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The War on Drugs, which was conducted from the 1980s to 1990s, is considered to be a massive failure in almost every way. It is also the reason why the USA is known for having the most prisoners in the world, even beating such countries as Russia and China ( Prison Studies Brief par. 3). This war, one of many unsuccessful wars waged in this country, proves to be unwinnable, no matter how many resources are funneled into the project (Kelley par. 1). Despite it being aimed to fight the drugs, the program did not cause any significant changes in the drug abuse rates in the US and only brought prison overpopulation, along with increased federal spending on sustaining these prisoners.
The history of the War on Drugs started in 1971 when president Nixon had declared drug abuse to be the public enemy number one (Engel par. 2). Ever since then, the USA has been allocating a large number of resources in order to combat drug trafficking and drug trade everywhere in the world. Under this doctrine, the US has been aiding the war effort in Colombia, supporting the pro-government administration against the guerrilla rebels of FARC, which are known to be involved in the illegal drug trade. The number of resources spent on this worldwide drug war was immense, but pointless, having brought little to no results at great expense.
Naturally, this war has affected the prison population and correctional facilities within the United States. Before 1971 the number of prisoners arrested for drug charges was relatively low. For every 100,000 people, there were barely more than a dozen prisoners convicted for drug dealing and trafficking. As of the year 1996, that number rose to around 150 (Engel par. 7). Right now, over fifty percent of the prison population is convicted for drug-related offenses, and the vast majority is there just for the keeping of drugs, not even distributing them (Miles par. 2).
At first, such a great increase in prisoners put the prison system at a strain. More resources needed to be allocated in order to build new prisons and expand the old ones. Managing large amounts of prisoners required the employment of more staff members and guards. The US spends over 74 billion dollars on its prison system per year (Kincade par. 1). Currently, the national system houses over two million inmates (Kincade par. 3). Prisons had become large businesses, since the penalties for drug abuse and drug keeping are high, meaning there will never be a shortage of prisoners, and thus no shortage in funding. Even the corporate sector started to cut in on this prospective market right now, around 10 percent of all prisons are private, with a yearly income of over 7.4 billion dollars a year (Kincade par. 11).
It is obvious that the War on Drugs ended up becoming a project meant to sustain itself, rather than fight drugs. Its purpose today is to provide the overly large prison and correction facility system with government funding by supplying a steady flow of inmates to replace the ones coming out or dying in captivity. According to the latest reports, the Obama administration is not planning to introduce drastic changes to this policy, meaning that the system is going to stay the same. It has become too big to change, and there are many people interested in it remaining the way it is (Cohen par. 1).
Works Cited
Cohen, Michael. How for-profit prisons have become the biggest lobby no one is talking about.
Engel, Pamela. How the War on Drugs Changed Americas Prison Population.
Miles, Kathleen. Just How Much The War On Drugs Impacts Our Overcrowded Prisons, In One Chart.
Kelley, Michael. The Ongoing Failure Of The US War On Drugs In One Map.
Kincade, Brian. The Economics of the American Prison System.
Prison Studies Brief 2016. Web.
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