Thesis: Increasing the availability of mail in ballots was a positive and necessary change to the 2020 election. Possible topic

Ryan Ramsdell 

Irina Davidovich 

English 12 Honors B 

15 March 2018 

It's High Time to End the War on Drugs 

At some point in your life, you’ve probably been told “don’t do drugs,” but is it 

really as simple as “no drugs, no problems,” and is “just saying no” as easy as it 

sounds? According to the CDC, “Between 2002 and 2013, the rate of heroin-related 

overdose deaths nearly quadrupled,” so maybe it’s not that simple (“Today’s Heroin 

Epidemic”). That said, humans have been using currently taboo drugs for thousands of 

years without major issues (Crocq). Much of our current drug laws are from the 

Controlled Substances Act​, signed by Richard Nixon in 1970 as part of his ​War on Drugs 

(“The Controlled Substances Act (CSA): Overview”). It classifies drugs into five 

“schedules” with ​Schedule I​ being the worst and ​Schedule V​ being the least dangerous. 

The act is receiving criticism right now because its classifications appear to be 

arbitrary. For example, heroin and marijuana are both ​Schedule I​ (“The Controlled 

Substances Act (CSA): Overview”). The ​War on Drugs​ was the Nixon administration's 

response to the anti-war hippies and African Americans expressing their ​First 

Amendment​ rights with their anti-war and anti-racism protests (“A Brief History of the 

Drug War”). Drug abuse is a major problem but the US’s solution, the War on Drugs, is a 

complete failure because it ignores that safe drug use can exist.  

There are many ways in which drugs can cause harm and overdose is just one of 

them. It’s not limited to just “hard” drugs like heroin either. The most popular drug in the 

world, alcohol, can be dangerous too. Underage drinking interferes with brain 

development and can easily cause alcohol use disorder (“Alcohol Facts and 

Statistics.”). In addition, the fear associated with being caught drinking can cause 

teenagers to knowingly drive drunk, may prevent victims of sexual assault from coming 

forward and may cause people to injure themselves and not seek proper treatment. 

Another popular drug, nicotine, is primarily consumed through cigarettes. Smoking 

cigarettes is extremely harmful to your respiratory system and is the leading cause of 

preventable death (“Smoking & Tobacco Use.”). Drug abuse is also dangerous because 

when there is a dispute involving users and dealers, they can’t use the legal system to 

resolve it, so they resort to violence. Additionally, due to the lack of oversight and 

regulation of the illegal drug industry, the safety of products cannot be guaranteed. 

Further, addicts often don’t seek out the help they need because they fear prosecution 

or resentment from their peers. Finally, non-functional abusers and casual, safe users 

get grouped into the same category when employers perform drug tests. Clearly, drug 

abuse can be extremely harmful. From addiction, violence, accidents, and overdose, to 

the incarceration of otherwise innocent people, the dangers of drug abuse seem to have 

no end, but is there a common theme here? Yes. They all stem from the illegal status of 

drugs.  

The use of drugs doesn’t have to be dangerous though. If someone is able to 

research a drug, learn enough about it, use it in a safe, controlled environment, have a 

safe, regulated supplier, and have a place to go in the event of an emergency, they can 

have a positive experience without harming anyone. In fact, there can even be benefits 

to moderate, intelligent drug use. The problem is that in order for these safety resources 

to be easily available, the drugs in question cannot retain their illegal status. 

Legalization of drugs results in huge tax revenue for cities and states. For example, in 

Colorado, where marijuana is legal for recreational use, over $135 million in tax revenue 

was collected from the marijuana industry. Additionally, North American sales of 

cannabis products are expected to reach over $20 billion in 2021. California could even 

reach over $3 billion in tax revenue (Krishna). In addition to boosting the economy with 

taxes, it creates tons of jobs. Marijuana could create over one million new jobs if 

legalized nationwide (Meza). There are even medical benefits. There are currently 

studies that show that “magic mushrooms” are a viable depression cure (Gallagher). 

Clearly, there is a drug problem, but the problem isn’t the users or even the 

dealers. If the problem doesn’t lie with the demand, then where does it lie? In the black 

market supply and the attempts, by the DEA, to reduce it. To understand that, it’s 

important to learn why someone would decide to use a drug like heroin. No one wakes 

up one day and decides that they’re going to buy some heroin. Usually, it starts with an 

injury for which a person is prescribed an opiate painkiller. Perhaps the most popular is 

Oxycontin™. It’s advertised as lasting for 12 hours, however, in reality, it only lasts about 

8. Users need it to work all day, so Purdue, the maker of Oxycontin™, instructed 

physicians to increase the dosage instead of the frequency (Ryan, Harriet, et al.). This 

creates higher highs and lower lows, makes it easier to become addicted, causes worse 

withdrawal when not on the drug and it doesn’t even reliably increase how long it lasts. 

