The War On Drugs & Why We Aren't Winning!

 

Today, the United States along with many other countries across the globe are waging an assault on drugs. This assault has taken countless lives, cost billions of dollars but we seem to remain steady in our resolve to continue to wage this war on illegal drugs.  I will admit right now there are smarter people than me right now all over this great planet of ours, but till to this day no one has ever answered me this question, who is the enemy in this war, and are we winning? I believe that being able to answer these two questions are essential to finding a winning strategy in this war much of the globe is engaged in. Unfortunately, I am afraid that nobody has answered my question not because I haven't found the right person but rather that there are no true answers.

The term war is used very broadly especially inside of the United States. Wikipedia declares war as [an openly declared state of organized violent conflict,^[1][2] typified by extreme aggression, societal disruption, and high mortality.^[1] ] In reality there are quite a few ways that we as a society use the term war, for example during football season my Baltimore Ravens go to "war" with the much hated Pittsburgh Steelers twice during the season, and hopefully once more during the post season. Now that I live in Baltimore, it's hard for me to say that people living in the city do not see this sporting event as a war. Here's my point the term war has various meanings especially today. Yet, despite the various definitions there remains characteristics of war that remain. One being that there is an enemy and two there is a winner and a loser.

I would like to argue that the war on drugs has neither and that calling it a war is incorrect because it truly isn't a war with winners or an identifiable enemy. Though there are no winners there are plenty of losers, with that being U.S. the citizens. Whether you do illegal drugs or not, you pay the price for this war.