war on drugs is either not doing or making worst.

To thoroughly understand the war on drugs, one must investigate its history and the history of drugs. In the 19th century, the drugs used in medicine, tonics, and consumer products contained now-illega

A sane drug Policy. Progressive. October 1999. (www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1295/10_63?55983180/print.jhtml)

r is paying for the incarcerating of the drug users/dealers. Total arrests for drugs have reached more than 1,000,000 a year. The number of the total occupants of the jails has risen, with more than eighty percent of the increase due to drug convictions. “Sixty-three percent of federal prisoners and twenty-one percent of state prisoners are drug offenders” (Progressive). All together, the number of incarcerated offenders totals 271,000 in 1997, ten times the number in 1981. The cost of housing the inmates isn’t cheap either. In California, it cost approximately $21,470 a year to house an inmate. As was the case after the 21 Amendment, the legalizing of drugs would decrease the number of inmates, because the selling and possessing of drugs would be allowed.

l substances. Then the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 required the listing of all ingredients in medical products. Later, the Harrison Narcotic Act, a taxing measure, attained legal control over opium and cocaine users and distributors. Sure, this gesture of forming commercial and medical standards seemed progressive for the somewhat newly established United States. But the true backing for the prohibition came from a less-than-honest motive. The truth is that the taxing and forbidding of narcotics came from an inflamed fear of minorities and foreigners. “Opium was associated with the Chinese. In 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act targeted Mexican immigrants (Shenk).” “Cocaine is often the incentive to the crime and rape by the Negroes,” warned Theodore !

Likewise, the medical world would be changed with the legalization of drugs. First, we would note that purer drugs would be used. Case in point, during alcohol prohibition in the 1920’s, more concentrated and potent forms of alcohol were made to enable easier transporting. Likewise, the alcohol was diluted by dangerous ways. If drugs were legalized, the FDA would monitor the production and purity of drugs, thus ensuring safety. Second, the cases of AIDS would decrease if drugs were legalized. “Drug vendors and health care organizations would be able to provide clean needles for their customers and patients, respectively” (Cussen). Sharing of intravenous needles accounts for twenty-five percent of AIDS cases. The distributing of needles would decrease the cost of health care of AIDS patients for independent providers including Medicare.

prohibition, since many citizens had personal experience with drinking for medicine, recreational, and religious reason. Unfortunately, drug prohibition continues becaus

Some common words found in the essay are:
Nat Hentoff, Hoffman-La Roche, Bush Administration, Robert Rubin, Federal Government, Theodore Roosevelt’s, Justice Statistics, Narcotic Act, Latino Minorit, Cussen Sharing, war drugs, legalizing drugs, alcohol prohibition, drugs legalized, drug prohibition, drugs decrease, goes taxpayers told, fourth amendment, drug free, drug goes, whites hispanics, drug goes taxpayers,
Approximate Word count = 1833
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)