This causes patients that need longer relief to just take more pills and thus begins the 

cycle of addiction. Eventually, the doctor stops refilling the prescription, but it’s too late. 

The patient is already addicted and will get their high from somewhere else. Usually, this 

is from the black market. Because users are addicted, they will do anything to get their 

heroin and don’t care about laws or risks. The demand will never reduce no matter how 

much you reduce the supply. Each time you shut down one drug dealer, supplier, or 

producer, another one pops up.  

If there’s a problem, there must be a solution. The US has one and it’s called the 

War on Drugs. The philosophy of the War on Drugs is that all use of any drugs is 

harmful, the focus should be to reduce demand, and the way to do that is by reducing 

the supply.  

The only problem with the War on Drugs is that it is a complete failure. Despite 

DEA spending increasing exponentially from less that one billion dollars in 1970 to 

almost $20 billion in 2010, the drug addiction rate has shown no change at all. Since the 

War on Drugs has begun, the US has spent over $1.5 trillion on the DEA and the war 

costs taxpayers over $50 billion every year (Coyne & Hall). The horrors don’t end at the 

budget though. Our current method of fighting drug use has real human consequences. 

In fact, every year over 50,000 students are denied financial aid because of past 

non-violent drug convictions (Coyne & Hall). 

Why might the War on Drugs not be working? The problem is how the failed War 

on Drugs tries to prevent drug use by struggling to reduce supply rather than reducing 

dangerous drug abuse through education. The war is fighting drugs, something very 

neutral, instead of fighting the actual problem, addiction and unsafe use.  

Of course, every problem has a solution. Other countries are handling drug 

problems in vastly different ways that seem to work well for them. Each country has 

different solutions but they all share one common theme. They don’t use a punishment 

and justice based model. They use a heath based model (Baer). They treat drug 

addiction as a health problem rather than a crime problem.  

The first step is legalization or decriminalization. Those terms are often used 

interchangeably but mean very different things. Legalization of a drug means that it will 

be treated like cigarettes or alcohol. Everyone that meets certain requirements like a 

minimum age is allowed to use the drug. Decriminalization is different because the drug 

is not legal for use, but if caught you may receive a citation and the drugs may be 

confiscated instead of being jailed. One example of a country that has decriminalized 

the use of all drugs is Portugal. The positive effects of this are very evident. First, the 

use of drugs among both adults and children has fallen since decriminalization 

(Ingraham). Second, overdose deaths are the second lowest in the EU — less than 3 per 

million citizens (Ingraham). This is in contrast to the UK which has very strict drug policy 

but it has 44.6 overdose deaths per million citizens. Almost fifteen times more! Finally, 

the rate of HIV infections has decreased (Ingraham). Clearly, decriminalization is 

effective. It saves money, reduces overdoses, and helps addicts get clean. 

The second step in legislation like this is treating addicts. The ​New York Times 

says that “we must create well-staffed and first-class treatment centers where people 

are willing to go without fear of being prosecuted and with the confidence that they will 

receive effective care. The experience of Portugal suggests that younger people who 

use drugs but are not yet addicted can very often be turned around” (Shultz & Aspe). 

Treatment centers like this will provide medical care, clean needles and in some cases, 

safe drugs. They will also offer detoxing and rehabilitation to addicts wishing to quit. 

The most important part of a program like this is trust. Users and addicts must feel safe 

and know that they will not be arrested or forced to quit, but that help will still be offered 

when they decide to quit. The most common argument against something like this is 

that rehab, medical care, and treatment cost money. This is true, however, they cost 

significantly less than imprisonment. When Maryland attempted a treatment system, it 

cost them $4,000 per offender per year. That’s an 80% decrease from $20,000 per 

offender per year with a traditional prison and incarceration system (McVay, Doug, et 

al). A system like this will also save money because when you treat someone’s 

addiction, they are much less likely to continue to use drugs, as opposed to punishing 

them, where their addiction still exists. Treatment is a much more effective option both 

for the health of the user and for the taxpayer.  

