Unit 2 Research Project

Intro

Many are not aware but America is currently fighting in one of  its longest war of all time, and no its not being fought overseas. Americans have been fighting in this war all across the fifty states every day for the past fifty years. This war is The War on Drugs. Living in New York City me and many others see soldiers of this war everywhere daily. Soldiers of this war can be found sleeping on train stations, bus stops, and in some places, staircases. Public parks to lonely alley ways. They can be found close to home literally like on the corner of your block, or in some cases much worse, figuratively, a loved one. But what about the victims of this war? What happens to them? Well, for a victim there are two final destinations and neither is pretty, dead or in jail. All this leads me to ask the question, is The War on Drugs the solution to drug problems? I presume that there is a better solution to the drug problem than a war so I have decided to research this topic extensively until I find answers to this question or at the very least, evidence as to why presumption as wrong. Evidence proving that The War on Drugs is the solution.

1st Source Entry

Rosenberg, Tina. “Decriminalizing Drugs: When Treatment Replaces Prison.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Dec. 2015, https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/08/decriminalizing-drugs-when-treatment-replaces-prison/?searchResultPosition=2.

Summary

Tina Rosenberg starts off her article “Decriminalizing Drugs: When Treatment Replaces Prison.” with saying “I would want what any parent would: for his addiction to be treated as a health problem, not a criminal matter” when speaking on what she would want if one of her children were a drug addict. With this,  the  stance of this article is clear; Drugs should be decriminalized. She then goes on and touches the subject of race. Rosenberg says “Because I am white and middle class, society would view my addict child as a sick person who needed help. If I were African-American and poor, he would most likely be seen as a criminal” and backs this up with a different NY Times article, “In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War On Drugs” by Katharine Q Seelye, that reported statistics on heroin user in recent times. The stats showed that “nearly ninety percent of new users in the last decade are white”. She then states “While African-Americans are 12 percent of the country’s drug users, they are 59 percent of people in state prisons on drug offenses”. Not only does she tell us that making drug use a crime causes problems such as mass and wrongful incarceration but she also offers a solution, or at least, a step in the right direction. She says “reducing race bias in the criminal justice system means ending the war on drugs”. After this Rosenberg offers a picture of what Decriminalizing Drugs and ending the war would look like by telling us how it has gone so far with other countries that have done it. She tell us how “At the turn of the century, Portugal was drowning in heroin and had the worst H.I.V. rates among injecting drug users in Europe” and in response to this the country put harsh drug laws into place that did nothing but send most users underground. They eventually decided to decriminalize drugs which shot overdose deaths down by seventy-two percent. Instead of users being sent to jail they are assessed by a “dissuasion commission” which is a team of social workers and psychologists. They determine the users needs and then are set to a dissuasion panel where it is decided whether the user is simply warned or if they are sent to the appropriate social or health services, which includes treatment for addicts. Rosenberg tells us that Nuno Capaz, one of the members on a Dissuasion Panel, a sociologist, says that it works because its free. He says “It works for us because it works with our health care system — drug users who want treatment can get it for free”. Rosenberg then throws more of Portugal’s stats at us, “Spread of H.I.V — down by 94 percent”. She then tells us how countries who follow in Portugal’s footsteps see mirrored results but she makes something clear towards the end, “decriminalization fails to alleviate many harms that come from drugs”. She tells us how decriminalization does not reduce violence or the supply in the underground market nor does it affect the purity of the drugs which is a big factor in overdose deaths. Rosenberg ends her article with a strong statement, “decriminalization is not a good solution to the drug problem. It’s just a better solution than the one we’ve got”.

Reflection & Analysis

I found Tina Rosenberg’s  “Decriminalizing Drugs: When Treatment Replaces Prison.” very informative and interesting. Many points were brought up and made, most if not all of which I agreed with. The main point being made here is that we should decriminalize drug use, it will not solve all the problems caused by drugs but it is a better solution than our current one, the war on drugs. I am completely with ending the war on drugs and im happy that not only did Rosenberg take a stand against the war on drugs, she gave us a better solution and showed how  and why it would work. She used very compelling evidence like the stats she got on Portugal. First she told us what happened when harsh drug laws were put into place, the majority of users simply went underground to feed their addictions as HIV related deaths shot up, but she then told us what happened when drug use was decriminalized, HIV rates show down drastically . I feel that her use of statistics all throughout her article really help confirm and solidify everything she is saying.

This article was great because it really broke down the issue of drug use and the issue of the war on drugs. It explains why drug use is a problem, why the way it is currently being handled is wrong, and it gives us an alternative solution and explains why its a better solution. I also appreciate the honesty in the article. Rosenberg makes it clear that decriminalization does not solve all the problems surrounding drug use. She lists out a couple issues that are not solved with decriminalization and says its “Its not a good solution.. its just a better solution”. I feel like that was a perfect way to end the article as it tied all her points together and her stance was made clear. End the war on drugs and decriminalize drug use instead.

