Although the initial purpose of the War on Drugs was to decrease drug use and sale in the US, the outcomes of this policy are to some extent beyond the expectations. The consequences are most visible in the American criminal justice system, and in my opinion, already implemented reforms do not bring necessary benefits. Original goals of this policy were to reduce drug use and punish drug suppliers for illegal drug sale, however, the number of drug offenders increased a lot, even despite changes in justice system. In addition to this, this war is already considered to be one of the most expensive and least effective. Moreover, these changes in justice system do not advocate for justice-based and objective system.
To illustrate, American drug policy is said to be influenced by racial discrimination as punitive policies do not affect African Americans and Whites equally. While African Americans and Whites use drugs at similar rates, the proportion of prison inmates is not though equal. According to 2009 incarceration rates, “1 in 15 African-American children and 1 in 42 Latino children have a parent in prison, compared to 1 in 111 white children” (DrugWarFacts.org). There are much more evidence of injustices when blacks are imprisoned disproportionally. Thus, this war has negative impacts on racial and ethnical communities. Moreover, it also influences immigration policy, and according to Ron Paul (2011), government needs “to remove the incentive easy road to citizenship”, thus making it harder for legal immigrants to become citizens of the US.
All in all, this war should be ended in any case as it does not bring benefits for American society in general. Drug abuse should be treated as a medical problem and not a problem of authorities` control over population and racial minorities.
References
Race & Prison Data. DrugWarFacts.org Retrieved from http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/64
Ron Paul on Drugs. (2011). Retrieved from …