f Drug Abuse and Law Enforcement(ODALE) and the Office of National Narcotics Intelligence(ONNI). In 1973, he also initiated Reorganization Plan No. 2, which changed the BNDD into the Drug Enforcement Administration. The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 created five schedules that categorized drugs according to their effects and availability by prescription (1). The Omnibus Drug Enforcement, Education, and Control Act of 1986 was introduced to stiffen penalties for pushers, increased customs and border patrols, outlawed synthetic drugs, and improved treatment and prevention programs. Even though all of these drug control policies have been in affect for many of years, all of them have failed (2). Drug use continues to increase and will continue if we do not do anything about it, either in legalization or legislation.Imprisonment or RehabilitationWe are constantly building more and more jails every year, why? We do this because it is easier to put drug offenders in jail than it is to try and help them. As Americans, we have an obligation to help our fellow Americans, no matter what color, race or economic background. Many think our drug laws are too strict and offenders should be dealt with by treatment, no incarceration. One million seven hundred thousand Americans are incarcerated in our prisons for drug offenses. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse reported that 80% of all prisoners are drug offenders, no wonder our jails are over run. Since 1965, ten million people have been arrested for marijuana alone, which doesn’t include other illegal drugs. Most of these people imprisoned are non-violent drug offenders, who get longer sentences than most violent offenders. This doesn’t sound right, does it? Nearly one half of our police resources are devoted to stopping drug trafficking, instead of preventing violent crimes(The Libertarian Party). Past legislation to control drug use has fa...