Quotables

“decriminalization is not a good solution to the drug problem. It’s just a better solution than the one we’ve got”.

Bromwich, Jonah E. “This Election, a Divided America Stands United on One Topic.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Nov. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/style/marijuana-legalization-usa.html.

Summary

Bromwich’s NY times article “This Election, a Divided America Stands United on One Topic” starts off by telling us how popular drug decriminalization was in the 2020 election. “Where drugs were on the ballot on Tuesday, they won handily”. The people are in favor of decriminalization. Bromwich continues to back this up by telling us how states like “New Jersey, South Dakota, Montana and Arizona joined 11 other states that had already legalized recreational marijuana” and “Mississippi and South Dakota made medical marijuana legal, bringing the total to 35”. He also goes on to tell us how other drugs besides marijuana are being legalized or decriminalized. He says Oregon decriminalized the organic compound active in psychedelic mushroom’s and also decriminalized possession, not sale, of small amounts of illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine. Bromwich then breaks down the different reasons for decriminalization and legalization of drugs. He tells us there are three main reasons. The first reason is money. State governments are struggling financially due to the pandemic and are trying to life budgets up again and at the end of the day the sale of marijuana is a business. The second reason is there are many reform advocates who for years have been saying  “imprisonment, federal mandatory minimum sentences and prohibitive cash bail for drug charges ruin lives and communities, particularly those of Black Americans”. Bromwich lists overpopulation in jails as the third reason people are in favor of decriminalization. He also mentions how people who have been affected by the drug crisis, whether they be users or past users, or friends and family members of them, recognize drugs as a public health issue, not a crime.  Bromwich says “The war on drugs has lost its political allure for many”. People who were once heavily against marijuana are now pushing for its legalization, John A. Boehner, the former Republican speaker of the House, was once a staunch opponent of marijuana legalization. He is now the chairman of the National Cannabis Roundtable, a lobbying group”.

The article goes on to talk about how times have changed and how back then in the Reagan era legalization in its current state would have never even been a thought. It has come  along way but still has a very long way to go.

Reflection & Analysis

I found this article highly informative and reliable. Clear statements like “Where drugs were on the ballot on Tuesday, they won handily” are made and are well backed up with facts and statistics. Not only was this article full of statements and supporting evidence but the author, Bromwich, attempts to help readers understand why these statements are so. He puts himself in the shoes of people supporting decriminalization, tries to see things like they do, to try and explain the main reasons behind their thinking. I appreciated those perspectives but even more, I appreciated Bromwich doing this in such a way to avoid bias.

I found this article especially helpful because of how it was structured. It starts off with telling us how people in America want to decriminalize drugs, then the author gives the reader the why, and then goes on to compare how times are changing. How ideas that are coming into play now surrounding the drug problem in America would have never been thought of years ago in the Reagan era. I really appreciated these comparisons because it shows growth and how long America as a nation has come. It ties together the idea from the beginning of the article that this decriminalization is happening. Its going on before our eyes for a reason and people from all walks of life are supporting it. I also really enjoyed the ending where Bromwich talks about what is to come next where he mentions how far we have come but also how far we have to go.

Quotables

“imprisonment, federal mandatory minimum sentences and prohibitive cash bail for drug charges ruin lives and communities, particularly those of Black Americans”.

“The war on drugs has lost its political allure for many”.

3rd Source Entry

Kurzgesat – In a Nutshell. “Why the War on Drugs Is a Huge Failure – Youtube.” YouTube, Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell, 1 Mar. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJUXLqNHaIC.

