SIRS Leading Issue: The U.S. War on Drugs

SIRS Issues Researcher provides a variety of Leading Issues that focus on Drug Control including Drug Legalization; International War on Drugs; Marijuana Legalization; Medical Marijuana; U.S. War on Drugs.

Assign students a different issue from those listed above. Let students decide whether to support a Pro or Con position.

Essential Question: Should the U.S. end its war on drugs by decriminalizing and regulating drugs?

Summary: The War on Drugs is a federal initiative launched by President Nixon in the 1970s. It consumes an estimated $75 billion per year of public money, exacts an estimated $70 billion a year from consumers, is responsible for nearly 50 per cent of the million Americans who are today in jail. It also occupies an estimated 50 per cent of the trial time of our judiciary and takes the time of 400,000 policemen.

Despite all this effort and expense, there has been no significant progress, nor is there any prospect for progress in the future.

There is a wide range of choice in drug-policy options between the free-market approach and the zero-tolerance approach. These options fall under the concept of harm reduction. That concept holds that drug policies need to focus on reducing crime, whether engendered by drugs or by the prohibition of drugs. And it holds that disease and death can be diminished even among people who can't, or won't, stop taking drugs. This pragmatic approach is followed in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, and parts of Germany, Austria, Britain, and a growing number of other countries.

The increasing drug problems and significant budget deficits caused by the recession have pressured many states such as California to consider legalization of drugs. This would decrease drug enforcement costs and increase revenues by taxing the sale of legalized drugs as is presently done with sales of alcohol.

Developing Basic Knowledge: Let your student know about SIRS new Timelines feature that provides an historical perspective on drug enforcement and legalization efforts of the past to help students see how efforts were made in the past to solve this problem that persists to the present.

Organizing Information: Show your students SIRS new Notes Organizer tool and how they can use copy/paste techniques to create an outline and graphically present their selections of significant information and citations that best supports their position on the issue.

Synthesizing Information: Students should then use these tools to write a report of at least 150 words or a presentation of at least seven slides that cites at least three resources.

Students will need to address three or more of the following essential questions for critical thinking (you can add or substitute others):

• What is the current strategy in the war on drugs?
• Is the strategy working: why or why not?
• What are the advantages of legalizing drugs?
• What are the disadvantages of legalizing drugs?
• What would you do if you were in charge of the War on Drugs and why?

SPREAD THE WORD | DATABASE TOOLKITS @ PROQUEST