Illegal Drugs Essay, Research Paper

Goals – In order to solve the problem of drugs in this country, supporters want to inplement programs by stepping up enforcement of already existing drug laws and enforcing new ones. The war on drugs, should eventually become a responsibility shared by the federal, state, and local governments, along with every citizen of this country. This approach wants to eradicate drugs completely from the United States.

Strategies – The first thing that should be done using this approach, is to strengthen criminal laws so that law enforcement officials can do the job they’ve been hired to do. The government must hire more police officers to put on the streets and build many more prisons. This will cost money, but supporters are willing to pay that price for drugs to be removed from our society. Supporters also believe that there should be mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug dealers and users. Especially since offenders only serve one third of their sentenced prison terms. What lesson are they learning with less prison time and no substance abuse counseling?

Programs – The individuals in the community must also work together though in order for all of this to work. For instance; people should support school locker searches, random drug tests, and neighborhood watch programs. Implementing these programs may be hard at first, but with support people believe that they can help the drug problems in America.

Pros – If this choice worked as it claims, the crime rate would decrease. Since a third of all crime is commited under the influence of illegal drugs and a large number of people commit crimes to support their drug habits.

Cons – This approach wants ‘zero tolerance’ but the government can’t possibly lock up every offender. The overcrowning of prisons would be even worse that it is now. Which would turn out to be extremely costly in the long run and may not even work. Offenders could get out of jail in a number of years and still crave drugs, or even worse: be a tougher criminal.

Tradeoffs – Spending more money would be necessary to build more prisons and implement suggested measures. Some people are willing to pay the higher taxes or have less funding in other areas; but yet others are not.

Implied Values – People backing this choice believe that illegal drugs are destroying this country and that it can’t be tolerated any longer. They also think that if the nation curtails the supply of drugs, that people won’t be albe to sell them, use them, or abuse them.