Drugs Needn't Be A Problem In America

Drugs Needn’t Be A Problem In America

Sara Severson

Do you know that when you send your child off to school, you’re confident that they won’t be asked to try drugs, won’t be kidnapped and won’t be caught in the crossfire of a drive by shooting? While many families in the United States can answer yes to this question, there are countless families that can’t. Everyday families across the nation live in fear that their children or even themselves won’t be making it home tonight. All people in the United States should be free; free to live their lives without fear, without worry, and to feel confident that our communities are a safe place for our children.

Drugs and violence seem to go hand in hand. If we get rid of one, the other will follow. So how do we rid the drug problem? The answer is not an easy one and there have been many good ideas and many attempts, but none so far have succeeded completely.

The amount currently being spent on the Drug Wars is in the upwards of $20-50 billion a year. The majority of the money, roughly 61%, is spent on criminal justice and authoritative prohibition. Prevention and treatment programs account for most of what’s left. Every year there is an increase of inmates incarcerated for drug use or dealing, so obviously the money used for criminal justice must be being used specifically for that purpose.

So great, people that are drug offenders are being arrested, locked up and treated. That is a good start, but has anyone ever thought to maybe prevent the drugs from reaching the streets in the first place? We need to stop the transportation. Some measures have been done to stop transportation from other countries in, but I think it should be an issue that is pushed harder. Ships and planes coming into America should be searched more thoroughly. Doing this would require more people and drug search dogs. I would think this a good thing, providing more jobs, not only for people, but canines as well. Ships and planes are not the only things that are in dire need of searching. Regular transportation vehicles should also be searched whether it be randomly or anything that looks suspicious. Any searches that can prevent drugs from getting closer to our children are ethical.

The stoppage of transportation into America is a key solution, however, if the production of drugs from outside countries were to be ceased, then we wouldn’t have to worry about any coming in. While this sound logical it is anything but easy to accomplish. Like all solutions, it would take money and lots of it. The cessation of drugs from outside countries, however, would take not only money, but foreign government cooperation. This task is not one to be taken on by amateurs, heck I wouldn’t even trust it in the hands of our current President, (George W. Bush). Hopefully our country will be in better hands this time around. With foreign government cooperation and proper tactics, halting foreign production could be executed.

Lets say we are able to stop the transportation and production of drugs from outside sources. Wonderful. What about the drugs being produced within our cities, within our communities? Fixing this problem becomes tricky because it is within our families space, our homes. Having more security, undercover officials and searches may or may not be the answer. Each individual community may have to band together and tackle the issues by ways that benefit that specific area. It will require strong leadership and support. Instead of being against law enforcement, help them help you. They can’t help those unwilling to be helped. People within small communities know where things are, but are afraid to say anything to the police, for they fear the possible consequences that might happen from those doing wrong. If a community can unite and stand together to take down the evil amongst them, courage, justice, and safety will result.

There is much debate on whether marijuana should be legalized or not. Arguments for the legalization are that marijuana never killed anyone, therefore, it should be legal. If marijuana was legalized, there may be a decline of interest in other “harsher” drugs. If available over the counter like cigarettes, there would be less of a demand for drug dealers. There are good and bad things about these thoughts. The problem with this argument is that they forget to mention all the people’s who lives have been ruined because of marijuana. The effects of the drug such as slowed thinking and problem solving skills, loss of coordination, and increased heart rate and blood pressure cause problems in daily life. Some of these effects can last for days and people are less inclined to work efficiently if they go to work at all, and definitely people smoking marijuana are not safe to drive. In California, they have legalized marijuana for medical purposes. I personally don’t see anything wrong with legalizing a drug if it is the only way a person that is sick can find relief, for the pain these people feel is so terrible, that most people can’t even fathom. However, anyone that abuses marijuana so bad that affects their daily lives, shouldn’t be using it.


There are many skeptics out there that feel it is too late to fix problematic communities and that they are beyond help. Call me an optimist, but I don’t believe this to be so. If there is any sort of hope at all, then problems can be rectified. Hope starts at home. It starts with our children. Too many children are not given the chance to be heard. Too many children are pushed along the wayside. It is time to start listening and getting involved in their lives for they are not the ones who will make the first move. It is extremely important that our children are taught to disapprove drugs and violence. They need good academic backgrounds so that they can succeed in life. I cannot stress how important education is for our children. Our future depends on it. Our children will make the decisions that decide the future, for they are the future. Without them, the drug problems in American will never cease to exist.