A “Law and Order” approach is toxic for the War on Drugs. That anyone actually has to say (or write) this is staggering in 2017. Forty-five years into the War on Drugs and more than a trillion dollars spent kicking in doors, talking tough talk, and sentencing those with substance abuse issues to mandatory minimums has gotten us where we are today: nowhere closer to addressing America’s drug epidemic.
Politicians can talk all they want about sending troops to Mexico to “fix” the cartel situation, or their admiration for South American leaders who execute drug users as well as drug dealers all day. This is idiotic and, more to the point, evidences a total lack of understanding of America’s substance abuse problem. (Suggesting admiration for those who execute people with substance abuse problems, to be blunt, is beyond idiotic and unaware; it is to reveal oneself to be morally bankrupt and a reprehensible human being. And threatening to fix the cartel situation with military might appears to have emboldened the cartel, if anything.)
Political will is the fix. Addressing substance abuse as a public health issue, versus as a criminal justice issue, is critical towards making progress. Substantial overhauls to asset forfeiture law and sentencing reform are desperately needed. So long as prosecutors and police can make money (in the case of asset forfeiture) or their careers (in the case of sentencing) on locking up non-violent drug offenders, we can expect—no surprises here—more arrests of non-violent drug offenders and more people losing their homes, thousands of dollars, their vehicles, and more because they were caught with what are obviously personal use amounts of controlled substances.
As America’s substance abuse issue begins to makes its presence known among middle class white households, perhaps now politicians will care. This is an unpleasant truth, but I am far from the first person to suggest this (I am not even the first person this week to suggest this…) And, for a brief moment in 2016, we did hear people talking about sentencing reform and other criminal justice issues related to the War on Drugs.
I am not an expert, but I can tell you without question what we have done for the past 45 years has not worked well, if at all. It is time to end the War on Drugs, and the perverse treatment of people that goes with it.