The United States Drug Enforcement Agency is failing in more ways than one.

Created back in 1973 by then President Richard Nixon, it was made in order to lead the way in the country’s newly declared ‘War on Drugs.’

In typical government form, the first act in the war was to become better organized; Reorganization Plan No. 2 was approved by Nixon in order to reorganize several different agencies under the collective umbrella of one.

In the time since, every sitting President has reiterated the government’s stance against drugs and tried to continue the fight.

Reagan stepped up efforts when he was in office, but the most notable increase came in ’89 when the first President Bush was in office.

In the entire time, the availability of drugs has yet to be slowed down.

In fact, the frequency of use and availability has only improved over the years.

The United States Drug Enforcement Agency likes to claim that it has at least caused an increase in price; however, there is no evidence to support that claim.

Whether or not the price has fallen is really not an issue anyway.

Drug users are not like people that buy Kobe beef, interested in quality and paying for it since they have the means; drug users will pay whatever is asked to get the lowest quality product available because they are dependant.

Basically, the war on drugs has failed at both reducing the influx of drugs into this country and the use of them.

In their zeal to continue the fight against drugs, law enforcement officers have been allowed to come closer and closer to pushing the limits on civil rights.

Lawmakers will just say that to win a fight such as this you sometimes have to give up a few comforts of home.

In that case the United States Drug Enforcement Agency while failing at drug control, has succeeded in destroying civil rights and the underlying beliefs this country was created on.

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IS IT WORTH IT?

In 1981 the budget to fight the war on drugs stood at $1.5 billion; by 1991 it grew to $11 billion; in 1999 it stood at over $17 billion.

As of 1997, 63 percent of federal prisoners and 21 percent of state prisoners were incarcerated strictly on drug related charges; over 100,000 were there merely for possession.

With such a price tag one would hope that the United States Drug Enforcement Agency would have something more to show.

WAR ON MINORITIES

Some have wondered if the war on drugs is really just a continuation of racist policies by the U.S. government.

While drug use is pretty much even across the racial spectrum, there is a distinct difference in the rate of those incarcerated.

In 1997, there were as many as five times the number of black inmates over white in prison for drug related offenses; since the black population is outnumbered by five to one that translates into an arrest and incarceration rate for blacks 30 times that of white Americans.