Insanity
Subtitle: four decades of U.S. counterdrug strategy
By: Lieutenant Colonel Michael F. Walther
Contributors: Army War College (U.S.). Strategic Studies Institute
Series: Carlisle paper; Carlisle papers in security strategy
Publisher: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Carlisle, PA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 45
ISBN-13: 9781584875611
Subjects: Drug control; Costs; History
Other titles: Four decades of US counterdrug strategy; Four decades of United States counterdrug strategy
Description: In the 4 decades since President Richard Nixon first declared war on drugs, the U.S. counterdrug strategy has remained virtually unchanged -- favoring supply-reduction, law enforcement and criminal sanctions over demand-reduction, treatment, and education. While the annual counterdrug budget has ballooned from $100 million to $25 billion, the availability of most illicit drugs remains at an all-time high. The human cost is staggering -- nearly 40,000 drug-related deaths in the United States annually. The societal impact, in purely economic terms, is now estimated to be approximately $200 billion per year. The global illicit drug industry now accounts for 1 percent of all commerce on the planet -- approximately $320 billion annually. Legalization is almost certainly not the answer; however, an objective analysis of available data confirms that: 1) the United States has pursued essentially the same flawed supply-reduction strategy for 40 years; and, 2) simply increasing the amount of money invested each year in this strategy will not make it successful. Faced with impending budget cuts and a future of budget austerity, policymakers must replace the longstanding U.S. counterdrug strategy with a pragmatic, science-based, demand-reduction strategy that offers some prospect of reducing the economic and societal impacts of illicit drugs on American society.
Notes: "December 2012."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 17-45).
Table of contents: title: The Nixon and Ford administrations : 1969-77; title: The Carter administration : 1976-80; title: The Reagan administration : 1981-89; title: The George H. W. Bush administration : 1989-93; title: The Clinton administration : 1993-2001; title: The George W. Bush administration : 2001-09; title: The Obama administration : 2009-; title: Proposal for an armistice : ending the insanity.