Summary

“Why the War on Drugs Is a Huge Failure” is a Youtube video that breaks down exactly what the title says, why the war in drugs is a huge failure. The video starts off with telling us where the war on drugs started. “Over 40 years ago, US President Richard Nixon declared drug use public enemy number one”.  We are then told this war is a huge failure based off of the information we have today with “devastating unintended consequences”. After saying this, many of these consequences are rapidly told to the listener back to back. The unintended consequences mentioned include mass incarceration, corruption, political destabilization, violence, and systemic human rights abuses. The narrator tells us how millions of people have been negatively impacted by the war on drugs all the while billions of dollars are being spent on this war only to end up doing nothing but empowering the underground market of drugs. A lot of strong statements were made in the beginning of the video so after this introduction, the narrator got straight to supporting his statements. He first tackles why the whole idea behind the War on Drugs is flawed. “The core strategy of the war on drugs is ‘No drugs, No problem'” so naturally the idea was to eradicate the supply of drugs and to lock up all suppliers. The narrator says this is flawed thinking because although this does tackle the supply it does not stop the demand. All this does is make suppliers up their prices leading to more profit on their end and this increase in profit leads to the suppliers wanting to put more product out there which in turn increases the amount of trafficker’s needed to get the job done. The author says this is “the balloon effect: even if drug production or a major supply route is destroyed, the supply for the end user is not reduced”. He then gives us an example, crystal meth. The US tried to stop the production of meth by “regulating the sale of chemicals used to manufacture the drug” and it stopped large meth producers, it put them out of business. But once they were out of business “the unintended consequences were that thousands of small scale operations started all over the country…” and they were using unregulated chemicals. To put an end to this the US government regulated even more chemicals. The supply was down but the demand was up and Mexican drug cartels took advantage of this. They started huge operations with even stronger “better” meth and easily smuggled it all into the states. The video then makes the point clear, tackling supply only made “meth production more professional, the drug more potent, while supply wasn’t reduced at all”. The video then tells the reader that with a budget of approximately 30 billion dollars “The US Drug Enforcement Agency has an efficiency rate of less than 1% when it comes to stopping the flow of drugs into the US and inside the US”. We are then told why the War On Drugs also increases violence. “Gangs and cartels have no access to the legal system”, essentially these organizations take matters into their own hands. Disputes are settled with violence. “according to some estimates, the homicide rate in the US is 25% to 75% higher because of the war on drugs”. Then the video touches on mass incarceration claiming that’s where the most damage to society is done by the war on drugs. The US is one of the driving forces of the war on drugs and has 5% of the worlds population but a quarter of the world prison population. This is where the systemic human rights abuses mentioned at the start come into play. “white kids are more likely to abuse drugs… black kids are 10 times more likely to get arrested for drug offenses”. After making it clear that the war on drugs is a failure the video transitions to giving out a solution better than a war. Decriminalization. The video uses Switzerland as an example. Switzerland had a huge heroin problem and both HIV and street crime rates were “skyrocketing”. To solve this they used something called harm reduction. Users were sent to “free heroin maintenance centers where addicts would be treated and sterilized”. They would be given free high quality, clean, heroin at controlled dosages through clean sterilized needles in “safe injection rooms”. They were to be provided medical assistance and a bed to sleep in until they were recovered. After recovered users got connected with social workers to help them start their new sober lives. This method resulted in a drop in drug related crimes and as of now HIV infections have dropped drastically while deaths from heroin overdoses have been cut in half. This method is cheaper and actually works. “After 40 years of fighting, its time to finally end the war on drugs and move on to something better”

Reflection & Analysis

This might be the most informative of sources I have surrounding the topic of decriminalization. I feel it broke down everything so well. If I wanted someone to understand the idea behind decriminalization and understand why the war on drugs is not the solution this is what i would show them. So much information was packed into this quick and easy to listen to and understand video not to mention, the whole video is illustrated. The flaws with the War on Drugs are stated, it is explained why these are flaws, a better solution is given, and reasons why this new solution will work are also given. We are given proof of it working with other nations extremely successfully and overall it sounds like the perfect solution.

Nothing is perfect though and I am left asking some questions. This new solution is to decriminalize drugs and instead of punishing users we help them. They are sent to centers to recover and then receive help in starting a new sober life. All for free. This made me think, wait, health care in other nations is free but not in America. My question is would this be free in America? If it wasn’t, if you needed insurance, if you had to pay out of pocket, would is still be successful? This also leads me to asking the question, how would building these centers effect the economy. I’m assuming this is being built with taxpayer money, are taxes going up or down with this solution? In a perfect world we would build these centers all around the world, wherever needed, but I’m curious to see how these centers would play out in the states compared to other nations around the world.

Quotables

“even if drug production or a major supply route is destroyed, the supply for the end user is not reduced”

“according to some estimates, the homicide rate in the US is 25% to 75% higher because of the war on drugs”

“After 40 years of fighting, its time to finally end the war on drugs and move on to something better”

4th Source Entry

Carter, Shawn, et al. “Jay Z: ‘The War on Drugs Is an Epic Fail’.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Sept. 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000004642370/jay-z-the-war-on-drugs-is-an-epic-fail.html.

