According to DEA estimates we capture less than 10 percent of all illicit drugs. White people buy most of the illegal drugs in this country. Yet, seventy four percent of those receiving prison sentences for drug possession are African-American and other minorities. It is estimated that 77 million U.S. citizens have tried an illicit drug at least once.
Drug use is an acknowledged fact of life in every prison in the country.
Fifty-two federal judges, the district attorney of San Francisco, The mayor of Baltimore, the vast majority of prison wardens, and numerous other respected officials consider the war on drugs an abject failure. More than a few important Americans are opposed to the drug war. Explain why supporting a failed policy of drug law enforcement has a greater priority than student loans or drug education programs. The modern drug war began in the 1960s, and for thirty five years it has failed to reduce drug access to school-aged children. Drug prohibition has been one of the biggest U.S. domestic policy failures of the late twentieth century.