The Wisdom of the War on Drugs

Just as I don't think enough people question the fairness of making Division I college basketball and football players de facto professional athletes without compensating them adequately, I think too few people think about the costs and downsides that result from our country's War on Drugs.

This study from the Pew Center on the States is a few months old, but it offers some stunning findings: 1 in 100 adult Americans is in prison or jail; 1 in 9 African-American men between 20 and 34 is imprisoned or jailed; the number of people imprisoned in the U.S. (population of 300 million) is 50 percent greater than the number of people imprisoned in China (population of 1.3 billion); the U.S. imprisons its citizens at a greater rate than every other country in the world, including autocratic, draconian nations like Saudi Arabia and Iran (here's the link to the full study). As the Pew Center indicates, the main cause of these staggering statistics is the War on Drugs.

Just think about those numbers for a second. And, while you're doing so, remember that we're the land of the free. Remember that our country wants to live free or die. Think about all the financial resources that are devoted to the criminal justice system largely because of the War on Drugs that could be spent elsewhere: on education, on health care, on job training programs, on providing free or affordable day care for the working poor who have children, on developing more sustainable environmental practices, (I'll even throw a bone to any conservatives reading this) on transforming our military so that it can better counter asymmetrical threats, and on and on (by the way, the Pew study found that $55 billion per year is spent by the federal and state governments on jails and prisons).

Think about the human cost. Five, 10, 20 years, and even more of people's lives are being wasted in prison, and for what? Think, too, about how violent prison is and about what prisoners are subjected to while incarcerated. Now also remember that they can contribute little, if anything, to society while they are locked up. Certainly many have talents and skills that they would be able to employ were they free. And remember that many have children from whom they are separated while they are locked up. (Yes, I know that these prisoners were aware that their drug activities subjected them to possible imprisonment and that they should be held responsible for their actions, but I also think there are structural causes beyond their control -- such as slavery, segregation, and the terrible public education systems of most big cities -- as to why people from certain demographics and from certain neighborhoods are incarcerated at above average rates.)

Is there anyway to view the numbers from the Pew study and say that our War on Drugs is a success? Even if you agree with imprisoning people for non-violent drug offenses, do you really think it's a success when 1 in 100 adult Americans find themselves behind bars as a result?

Perhaps if the War on Drugs were resulting in the eradication of illegal drug use, it'd be worth the cost to maintain the existing drug law regime. But, do we have any indication that illegal drug use is close to being eliminated? Do we have any indication or reason to believe that in 10, 20, or even 30 years that illegal drug use will be eradicated? I think it'd only be wishful thinking to answer yes to either of these questions.

I think that the War on Drugs is a miserable failure, with tremendous costs that result in few benefits, and I think it's time for our nation to have a serious and honest debate about our drug laws. I don't know whether we should remove all prohibitions on drug use or simply alter the way we punish non-violent drug offenders. But, regardless of what we do, it's clear that what we're doing now is not working.