Is the ‘War on Drugs’ Over? Arrest Statistics Say No

Weed has never been an addictive drug. You don't solve the crack-epidemic with more police & more for-profit prisons (or privatization of the prison system), you treat addictive drugs as they are..a health crisis. Nixon & Reagan criminalized weed, & punished non-violent crack-addicts as criminals, so they could help mass incarcerate African American women & men (mostly men, many fathers), & create income for private companies involved in prisons, instead of investing in treatment centers. We have to legalize weed, & compensate/invest in the African Americans whose lives were destroyed by not being able to afford bail & hurting their job prospects by having a record for drug possession in the first place.WOD also cut funding from social programs like mental health centers, the education system etc. Trickle Down economics hurt the white majority, whatever hurts the White majority historically & repeatedly hurts Black Americans even worse by default. Before the WOD & police militarization, Northern states segregated African Americans into the ghettos, from quality-infrastructure Urban areas & the Suburbs in the 20th century. Both of the latter only being for White Americans. Contributing to the large economic & equity disparity between White & Black Americans. The GreatMigration, the ghettos were designed to heighten poverty & thus contribute to Black violent crime within their areas. Also, Whites beat AA in rape crime,& other crime like drugs, tend to be the same between races

I wish that people would stop selling, and using drugs, but I know that no matter what we do, this will never stop. I wish it was possible to stop.

Drug arrests are up - even when it's not a drug https://nypost.com/2019/11/05/massive-marijuana-shipment-confiscated-by-nypd-is-legal-hemp-business-owner/?fbclid=IwAR3IgEnN0I5u8oC6WvImB62xJi5RcSRsDVbDYHjBfEEzXJr8lIMKVG-J3Hg

It's good to see so many comments in favor of legalization. But if we really want to end the madness, it has to ending the prohibition of all drugs, that means all drugs not just marijuana, even if marijuana is a good start. The history of drug prohibition proves that it does not decrease overall drug consumption but only increases dangerous consumption and fosters greater economic inequality, suffering, and crime syndicates. We need OTC for all drugs people want, as a side-effect this will decrease drug consumption but more than that will guarantee safer consumption, decrease the power of drug cartels, and help to decrease economic inequality.

War on Drugs aka crimes against humanity. I dare the readers here to look up the definition of crimes against humanity and see for themselves.

Of everything this article mentions, the most glaring point is that a MAJORITY support legalization and yet most states still criminalize it. This should bother everybody, even those who are against legalization because it is a clear sign that democracy has failed and continues to fail in this country. The interests of consevative incumbents and the prison industrial complex trumps that of the will of the people. and therin lies the biggest problem of it all.

Just stop this madness! Stop!

I said to someone recently if we legalized drugs and made guns illegal the world would be a much better place.

Time for "jury nullification?" Or wait until the laws are changed. People, you have a choice here.

With the proliferation of state run lotteries, our government is now the number one bookie in the country. With the continuing legalization of marijuana the government is becoming the biggest drug dealer in our country. Next we will have government run brothels. The real questions we should be asking ourselves if so we want the government to encourage these types of behavior?

How about this the police state uses drug laws to finance their own existence .The End

Federal drug policy continues to be a disgrace. When listening to the Democratic candidates I await the day when one stands up and announces he/she's for legalizing marijuana, and decriminalizing meth, cocaine, and heroin. That world appears decades away. In the meantime why do articles like this surprise anyone?

Can we stop already with the marijuana and concentrate on the lethal drugs, heroin, fentanly, OxyContin, cocaine, crack, and the criminals who make and push this stuff?

The bipartisan call to treat drug addiction as a health issue rather than a crime only seems to be true when the drug addicts are white. Poor black and brown drug addicts are still treated as criminals.

I would expect police to concentrate on the easiest way to increase numbers of arrests and convictions even if there are no explicit quotas for arrests. And behavior of drug users probably makes it pretty easy to arrest them. Either different directions to police or smarter drug users could change this. I suspect different directions to police (or a change in laws about some types of drug possession and use) would be easier to achieve.

