James McCollum

Professor Benton

English 102

26 September 2011

Informative Proposal: All Drugged Up

            “One day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called.  I said at once ‘The Unnecessary War’.”  If Sir Winston Churchill only knew how many wars his quote actually described he would probably become sick to his stomach.  Ask Americans currently between the ages of 18 and 50 what the most significant war has been that they have been alive for and the answers will come back quite varied.  Responses might include the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and even the War on Terror currently in process in the Middle East.  The importance of these wars can be argued until their respective generals turn over in their graves, but I would argue that every single one of these wars rivals in comparison to the War on Drugs. But I digress; a paper of that sort can come only after a general understanding of the War on Drugs has been achieved, and as such will be saved for another occasion.

            War is a topic of vast importance to every citizen of the United States; and it is a topic that is often times greatly underestimated.  One might argue that war, in every situation, is in some way avoidable.   As a citizen, it should be understood that taxes are essentially unavoidable, and the realization that taxes have funded every major war that the U.S. has been involved in should not be a hard on to make.  This fact has never been truer than with the War on Drugs, and as a taxpaying member of society it is important to understand exactly what those hard earned tax dollars are financially supporting. 

            The man who coined the phrase “War on Drugs” is none other than the 37^th president of the United States, Richard Milhous Nixon.  President Nixon is tied to quite a few historic moments in this nation’s history.  His presidency saw the end of the draft, witnessed the first lunar landing by American astronauts, and is even linked to the infamous Watergate scandal. (The Nixon Library and Museum)  Arguably more important than all of those was the establishment of the Drug Enforcement Administration in 1973, and his declaration for “an all-out global war on the drug menace”.  (Drug Enforcement Administration)  With that quote, Nixon slapped a name on what has amounted to a 40+ year war on substances deemed useless or illegal by the United States government. 

            This year alone, the Unites States has spent over $30 billion in tax dollars on the War on Drugs since the 1960’s (While the phrase War on Drugs was coined in the 70’s, preventing a national drug problem began in the early to mid 60’s.).    That number is growing at an estimated rate of $500 per second, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing any time soon. (Media Awareness Project)  Those numbers alone should be enough to send out an alarm to the American public and raise a few questions.  What exactly is the War on Drugs?  Is this global drug war working?  If the numbers do in fact point to the contrary, why has there been no change?  What can be expected in the future?  I hope to answer all of these questions concerning such an impactful subject.  The War on Drugs has impacted more lives that statistics could begin to estimate, and the time to be informed is now. 

Bibliography

Drug Enforcement Administration. www.justice.gov. September 2011. 26 September 2011 <http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/history/1970-1975.html>.

Eldredge, Dirk Chase. Ending the War on Drugs: A Solution for America. Bridgehampton: Bridge Works Publishing Company, 1998.

Fish, Jefferson M. Drugs and Society: U.S. Public Policy. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006.

Media Awareness Project. Drug Sense. September 2011. 26 September 2011 <http://www.drugsense.org/cms/wodclock>.

Meier, Kenneth J. The Politics of Sin: Drugs, Alcohol, and Public Policy. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe Inc., 1994.

The Nixon Library and Museum. www.nixonlibrary.gov. August 2006. 26 September 2011 <http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/thelife/apolitician/thepresident/index.php>.

Note: All listed books are possible sources for the upcoming paper.