The global escalation in the reach of state
law enforcement over the past few decades
can undeniably be traced back to the war on
drugs.
The term "War on Drugs” is generally used
to refer to a long running prohibition campaign,
initiated and undertaken by the United States
government, that targets certain types of
drugs.
The official purpose of the campaign is to
limit (or stop) the trade of these illegal
drugs, and involves the use of military aid
and intervention.
The initiative includes a set of government
policies that are intended to discourage the
global production, distribution, and consumption
of certain psychoactive chemicals, that the
U.S. and other participating governments (particularly
countries of the UN) have deemed as illegal.
While other countries (like the UK and Australia)
enforce similar systems to the US, the specific
legal classification of certain drugs do differ.
The term "War on Drugs” was popularised
in the 1970's, when United States President
Richard Nixon declared that drug abuse was
"public enemy number one” of America and
formally launched the war on drugs to eradicate
illicit drug use.
Over the next couple of decades, particularly
under the Reagan administration, what followed
was the escalation of global military and
police efforts against drugs.
But in that process, the drug war also resulted
in unintended consequences that have proliferated
(or increased) violence around the world and
contributed to mass incarceration, particularly
in the US.
Furthermore, according to Human Rights Watch
(an American-founded international non-governmental
organisation that conducts research and advocacy
on human rights), the War on Drugs caused
soaring arrest rates that disproportionately
targeted African Americans (due to various
factors).
American politician John Ehrlichman (who was
counsel and Assistant to the President for
Domestic Affairs under President Nixon) actually
declared that Nixon used the war on drugs
to criminalise and disrupt both the black
and hippie communities, as well as their leaders.
During the first 9 years after Nixon coined
the expression "War on Drugs” and launched
his international campaign, statistics showed
only a minor increase in the total number
of those imprisoned in America.
However, after 1980, the situation began to
change drastically.
While the number of arrests for all crimes
rose by 28%, the number of arrests for drug
offenses rose 126%.
In 1994, the New England Journal of Medicine
reported that the "War on Drugs" resulted
in the incarceration of one million Americans
each year.
In 2008, the Washington Post reported that
of the 1.5 million Americans arrested each
year for drug offences, half a million would
be incarcerated.
In addition, one in five black Americans would
spend time behind bars due to drug laws.
This increased demand on the criminal justice
system was a catalyst in the development of
the privatised and for-profit prison industry
that exists in America today.
U.S. Federal and state policies also impose
collateral consequences on those convicted
of drug offenses, such as denial of public
benefits or licenses, which are not applicable
to those convicted of other types of crime.
Furthermore, penalties for drug crimes among
American youth almost always involve permanent
or semi-permanent removal from opportunities
for education, strip them of voting rights,
and later involve the creation of criminal
records which make employment more difficult.
Consequently, activists maintain that the
War on Drugs has resulted in the creation
of a permanent and cyclical underclass.
Consisting of people who have fewer educational
or job opportunities, often as a result of
being punished for drug offences, which have
resulted from attempts to earn a living in
spite of having no education or job opportunities.
Recently, the Drug Policy Alliance (a New
York City-based non-profit organisation),
which advocates for an end to the War on Drugs,
estimates that the United States spends $51
billion annually on drug war initiatives.
While policy experts still generally believe
that the drug war is working, by making the
illegal substances less accessible, many advocates
question whether this is actually true.
The official purpose of the "war on drugs"
is to reduce drug use by destroying and inhibiting
the international drug trade.
The desired effect is that illegal drugs will
become scarcer and costlier, therefore making
drug habits in the US unaffordable…
But data shows that drugs are actually getting
cheaper.
As tracked by the Office of National Drug
Control Policy (a United States federal agency),
the prices of most drugs have plummeted.
Between 1981 and 2007, the median bulk price
of heroin was down by roughly 93 percent,
and the median bulk price of powdered cocaine
was down by about 87 percent.
Between 1986 and 2007, the median bulk price
of crack cocaine fell by around 54 percent.
Although, the prices of meth and marijuana,
have remained largely stable since the 1980's.
A poll from October 2, 2008, found that three
in four Americans believed that the War On
Drugs was failing.
However, resistance towards the campaign is
not new, the war on drugs has been a highly
contentious issue since its inception.
Some of the fiercest opponents to the war
on drugs have been activist and conspiracy
investigators (or theorists), who have claimed
that the phrase "War on Drugs" is purely propaganda,
cloaking the extension of earlier military
or paramilitary operations.
