had the highest rate of HIV infection in the entire European Union,” (Bajekal). Seeing that the militarized approach that the Portugese government had tried for years was not fixing the problem, the Portugese people decided to try a radically different approach. In 2001, “It became the first country in the world to decriminalize the consumption of all drugs,” (Bajekal). The country chose this radical approach because the people in power viewed those that were addicted to drugs as patients in need of serious help, instead of hardened criminals with the intent to cause harm. While drug dealers would still be sent to prison, people that were caught with drugs would be “sent to a local commission, consisting of a doctor, lawyer, and a social worker,” (Bajekal). This approach would give addicts the opportunity to improve their lives and it would pair them with people that actually cared about their wellbeing.
Surprisingly. drug use and drug related death dropped exponentially. According to Bajekal, “In Portugal, meanwhile , 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.” (Bajekal). This approach has proven to be widely successful and is proof that in order to end the War on Drugs, the government needs to stop treating drug addicts as enemy soldiers and instead as humans with dignity who ought to be treated as victims. The great success found in Portugal has made many wonder if it could be repeated in the United States. Unfortunately, the approach taken by Portugal will be hard to replicate in the United States. The United States has always had a hard time admitting it’s made mistakes, especially when it has had the same approach to an issue for 50 years. According to Vox, “Over the past four decades, the US has committed more than $1 trillion to the War on Drugs.” (Vox). Many peoples’ livelihood is dependent upon the War on Drugs never ending. Thousands of law enforcement officials would lose their jobs, they no longer had to arrest people on drugs and private prisons would lose many of their occupants if drugs were to be decriminalized. This would especially affect a state like California where there are several private prisons that employ hundreds of people.
In addition to financial interest in keeping the same policies in place, there is also strong cultural resistance to legalizing drugs or changing the attitude by law enforcement to drug addicts. In the United States, there have been constant campaigns by organizations such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) and Keepin’ it Real which have brainwashed the population into thinking that all drugs that are in circulation can kill you and that they must be eradicated at all costs. (Alcohol Problems). Countless films and tv shows have vilified anyone that uses drugs and that has resulted in the American public at large still believing that the current approach taken to solve the issue of drugs is effective. However, the legalization of marijuana in states such as California and Colorado have begun to change that narrative.
The legalization of marijuana for recreational uses in states such as California and Colorado has greatly changed the debate about the legalization of drugs.
References:
Balko, Radley. “Great Moments In Drug War Propaganda.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 7 Dec. 2017, www.huffpost.com/entry/drug-war-propaganda_n_3816574.
California, State of. “Cannabis Legislation.” Cannabis, cannabis.ca.gov/cannabis-legislation/.
“Kendrick Lamar (Ft. Dr. Dre) — The Recipe.” Good Kid M.a.a.d City. Genius,
Bajekal, Naina. “Want to Win the War on Drugs? Portugal Might Have the Answer.” Time, Time, 1 Aug. 2018, time.com/longform/portugal-drug-use-decriminalization/.
Stamper, Norm. “Prohibition: A Parallel to Modern War on Drugs.” The Seattle Times, The Seattle Times Company, 30 Sept. 2011, www.seattletimes.com/opinion/prohibition-a-parallel-to-modern-war-on-drugs/.
Banbury S, Lusher J, Guedelha F. Portugal’s 2001 Drugs Liberalisation Policy: A UK Service Provider’s Perspective on the Psychoactive Substances Act (2016). Journal of alcohol and drug education. 2018;62(1):27–45.
Sanchéz-Avilés C, Ditrych O. The global drug prohibition regime: prospects for stability and change in an increasingly less prohibitionist world. International politics (Hague, Netherlands). 2018;55(3–4):463–481. doi:10.1057/s41311–017–0081–5
Lopez, German. “The War on Drugs, Explained.” Vox, Vox, 8 May 2016, www.vox.com/2016/5/8/18089368/war-on-drugs-marijuana-cocaine-heroin-meth.
“Alternatives to D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Program.” Alcohol Problems and Solutions, 30 Oct. 2019, www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/alternatives-to-d-a-r-e-drug-abuse-resistance-education-program/#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20see%20Drug%20Abuse,Academy%20of%20Sciences%2C%20among%20others.
