The Other War America Is Losing

The war on drugs. $500 billion so far and the results are negligible:

""All told, the United States has spent an estimated $500 billion to fight drugs - with very little to show for it. Cocaine is now as cheap as it was when [Pablo] Escobar died [in 1993] and more heavily used. Methamphetamine, barely a presence in 1993, is now used by 1.5 million Americans and may be more addictive than crack. We have nearly 500,000 people behind bars for drug crimes - a twelvefold increase since 1980 - with no discernible effect on the drug traffic. Virtually the only success the government can claim is the decline in the number of Americans who smoke marijuana - and even on that count, it is not clear that federal prevention programs are responsible."

What the article doesn't discuss is how the war on drugs has worked to erode our constitutional rights, nor does it discuss the creeping militarization of our police. It does discuss the reluctance of many to engage in the non-sexy work of treating drug addicts and working to reduce the demand for drugs. It does discuss how the "lock `em up" strategies have largely failed miserably.