After class today I read a story on
PBS dedicated to the war on drugs (see link below) and was interested to see
how they depicted the ongoing issue. In one section of the report, there is a
detailed account of “the warriors” of the war on drugs. This includes a
description of many of the leading figures in the war, many of whom were US
attorneys or DEA agents who were responsible for “x” many arrests and seizing “y”
amount of drugs and assets. I found it interesting that they were portrayed as
heroes or warriors of this program that for 30 years now has made no progress
in the way of drug use/sale prevention. I thought what is the war being fought
for if not to elevate these officers and put money in their pockets?
Similarly, the documentary “The
House I live in” left me with many questions about the war on drugs. What
inspired the war on drugs? Why was this prioritized as America’s number one
enemy? What other major problems (murder, violence, sexual abuse, etc.) have
worsened as a result? And mostly, how did the militarized approach to the drug
war affect the success of the mission? As we mentioned at the end of class,
David Simon, producer of the wire said something to the effect of, “What
problems we didn’t have before, the drug war created them.” It seems as if the
problem of drugs in the US was only exacerbated by the fact that there were militarized
and systematic arrests, raids and seizures dedicated to the “problem” of drugs.
Before watching the film today I
thought the argument in Economist article “How to stop drug wars” seemed slightly
irresponsible and impractical. While I’m still unsure how successful the total legalization
of drugs would be, this option seems more viable to me after watching the
documentary. Given the system of benefits and the highly militarized culture of
the drug war, it seems to me as if there should be a reassessment of American
“enemies”. What did others think about the Economist’s argument? Should the US
stop fighting the war on drugs all together?
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