This is a money maker for police departments, judicial systems and municipalities. Nothing more. The numbers of arrests look good on their stats for fighting crime and the fines incurred keep the whole thing humming along.

You can't just count the arrests, without controlling for population (i.e., the population is increasing at the same time the arrests are). Rather, you have to do it on a per capita basis, which is obviously going to flatten that curve. Would like to see this analysis with the correct statistical models.

"Although many arrests don’t result in conviction — some are dismissed and some result in pleas to a lesser offense..." more details please. it sounds like police want to arrest people, but many prosecutors/courts do not want to try the drug cases. if so, this behavior surely varies by jurisdiction. what are examples of lesser offenses? loitering? public intoxication? trespassing? what are their fines? (note: fines, not jail sentences). ... “In 2018, there were 663,367 [reported] arrests [in the US] involving marijuana, up from 659,700 in 2017, nearly 92 percent of them for possession.” ...out of a population of millions. it does not sound like a war, more like a skirmish. ... “Meanwhile, arrests for violent crime and property crime have continued to trend downward.” the article should have been about this more interesting trend.

Tobacco & alcohol are schedule I & II controlled substances by definition in the CSA, yet these physically & psychologically addicting hard drugs (tobacco & alcohol are the most deadly & dangerous of all drugs, including opiates) are unconstitutionally exempt [21 U.S.C. § 802(6)] from the CSA in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The federal government must either: 1) classify & regulate: tobacco; alcohol; coffee; and cannabis as the schedule I; II; V; and V (not I) controlled substances these drugs are by definition in the CSA; or, 2) repeal the CSA and abolish the DEA.

This forever war needs to end!

Nixon's "war on drugs" was lost last century, but still goes on today, destabilizing Mexico and some South American countries while enriching drug cartels and US gangs, just like Prohibition enriched the Mafia here. Hopefully, someday Congress will stop trying to legislate mortality.

This afternoon, a FedEx truck with a guy in the passenger seat drove past me as I took a walk, and the distinctive stench of marijuana wafted in its wake. Later, a young couple strolled past me, and their marijuana stink lingered along the whole stretch of sidewalk. If these people were drinking as they drove and walked, they'd be breaking the law. As it is, people seem free to get high in public and foul the air. Yeah, some trucks stink from lousy engines and filters, and the tenement down the block has a faulty incinerator, but that's not the point. At least alcoholics don't blow me over as they walk by.

Less violence and robberies? This leaves the Police with little to do. Or is it the FBI? Anyway, if they were busy with more important tasks, they might not even have time for this. But asset-forfeiture is easy money compared to catching spies, or bank robbers. Especially if there's an informer (who gets 10%, by the way).

Legalize, regulate and tax cannabis. Win.Win.Win. Someone tell the the right-wing police-prosecutor-prison industrial complex that Dark Ages are over. Don't the police have any serious crimes to solve ? Shameful American puritanism and reefer madness.

This article presents some compelling data, which I sincerely appreciate. I was personally surprised to see that arrests for marijuana possession have gone up as there seems to be a national tide in favor of legalization and/or decriminalization. I do think that these data leave out key explanations as to why Hispanics and African American men are so often arrested for drug possession. First, people of color inhabit high-crime areas, where there is a significant and aggressive police presence. I live next to a housing project and there is almost regularly a police car parked in front. I imagine this is because there are shootings every few months and occasionally a murder, not to bust a kid with a joint. (Marijuana is decriminalized in my city, regardless). In addition, the data also fail to note who is doing the violent drug dealing (disproportionately people of color), so a drug bust will inevitably lead to the arrest of the drug dealer and the drug purchaser (a person of color). This will skew the data. Again, these data are helpful, but do not paint a clear picture. Something that might seem like racism very well could have other explanations.