Summary

“Jay Z: ‘The War on Drugs Is an Epic Fail’.” is a video that can be found on the NY Times about the war on drugs. Written and narrated by Shawn Carter, Jay Z, and illustrated by Molly Crabapple. It starts off in 1986 when “Ronald Reagan doubled down on the War on Drugs that had been started by Richard Nixon in 1971”. While Carter narrates Crabapple illustrates on a large canvas. She draws what is supposed to depict how streets looked around the Reagan era. Carter talks about how in that time schools were loosing funding, many were being put out of their jobs and yet the media depicted them (drug dealers) as the monsters. “young men like me who hustled became the sole villain”. Crabapple represents this by showing us 3 young black men and drawing large red devils horns on them. Carter then jumps to the problem of mass incarceration, “In the 1990’s incarceration rates in the US blew up. Today we imprison more people than any other country in the world”. He then explains why, he says “judges hands were tied by tough on crime laws and they were forced to hand out mandatory life sentences for simple possession and low level drug sales”. Crabapple depicts this by drawing young black men being sentenced in court by a judge who literally has his hands tied to string being controlled as if he were a puppet. Carter then moves on to how “the feds made distinctions between people who sold powder cocaine and crack cocaine even though they were the same drug”. He then says that even though white people used and sold this drug more than black people, black people were the ones facing life in jail. “The NYPD raided our Brooklyn neighborhoods while Manhattan bankers openly used coke with impunity”. The point being made is that the War on Drugs causes mass incarceration and racial injustice as the right of people of color are violated by the policing and court system. Carter states when the war on drugs started the prison population grew by over 900% most of which was Black and Latino. “When the war on drugs first started the prison population was two hundred thousand, today it is over two million”. Carter than states that in 2014, well after the crack era, there were more than 1.5 million drug arrests, around half of which were for marijuana. All this while states like Colorado are boosting their economy by the above ground marijuana industry. But even in states like Colorado where the economy is boosted by marijuana, most black and Latinos do not have access to this business, to this source of income. Why? Because former felons cant open dispensaries. Many times these felonies are from “drug charges caught by poor people who sold drugs for a living”. Because of that they are “now prohibited from participating in one of the fastest growing economies”. Carter ends off with the statement “Rates of drug use are as high as they were when Nixon declared this so called war in 1971. 45 years later its time to rethink our policies and laws. The war on drugs is an epic fail”.

Reflection & Analysis

Jay Z’s, Sean Carter’s,  “The War On Drugs Is An Epic Fail” is a video on the NY times but I feel the best way to refer to this piece of work as an illustrated and narrated article. This piece is a little under 4 minutes long and its about exactly what the title says, the war on drugs and why its a failure. So much information is packed into this short piece of work and there are a lot of heavy but true statements. There is a lot to be learned from this piece, I know for sure I learned a lot. Not only is there a lot to learn, its also entertaining. The illustrations by Molly Crabapple not only helped me  understand but also intrigued me even more. Its honestly something I would enjoy watching on my pass time.

My favorite part of this piece is when Carter talks about how while some states get rich off the above ground marijuana, other states prohibit, outlaw it. And even in the states where it is legal and people profit off of it, blacks and Latino’s basically get the short end of the stick. To make it clearer look at it like this, a person of color sells marijuana and catches a felony over a minor drug offense, a few years later marijuana is legalized and venture capitalist are getting rich off selling it. This person of color who caught a felony for doing what many business men are now doing tries to open a dispensary to get in on the business but can not do it because of said felony. I like this point of view because it is a perfect example of the rich getting richer as the poor get poorer. Its a perfect example of racism and classism.

Quotables

“Rates of drug use are as high as they were when Nixon declared this so called war in 1971. 45 years later its time to rethink our policies and laws. The war on drugs is an epic fail”

“When the war on drugs first started the prison population was two hundred thousand, today it is over two million”

Conclusion

After extensive research surrounding the War on Drugs I have found that there are better options to the world drug problem than to be at war with drugs. Much better alternatives. Not only have I found what seems to be a better alternative but to my surprise, I found out how much of a negative impact the war on drugs really has on society. The war on drugs breaks apart families, ruins the lives of addicts who are already struggling, and most importantly, surprisingly does little to nothing to solve the world drug problem. From the information I have found, the war on drugs does much more harm than good which is why there is a popular alternative that nations are adopting worldwide. Decriminalization. But decriminalization does not work on its on. There must be help, aid, for addicts in order for decriminalization to really be effective in stopping the drug problem.  Medical centers can be used to treat addicts and social workers can help recovered addicts after they have recovered. What basically ties all this together, what makes it work, is that all the aid is free. I’m not sure how it would be executed in America but the way its been done in other nations, it has saved lives, governments, and the nations themselves. The war on drugs is not cutting it. It is Americas longest war ever and many are dying. Its time for a change. It has often been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. That is why this alternative approach to the world drug problem is so important. Decriminalization has to happen. Addiction is something that should be helped not penalized. This is what the DEA and state government’s in America have to see. Luckily many states are starting to see it this way but there is still a long way to go.