NCJ Number
141690
Journal
ABA Journal Volume: 79 Dated: (March 1993) Pages: 70-74
Date Published
1993
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The unprecedented law enforcement effort that has been the central component of the "war on drugs" by the Reagan and Bush administrations, overall consumption of illegal drugs has not declined appreciably, and in the inner cities it appears to have increased sharply.
Abstract
These policies have also made the United States the country with the largest percentage of its population in prison and have placed a crippling burden on Federal courts, making it difficult for them to address their civil cases. During the Bush administration, Federal, State, and local governments spent about $100 billion on the drug war. Only about one-third of the Federal budget pays for prevention and treatment; the rest pays for more police, more drug agents, more prosecutors, and more prisons. In addition, the National Drug Control Strategy justifies the emphasis on enforcement on the individual, explicitly rejecting any notion that drug abuse is a symptom of economic, social, and political distress. However, studies in two States have shown that diverting extensive police resources to drug law enforcement had the unintended consequence of allowing both property crime and alcohol-related traffic deaths to increase. Other research contradicts assertions and assumptions of Federal policies. However, the drug war may become even more punitive in the future, because both Democrats and Republicans are continuing the rhetoric of the drug war. Photographs