War on Drugs, Research Paper Example

Introduction

This paper contrasts and compares the work of the National Drug Control Strategy with that of Anti-Drug Abuse Act 1986.  Both seek to deal with control and restriction of Drugs and Drug abuse in the USA.  The National Drug Strategy is a Federal program and has formed part of the Obama Administration political reform agenda, whereas the Act is more the legal perspectives applicable to dealing with the criminal elements associated with Drug control and law enforcement.

National Drug Control Strategy

The Obama Administration provided over 10 million $ on education programs to support access to drug treatment and improved health safety procedures. This was aimed at reducing the level of drug abuse in the USA. Drug abuse is impacting every level of US society and placing a strain on the financial well-being of the nation. Fig 1 illustrates the level of high importance the current administration has placed on tackling the drug control problem

Drugs remain at the forefront of an employer’s problem in dealing with employees that have an addiction problem. It is considered that the right to privacy relative to drug use does not outweigh the right of the employer, appropriate to whether such usage might impact the performance of the individual or the organization whilst at work. The employer has the legal obligation to provide a safe and environmentally clean workplace for its employees. This really rests at the legal and ethical responsibility of the employer and the regulations of the Company i.e. not to permit the use of drugs or alcohol whilst at work in consideration that this may be a danger to both the individuals and others in the workplace. (Harris, M. 2012).

The criminal justice systems response to the war on drugs might best be described as a failure. It has resulted in increasing the prison population beyond capacity limits. Many of the policy initiatives have been focused on Black Americans and essentially it has been trying to provide legal answers to what are really serious social problems.  It is interesting to note that approximately half a million heroin addicts land up in jail each year. A majority of those in jail do not receive medical treatment for their addiction. The World Health Authority issued guidelines that stated the prisons should offer appropriate medical treatment to addicts. It is clear that most prisons are not abiding by these guidelines. The addicts also eventually get released from jail without any referral to medication or health support.  This sees them back on the streets and resorting to criminal activities in order to feed the habit. Subsequently these people find themselves back in jail and so the vicious cycle continues. (World Health Authority, 2007)

The individual policies have had a minimum impact on society. This remains a critical problem for business today with some estimated $30 billion being lost in productivity owing to drug use and some $60 billion applicable to alcohol abuse. Those workers who had reported drug use missed more than two days per month at work and on average had more thanthree employers per year. “Out of 16.6 million drug users, 12.5 million (75%) are employed and out of 51.1 million binge drinkers 41 million (81%) were employed” (Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2012).

Anti Drug Abuse Act 1986

This law was enacted in October 1986 and the first significant law passed by Congress to deal with the war on drugs. This effectively changed the punitive system to deal with drug related crime in the USA. The Act was intended to close loopholes in the law and was widely referred to as “The Snitch Act”. The NAACP referred to the law as having some of the most severe legal rulings ever enacted.  This was introduced during the Nixon Presidency and the result has seen the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of people, cost many billion dollars and yet despite this there is no sustained solution in solving the drug problem.  (govtrack.us, 2012)

The Act was considered a punitive measure to stop and control the drug problem in the USA.  This contrasted to the National Drug Control Strategy, introduced by the Obama Administration that is much more geared to raising education and awareness of the public and focusing upon improved treatment regimes. The Drug Control Strategy in essence focused in on 7 core areas of responsibility and strategic direction setting:-

1. Building efforts to prevent drug abuse in the communities
2. Looking at early interventions in order to improve health care
3. Integration approaches in alignment of healthcare to recovery procedures
4. Eliminating the cycle of crime resulting from juvenile delinquency and imprisonment
5. Stopping drug trafficking and the manufacture of harmful drugs
6. Building international partnerships to deal with the problems at source
7. Building of improved education and information communication strategies in order to deal with localised drug use and its consequences(Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2012)

It was during the period of 1910-1930 that the Federal Government placed a series of laws to deal with drug abuse. It was the Harrison Act that resulted in a change of social attitudes towards prohibiting the use of certain narcotics.  (Butts, J.A. 2004).

Conclusions

The Federal Government has introduced a range of policies in order to help tackle the rising tide of substance abuse amongst juveniles in America. A lot of this has been focused around education and awareness policies within the local communities.  Federal resources in excess of $1.7 billion were requested to support the outreach and drug education programs in 2012.   This being an increase of over 8% on the 2010 allocation. The Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington DC identified two major prevention programs aimed at educating the youth. These being (1) National Youth Anti-drug media campaign – Aimed at community awareness programs in order to tackle the problem directly within local communities and (2) Drug Free Communities support program – Aimed at forming local coalition groups in the community to develop direct action plans that require localised solutions.  The program formed over 1,750 coalitions across the country with in excess of 9,000 support volunteers (Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2012)

References

govtrack.us. (2012, 10 15). H.R. 5729 (99th): Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. Retrieved from govtrack.us: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/99/hr5729

Harris, M. (2012, 7 10). Alcohol and drugs used in the workplace: issues, controversies and directions for future research. Retrieved from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4

Jeffrey A. Butts, J. R. (2004). Juvenile drug courts and teen substance abuse. Washington DC: Urban Institutes Press.

Office of National Drug Control Policy. (2012, 3 1). A Comprehensive Approach to Drug Prevention . Retrieved from Office of National Drug Control Policy: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/prevention-intro

World Health Authority. (2007). Preventing suicide in Jails and Prisons. Geneva: World Health Authority.