The war on drugs is a sad painful joke. So the state is going to save you from your drug problem by completely ruining your life with virtually no possibility of getting back on your feet. Sounds like the cure is worse than the disease. The only way to deal with the drug problem is to quasi legalize recreational drugs and provide meaningful help for those that want to quit. Legalization would have to include a nation wide network to track usage. All drugs should be under the guidance and control of the FDA to approve legal safe production of recreational drugs. People have to get over their outrage over recreational drugs. Drugs aren't a good thing but the outrage is out of proportion to the damage that drugs do. Most of the damage relates to its illegality and not the inherent nature of the drug. New Zealand passed similar laws but they were eventually shut down by the moral outrage police. Better to have drug users die from overdoses and tainted drugs than admit that drugs are here to stay. It's conceivable that the entire global drug problem was caused by the war on drugs. It's very possible that instead of reducing drug use, it has made the drug problem worse, making drugs cheaper and more available than ever before.

It’s the last gasp of an archaic and conservative law enforcement system that makes a profit off of putting people in jail. Communities use law enforcement as a cash cow for their budgets. They care not that we incarcerate more people than any country on earth. The irony is that marijuana is so much safer than alcohol yet the ‘reefer madness’ mindset persists in some places. Eventually marijuana will be made legal by the federal government and the stigma will finally end. Change takes time.

The drug farce stumbles along - laws ruining lives more than drugs, while the hard drug causing the most death and social wreckage, is not even mentioned, and in in fact enjoys a kind of "affirmative action" program all it's own. Alcohol, somehow escaping the drug label it owns, is the grease of society, pillar of the Catholic church, and with its camouflage existence, escapes the public wrath and hand cuffs far safer drugs endear daily.

The article reports that legalization of cannabis is highly popular. Ask yourself why it isn't legal in NY or NJ. What makes your politicians hang onto these retrograde, unfair and senseless laws? Could it be that they like having a tool to harass minorities and young folk? Why is it OK to destroy countless lives for nothing?

Curious how many of these arrests lead to asset forfeiture? This is a profit center for police departments

The politicians forcing US taxpayers to spend billions on an irrational and destructive "war" should be identified and held accountable. The money could be used much more productively to serve and protect our country.

That would be The War on (Some) Drugs. If yer' drug is produced by a corporation, yer' pretty much Good To Go. Smoke a pack of Winstons, knock back yer' evening six-pack of Bud Lites, drop a couple of Xanax for relaxation? No prob. Smoke a doobie - Eeeek! Reefer Madness!

Americans need something to blame on the failings of others, and historically drugs and alcohol have been a great tool for explaining the moral failings of other people -- especially other people you don't like. The old joke is that an alcoholic is somebody you don't like who drinks as much as you. We even managed to ban and criminalize alcohol consumption, but when that failed miserably we moved onto to other drugs, conveniently ones most commonly used by minorities, such as heroin and marijuana. Now that opiate use has been somewhat normalized by modern medicine (and not entirely illegitimately -- we often withheld pain relief believing we were ruining moral character by risking addiction), it's become harder to use it as a means of criticizing others. It's not as obviously identifiable with undesirables and minorities. Legalizing marijuana has gone a long way to eliminating this as a symptom of moral failure, but in states where it is still illegal the "never legalize" types still push outdated and incorrect tropes about marijuana and the police still use it as a crutch to intimidate undesirables. You can look no further to the moral panic on vaporizers to see how society is still looking for a means of identifying and blaming moral failures on substance use.

I don't like marijuana anymore than I like the Taliban. But, in both cases, we have demonstrated that militarized opposition does nothing except grow the military-criminal justice state. Could that be the real point?

The "war on drugs" is an enormous enterprise with loads of money sloshing around. Everyone from local police forces to the prison-industrial complex benefits, including all the ancillary suppliers and the politicians who can use it to show how tough they are on crime. As with all situations where deeply entrenched interests profit enormously from the status quo, it will not go away quietly. See also our for-profit health care system.

Who has ever heard someone say,"I know I have a substance abuse problem, I think I'll go down to the police department and see if they can help me."? No one. Drug and alcohol abuse is a medical problem, and needs to be left to health professionals, not to divert precious police resources into the long standing failed attempts to dictate good behavior.

