War on Drugs
Case study prepared Ann Nguyen Zach Polizzi
Questions
4.Look at the number of arrests compared to the number of drug related arrests. What percent of arrests are drug related?
5.Look at the number of drug related arrests compared to the number of violent and property related arrests. How much greater a percent of arrests are drug related? Reaction? 6.Look at the number of drug related arrests compared to the number of marijuana related arrests. What percent of drug related arrests are marijuana arrests? Reaction? 7.Is there any correlation with the number of sales arrests and the drug arrests each year? 8.Looking at the data, do you think the War on Drugs has been successful so far? 9.In what years do the numbers show spikes? Do all of the categories show the same pattern? Any other correlation? 10.Do you think the government should take any different action in the War on Drugs? Suggestions? |
OVERVIEW
The "War on Drugs" is a general term used to refer to the federal government's attempts to end the import, manufacture, sale, and use of illegal drugs. It's a colloquial term that does not refer in any meaningful way to a specific policy or objective, but rather to a series of antidrug initiatives that are vaguely directed towards the common goal of ending drug abuse. Human Cost of the War on Drugs:According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 55% of federal prisoners and 21% of state-level prisoners are incarcerated on the basis of drug-related offenses. This means that over a half million people are presently incarcerated as a result of antidrug laws--more than the population of Wyoming. The illegal drug trade also sustains gang activity, and is indirectly responsible for an unknown number of homicides. (The FBI's Uniform Crime Reports describe 4% of homicides as being directly attributable to the illegal drug trade, but it plays an indirect role in a much larger percentage of homicides.) |