Finally, we must decide what to do with the nonviolent drug users that are 

currently incarcerated. Some cities are simply releasing prisoners currently convicted of 

nonviolent drug offenses (Lovino). This may work, but prisoners need help being 

reintegrated. This could look like a slow shift from prison, to treatment in prison, to just 

treatment. Simply releasing thousands of people back into the world all at once with no 

reintegration plan is clearly not going to work. Experts must discuss and find a solution 

that is beneficial and sensible for inmates, their communities, and the prisons they’re 

housed in. 

Clearly, there needs to be a major change in how we view drugs as a society, how 

we deal with drug users, and how we view the drug problem. This is urgent and must be 

done for the health of the people of our society and for the monetary health of the 

United States government. The federal government must acknowledge everything that 

is clearly not working right now and draft new legislation that undoes Nixon’s damage. 

Next, addicts, both imprisoned and not, will have the opportunity to receive the 

treatment they need. Legalization and decriminalization will start to cripple cartels, 

resulting in a massive decrease in drug-related violence. Local drug operations will also 

be able to use the legal system to resolve disputes. Additionally, the new tax revenue 

will improve schools and their health classes and fund treatment for addicts. Finally, 

society will begin to lose the taboo associated with drug use. The sum of all of this 

being the War on Drugs shifting from the War on Drugs, to the War on Harm.   

Works Cited 

“Alcohol Facts and Statistics.” National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services, 

www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-

statistics​. 

Baer, Drake. “5 Countries Experimenting with Liberal Drug Laws.” Business Insider, 

Business Insider, 30 Mar. 2016, 

www.businessinsider.com/countries-experimenting-with-liberal-drug-laws-2016-3​. 

“A Brief History of the Drug War.” Drug Policy Alliance, Drug Policy Alliance, 

www.drugpolicy.org/issues/brief-history-drug-war. 

“The Controlled Substances Act (CSA): Overview.” Findlaw, Findlaw, 

criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/controlled-substances-act-csa-overview.hml​. 

Coyne, Christopher J, and Abigail R Hall. “Four Decades and Counting: The Continued 

Failure of the War on Drugs.” Cato Institute, Cato Institute, 12 Apr. 2017, 

www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/four-decades-counting-continued-failure-

war-drugs​. 

Crocq, Marc-Antoine. “Historical and Cultural Aspects of Man's Relationship with 

Addictive Drugs.” US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, 9 

Dec. 2007, ​www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202501/​. 

Gallagher, James. “Magic Mushrooms Can 'Reset' Depressed Brain.” BBC News, BBC, 14 

Oct. 2017, ​www.bbc.com/news/health-41608984​. 

Ingraham, Christopher. “Why Hardly Anyone Dies from a Drug Overdose in Portugal.” 

The Washington Post, WP Company, 5 June 2015, 

www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/05/why-hardly-anyone-dies-fro

m-a-drug-overdose-in-portugal/​. 

Lovino, Nicholas. “San Francisco to Wipe Out Thousands of Marijuana Convictions.” 

Courthouse News, 1 Feb. 2018, 

www.courthousenews.com/san-francisco-to-wipe-out-thousands-of-marijuana-convi

ctions/​. 

Krishna, Mrinalini. “The Economic Benefits of Legalizing Weed.” Investopedia, 

Investopedia, 7 June 2017, 

www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/110916/economic-benefits-legalizing-wee

d.asp​. 

McVay, Doug, et al. “Treatment or Incarceration?: National and State Findings on the 

Efficacy and Cost Savings of Drug Treatment Versus Imprisonment.” Justice Policy 

Institute, Justice Policy Institute, Jan. 2004, 

www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/04-01_rep_mdtreatmentori

ncarceration_ac-dp.pdf​. 

Meza, Summer. “Legalizing Marijuana Nationwide Would Create One Million Jobs, Study 

Says.” Newsweek, Newsweek, 11 Jan. 2018, 

www.newsweek.com/legal-marijuana-create-one-million-jobs-decade-778960​. 

Ryan, Harriet, et al. “'You Want a Description of Hell?' OxyContin's 12-Hour Problem.” Los 

Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2016, 

www.latimes.com/projects/oxycontin-part1/​. 

Shultz, George P., and Pedro Aspe. “The Failed War on Drugs.” The New York Times, The 

New York Times, 1 Jan. 2018, 

www.nytimes.com/2017/12/31/opinion/failed-war-on-drugs.html​. 

“Smoking & Tobacco Use.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention, 20 Feb. 2018, 

www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/​. 

“Today’s Heroin Epidemic.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention, 7 July 2015, 

www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/heroin/index.html​.