Some conspiracy investigators have argued
that large amounts of "drug war" foreign aid
money, training, and equipment actually goes
to fighting insurgencies.
And is often provided to groups who themselves
are actually involved in large-scale narco-trafficking,
such as corrupt members of the Colombian military.
The law enforcement industry also receives
substantial funding for both policing and
imprisoning drug offenders.
According to a 2008 study published by Harvard
economist Jeffrey A. Miron, in the U.S. the
annual savings on enforcement and incarceration
costs from the legalisation of drugs would
amount to roughly $41.3 billion, with $25.7
billion being saved among the states and over
$15.6 billion spared from the federal government.
Conspiracy theorists have suggested that those
in the law enforcement industry who have profited
from these figures have worked to maintain
the drug wars implementation, particularly
through government advocacy and lobby groups
(of which there is plenty of publicly available
evidence of direct funding).
Some conspiracy theorists have also suggested
that governments appear to be using the drug
war as an excuse to grow and fund a law enforcement
force that is capable of effectively limiting
the freedoms of a large population.
As crime would drop substantially without
drug related offences and trafficking organisations.
Harvard economist Jeffrey A. Miron further
estimated that the U.S. government has deprived
itself of at least $46.7 billion in potential
tax revenue, a figure based on rates comparable
to those of tobacco and alcohol (which would
be approximately $8.7 billion from marijuana,
$32.6 billion from cocaine and heroin, with
the remainder from other drugs).
However, the legalisation of certain drugs
(like Marijuana) pose a direct threat to the
pharmaceutical industry, particularly concerning
chronic pain relief.
Conspiracy theorists have suggested that pharmaceutical
companies have worked to maintain the illegal
status of many drugs, particularly through
government advocacy and lobby groups (of which
there is again plenty of publicly available
evidence demonstrating direct funding).
Such conspiracy theories have been fuelled
by reports of the U.S. governments involvement
in related illegal activity.
The DEA, State Department, and several other
U.S. government agencies have all been alleged
to have had relations with various groups
involved in drug trafficking, although none
more so than the United States Central Intelligence
Agency (or CIA).
A number of conspiriacy investigators have
alleged that the CIA was involved in cocaine
trafficking during the 1980’s, when drug
related criminal arrests suddenly surged.
These claims have led to public investigations
by the United States government, including
hearings and reports by the United States
House of Representatives, Senate, Department
of Justice, and the CIA's Office of the Inspector
General.
The most notable allegation of CIA involvement
in drug trafficking, concerns their connection
to the Contra war in Nicaragua during the
Reagan Administration, who actually acknowledged
in 1986 that funds from cocaine smuggling
had helped finance the Contra rebels.
But the Reagan Administration also stated
that the illegal smuggling was not authorized
by the US government or resistance leaders,
although several theorists doubt the honesty
of these claims.
U.S. Senator John Kerry's 1988 Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations report (on Contra drug
links) concluded that members of the U.S.
State Department "who provided support for
the Contras are involved in drug trafficking...
and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly
receive financial and material assistance
from drug traffickers."
The report further states that "the Contra
drug links include (amongst other connections)...
payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State
Department of funds authorized by the Congress
for humanitarian assistance to the Contras,
in some cases after the traffickers had been
indicted by federal law enforcement agencies
on drug charges, in others while traffickers
were under active investigation by these same
agencies."
Allegations of CIA involvement in Contra cocaine
trafficking were further revived in 1996,
when a newspaper series by reporter Gary Webb
of the San Jose Mercury News claimed that
the trafficking had played an important role
in the creation of the crack cocaine drug
problem in the United States.
Webb's series led to three federal investigations,
however none of which found evidence of any
conspiracy by the CIA or its employees to
bring drugs into the United States.
Additionally, according to authors Alexander
Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, in order to
prevent Communist party members from being
elected in Italy following World War II, the
CIA worked closely with the Sicilian Mafia,
protecting them and assisting in their worldwide
heroin smuggling operations.
As the mafia was in conflict with leftist
groups and was involved in assassinating,
torturing, and beating leftist political organisers.
In June 2011, the Global Commission on Drug
Policy (who are a panel of world leaders and
intellectuals, with an administration based
in Geneva, Switzerland) released a critical
report on the War on Drugs, declaring that:
[quote] "The global war on drugs has failed,
with devastating consequences for individuals
and societies around the world.
Fifty years after the initiation of the UN
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and years
after President Nixon launched the US government's
war on drugs, fundamental reforms in national
and global drug control policies are urgently
needed.”
[end quote]
