Muhammad Mamas
Professor Voisard
English 110
26th April 2022
What is America doing about the war on drug trafficking and abuse?

Drug trafficking is one of the most important issues in America that never gets talked about. The billions of dollars’ worth of drugs smuggled across the border right underneath our noses that are destroying our citizens from the inside out. Then using taxpayer money for programs to aid recovery from that? It’s bewildering how much money is actually lost every year because of drug trafficking and the measures America is taking to stop it.
America is 21 trillion of dollars in debt, but that won’t stop it from spending billions more on government drug control and reduction programs. According to the U.S government “the United States spent over $10 billion to support drug demand reduction programs, compared to $2.1 billion for international drug control programs.” Those are just a few examples of programs the United States has invested in. Another way the U.S decided to fight drug trafficking was to increase security at its border. Most particularly its southern border as more of the drugs come from central and south America. They did this by spending 18.2 billion dollars on Border patrol. More than 16,000 border patrol agents were hired to help stop drugs from moving in and out of the country. As well as 4,000 troops and national guard. U.S customs and border protection says they seized “914,000 worth of drug seizures in 2019 at the border and 1.1 million the year before”. America is trying to put a hard stop to drug trafficking by monitoring what goes in and out of the country as well as government programs to help people addicted to drugs and get them the help they need.
People all around the country have fought this difficult war against drugs and many lives are lost. People are still losing their lives, according to the CDC “In 2019, 70,630 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States. The age-adjusted rate of overdose deaths increased by over 4% from 2018“Overdose is the leading cause of death in the U.S. The life expectancy rate even went down in 2017 due to drug related deaths. That’s how many people are dying in the United States because of illegal drugs. How is the U.S fighting back/helping its citizens? In April 2022 the Biden administration said “the Biden administration is emphasizing harm reduction.
That means increasing access to clean needles, fentanyl test strips and naloxone. Clean needles help reduce the spread of disease. Fentanyl test strips enable drug users to check if they are about to consume this powerful opioid that can shut down breathing in seconds. Naloxone is a drug that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose”. Harm reduction just means creating more accessible means for a safe experience. The point is to reduce the number of overdose deaths from last year, which was a record high of 107,000. According to the white House, President Biden plans to fight drug trafficking and addiction by reducing the supply of drugs like fentanyl and other harmful opioids that make their way past the border. He says “This Strategy goes after two big drivers of the opioid epidemic: untreated addiction and drug trafficking,” said President Biden. “It’s time we treat addiction like any other disease. And at the same time, we are disrupting drug traffickers’ financial networks, supply chains, and delivery routes, including on the internet.” This demonstrates the federal government’s plan for action in this anti-drug war and how they can make this country safer overall. The U.S is doing everything in its power to stop drug trafficking to help save millions of lives.
Most of the drugs come in from the southwest border and have ties with the Mexican cartel. The United States has doubled security around its southern border as part of a new plan to stop drug trafficking. According to Nick Miroff of the Washington post “Fewer than 5 percent of the vehicles are typically screened by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with the powerful high-energy scanners that can peer deep inside cargo loads to detect “anomalies” — odd patterns or suspicious densities that could be illegal drugs.” He is saying that It’s been very easy the past few years to bring drugs and other contraband into this country. This year is going to be different. With the Biden administration in office, congress is finding new more effective ways to help stop drug trafficking. Nick also says “With fatal drug overdose deaths in the United States soaring to record levels, Congress has directed CBP to come up with a plan to scan 100 percent of arriving vehicles.” This demonstrates congress doing good on their word to help stop the war of drugs coming into this country. This way all commercial trucks with hidden cargo get scanned and more drugs get seized. Less Drugs find their way into our communities and home which helps the government lose less money and keep this country safe. The U.S is also taking precautions by keeping harmless drugs like marijuana illegal. This keeps the price high as availability is limited and this leads to a lower user rate. According to the Obama archives (The white house) “More available drugs at a cheaper price with less risk will lead to increased rates of drug addiction. Addictive substances like alcohol and tobacco, which are legal and taxed, already cost much more in social costs than the revenue they generate. The social costs of these two drugs are 10 times the revenue gained by their taxation”. This illustrates how drug addiction is a big problem in the U.S already with the legal drugs like nicotine or tobacco. Legalizing marijuana or other “harmless drugs” will lead people to more abuse and addiction, this is why the U.S is keeping limited drugs in drug pharmacies as well as only providing drugs like marijuana or Adderall to medical patients that actually need it and use it to function in their day to day lives.
As you can see Drug trafficking continues to be a major problem in America. The Biden administration as well as the entire government is trying to put an end to this war on drugs. These new laws and regulations will help seize more drugs and catch the people poisoning this country. This in turn will save more lives and protect families and communities in this great country called the United States of America.
Bibliography
“Border Patrol Overview.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection Preview, https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/overview.
“President Biden Releases National Drug Control Strategy to Save Lives, Expand Treatment, and Disrupt Trafficking.” The White House, The United States Government, 21 Apr. 2022, https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/briefing-room/2022/04/21/president-biden-releases-national-drug-control-strategy-to-save-lives-expand-treatment-and-disrupt-trafficking/.
“Reducing Drug Demand in the U.S.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/ondcp/ondcp-fact-sheets/reducing-drug-demand-in-the-us.
“Positive and Negative Consequences of Continued Drug Use.” Nova Recovery Center Near Austin Texas, 27 Sept. 2021, https://novarecoverycenter.com/treatment-programs/behavioral-therapies/consequences-drug-use/.