While there have been a few improvements, the continuation of the war on drugs won't end until we quit letting politicians and police to get away with a little window-dressing around a very ugly problem and then call that reform. The arrest numbers prove the essential lies that the public has been offered. Want cannabis to REALLY be legal? Then treat it no differently than alcohol, which is a far more dangerous drug that happens to be far more culturally acceptable to police, judges, and the like. Yet on the cusp of legalization of cannabis, our local (Dem, no less!) prosecutor insists she's still got plenty of passion to continue to use every legal device possible to use against what she insists on calling a "dangerous" drug. And she may well get away with it, as Illinois will have some of the more restrictive legalization laws. No home grow will be allowed except for medical patients who will be allowed a wholly inadequate 5 plants more than 5" tall. One suspects this is designed as much to maximize tax collection and limit competition to those few authorized to profit through growing and distribution. Thus the state has a fiscal interest in cannabis being sort of legal. It will not only collect taxes, but will likely have just as much income from fines, etc as before. This is more scam than good policy, as it also keeps prices high which supports blackmarket weed. Want to drive it away? Then by policy drive prices DOWN - low taxes, home grow allowed, etc.

The war on drugs has given us a deadly black market, drug cartels, laced products, 24/7 access for children, mass arrests, the largest prison population on earth, tens of millions of destroyed lives, cou tless families ripped apart, and to what end? Drugs are everywhere. No one single person is unable to use any drug they want. Any time they want. Even in prison. We basically destroyed our own country, for nothing. It is insane.

Assuming a reasonable desire to address what many saw as the very negative effects of mushrooming drug use allowed legal prohibitions in, what, as with medicines, the side effects? There is ample evidence enforcement has resorted to planting drugs in situations where either technical problems or prejudicial attitudes apply. In some cases this will result in a violation of justice, in others perhaps flag a malefactor, perhaps resulting in eliminating more serious problems down the road.

We don't classify Alcohol related arrests as drug crimes, though I would guess the number would be substantial. Though the racial element is clearly a paramont concern, my guess is some part of the increase in arrests reflects an inability to regulate crimes arising from legal use of marijuana, e.g., dui.

"Drug arrests are classified into four categories: 1) heroin or cocaine and their derivatives, 2) marijuana 3) synthetic or manufactured drugs like fentanyl and 4) other dangerous non-narcotic drugs like barbiturates." Apparently the FBI's statistics department hasn't changed their methods since 1972. First, heroin and cocaine are quite different and shouldn't be lumped together in the same category. Second and similarly, synthetic drugs include a huge variety of substances with very different characteristics. MDMA shouldn't be counted alongside deadly, addictive fentanyl. Finally, barbiturates? Does anyone still use barbiturates for fun? It's easy to understand why the federal government still thinks it can arrest its way out of the drug problem when their mentality is stuck in the Nixon era. I expect to see an article in this newspaper soon about how the FBI has proudly announced an increase in arrests of people who are hopped up on goofballs.

Marijuana has been legal here in Oregon for several years and the wheels of society have not fallen off. If you didn't see the pot shops you wouldn't even really notice anything different. The rest of the states in the country where Marijuana is illegal really have stop arresting people and filling jails at their tax payers expense. The war on drugs was a joke when Richard Nixon started it to get back at the youth whom he saw as an enemy and its still a joke to this day.

The war on drugs or better put drug abuse will never be over but the death and horror caused by it could be greatly reduced with the time honored formula for dealing with a vice/dangerous object, legality, regulation, responsibility and non promotion. It worked dramatically with reduced deaths and injuries with cig. smoking and drunk driving and has been a miserable failure with drugs and guns since it has not been employed.

Marijuana has to be regulated just like alcohol. Taxed. sold in shops, and people driving under the influence or operating heavy machineryunder the influence cannot be allowed. I also don't want to walk through a cloud of marijuana smoke on a city street, just like cigarettes and juul. That will lead to fewer arrests. The war on drugs hasn't worked for 50 years and jailing people for low level offenses is ridiculous. It just perpetuates ruined lives. Of course, upstate NY thrives on half empty prisons.