| Description |
1 online resource (vii, 45 p.) : ill. |
| Series |
Carlisle paper |
|
Carlisle papers in security strategy.
|
| Note |
Title from title screen (viewed January 2, 2013). |
|
"December 2012." |
| Summary |
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. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (p. 17-45). |
| Contents |
The Nixon and Ford administrations : 1969-77 -- The Carter administration : 1976-80 -- The Reagan administration : 1981-89 -- The George H. W. Bush administration : 1989-93 -- The Clinton administration : 1993-2001 -- The George W. Bush administration : 2001-09 -- The Obama administration : 2009- -- Proposal for an armistice : ending the insanity. |
| Subject |
Drug control -- United States.
|
|
Drug control -- United States -- Costs.
|
|
Drug control -- United States -- History.
|
| Added Author |
Army War College (U.S.). Strategic Studies Institute.
|
| Added Title |
Four decades of US counterdrug strategy |
|
Four decades of United States counterdrug strategy |
| ISBN |
1584875615 |
|
9781584875611 |
| Gpo Item No. |
0307-A-48 (online) |
| Sudoc No. |
D 101.146/10:C 83/2 |
|
