Should the U.S. Continue its War on Drugs?

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The current drug "control" system -- the war on drugs -- consists of two basic elements: the predominant role of criminal justice in all things having to do with marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and other prohibited drugs; and the presumption that any use of those drugs, whether harmful or not, is inherently immoral and must be eliminated by government coercion.

Drug war advocates evaluate policy almost solely according to whether the number of people who admit to using certain drugs rises or falls after the policy's implementation. This standard has two key flaws. Since it does not distinguish problematic from non-problematic drug use, it gauges very little about actual changes in harmful behavior or social well-being. More importantly, it fails to account for many of the most important social costs related to drugs: high levels of incarceration; violence generated by the criminal market; the preventable spread of HIV and other infectious disease; the denial of medical marijuana to the sick; and so on. These costs are often driven by drug war policies more than by drug use itself.

Drug policy reformers evaluate a policy by asking a range of questions about its actual effects, both intended and unintended. Would an increase in recreational marijuana use by adults indicate, in and of itself, a policy failure? Drug warriors would likely say yes. But what if that "failure" were accompanied by a decrease in incarceration, black-market crime, and a host of other social problems? Drug policy reformers, taking into account both the larger social picture and the strong scientific evidence that adult marijuana use is relatively benign, would probably answer no.

Policymakers should adopt a new bottom line in the war on drugs. One that concentrates more fully on reducing the harms associated with drug abuse, while ensuring that our drug policies do not exacerbate these harms or create new social problems. A good drug policy should reduce the negative consequences of both drug use and the drug war. It should reduce both drug addiction and the number of nonviolent drug offenders in prison. It should keep our streets safe and families together, reduce drug overdoses and wasteful government spending, and protect our kids and the Bill of Rights.