Introduction.
All around the world there has been a marked increase in drug production, trafficking and usage. The war on drugs initialised in 1971 by Richard Nixon had a primary objective to stop drug use altogether. Weatherburn, D. (2001). Reports the war on drugs has been a failure in its own rights. People still use drugs.
The global commission on drugs has put forward a new set of recommendations to help reduce the harmful effects of drug taking and the illicit drug trade.
Firstly, a short review of the current reasons why the war on drugs has failed will be completed. Then using ethnographic drug studies drawn from several different sources, this essay will …show more content…
Drug use and trafficking is still rising despite the majority of law enforcements effort being aimed at drug users. According to Miron, A.J. and Waldock, K. (2010). An estimated $41.3 billion would be saved from enforcement and incarnation costs if illicit drugs for personal use were decriminalised. Enforcement is also aimed towards users rather than organised criminals, which massively undermines users’ health and safety and human rights. It further fuels crime by increasing drug prices making it more attractive for potential criminals and harder for users to buy encouraging them to commit crimes. The unstable, vulnerable environments created by unregulated drug markets are easily exploited by drug producers and undermines economies. According to Kitchen, N. (2012). the war on drugs has been an ongoing failure yet it is still been allowed to continue so this essay will discuss the recommendations put forward by the global commission on drugs and what outcomes they will have on the harmful effects of illicit drugs. The recommendations made by the Global Commission on Drugs (2014).