Billions of Spending Cuts But What About the War on Drugs?

     The $85 billion dollars in spending cuts that went into effect Friday will cut billions in funding to our military. Right now, about 10% of our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) goes into funding out military and defense. But did you know that 17% of our GDP goes into a direct or indirect result on the war on drugs? One TRILLION dollars has been spent on the war on drugs since Nixon declared it in 1971. The United States has the LARGEST prison population in the world, and half of those currently incarcerated are there because of drugs.

     The war on drugs has been a massive failure. It has resulted in the United States having the most drug users per capita. It has costs this country billions and trillions of dollars in borrowed money. It is one of the biggest culprits in as to why our country is in massive debt; yet no one seems to realize or recognize this.

     What is the solution? Do we keep spending trillions on felonization and criminalization and incarceration of those with substance use disorder? Or do we collectively, as a nation and as advocates and politicians, start using our brains? If we reform the way that drugs are looked at and regulated in this country, and think of recovery as opposed to incarceration as a solution to the national drug problem, we can begin to cut spending in these frivolous areas and redirect that money into funding our military. As a result, we would not need to fear a decrease in safety through a weakened homeland security and the stigmatization attached with addiction and alcoholism would be greatly reduced.

Source: CNN 

Source: Fox News