United States War on Drugs: Addicted to a Political Strategy of No End

摘要

The drug war has failed to achieve conditions that reduce the influence of illicit drugs abroad or at home. The National Drug Control Strategy is the U.S. President's policy document that outlines the administration's plan to reduce the influence of illegal drugs. The monograph addresses trend analysis of drug control programs since 1993 and explores emerging indicators on drug war policy from the new Bush Administration. Domestically, rather than a significant reduction in the use of illegal drugs, the nation has experienced increases in both purity and availability. Internationally, the net result of the strategy has been an ever-increasing fiscal outlay for supply reduction programs as the illegal drug industry moved from one source country to another. Additionally, more resources were allocated to source countries to maintain supply reduction success. Finally, the drug strategy required more U.S. money to address the next source country's problem. Using principles of economic theory, the cocaine supply market would not exist were it not for the demand. It would appear that profits from the U.S. demand outweigh the risks associated with illegal production. If this researcher could come to this conclusion with vast amounts of public accessed data, why has the preponderance of fiscal resources gone to supply reduction rather than demand reduction. The research question is of interest to a student of operational art. For his understanding that policy formulation for national drug control is primarily an extension of political will. The military planner must understand the reality that the tactics of elections is driving the strategic formulation of policy. The get-tough approach represented by source country interdiction is easier politically to present to a nation that has grown accustomed to politically-correct rhetoric.