Issues & Policies
Reagan Raises the Battle Flag Against Drugs (1981-1989)
The war on drugs picked up steam under President Ronald Reagan. Reagan was the first president to systematically target the entire drug chain from producers to dealers to users. Prior strategies of harm reduction were replaced with ones of deterrence...
Drug Courts
Given the ineffectiveness and high cost of standard treatment diversion programs, in recent years the U.S. has found more success with specialized drug courts. Drug courts have proven to be more effective compared to treatment with standard probation where ongoing...
Depenalizing Trafficking?
Could depenalization be applied to the sale or trafficking of drugs? While such policies might have seemed remote in the past, some governments, including the U.S., are taking nascent steps in that direction. In a measure issued by the attorney...
George H. W. Bush and Historically Low Drug Consumption (1989-1993)
The one-term George H. W. Bush administration fervently supported the drug war approach. The only significant legislation passed was the New Anti-Drug Law in 1989, which added $3 billion to expand treatment facilities, education, law enforcement and federal prisons. The...
Interdiction
The most widely used tool to keep drugs produced in other countries from entering the U.S. and other consumer countries is drug interdiction. From 2010-2014, heroin seizures totaling 5 tons grew by 81%, while the heroin seized at the U.S.-Mexico...
HOPE
Even more cost effective than drug courts has been a similar program under Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE). In this program, addicts do not receive formal treatment, but as with drug courts, they are given random drug tests where...