America's War on Drugs Failed and It's Time to Focus on Demand

The war on drugs in the United States has been a failure that has ruined lives, filled prisons and cost a fortune. It started during the Nixon administration with the idea that, because drugs are bad for people, they should be difficult to obtain. As a result, it became a war on supply.As first lady during the crack epidemic, Nancy Reagan tried to change this approach in the 1980s. But her "Just Say No" campaign to reduce demand received limited support.Over the objections of the supply-focused bureaucracy, she told a United Nations audience on Oct. 25, 1988: "If we cannot stem the American demand for drugs, then there will be little hope of preventing foreign drug producers from fulfilling that demand. We will not get anywhere if we place a heavier burden of action on foreign governments than on America's own mayors, judges and legislators. You see, the cocaine cartel does not begin in Medellín, Colombia. It begins in the streets of New York, Miami, Los Angeles and every American city where crack is bought and sold."Her warning was prescient, but not heeded. Studies show that the U.S. has among the highest rates of drug use in the world. But even as restricting supply has failed to curb abuse, aggressive policing has led to thousands of young drug users filling American prisons, where they learn how to become real criminals.  Continue reading...

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