Interdiction and Eradication of Drugs in the U.S Essay

Interdiction and Eradication of Drugs in the U.S - Essay Example The irony is that consumption of drugs has been on the increase, criminals are making more money from their annual turnover ranging from $ 400 to 500 billion. According to a confidential report from U.K. Government, only 20 percent out of 700 tons of Cocaine and 500 tons of Heroin illegally produced is being seized by enforcement forces. Supply being plentiful, prices are reported to be ruling low at $ 70 per gram today as against $ 184 in 1990. (Glenny 2007) This report is not alone. Similar observations. abound in the other Governmental reports and NGO studies Therefore the study gains significance in the wake of such reports to examine strengths and weaknesses of the Governments' policy initiatives towards interdiction and eradication of drugs. More so, because of opinions advocating legalizing the drugs besides the fact that policy initiatives focus on eradication of poppy cultivation without offering viable alternatives to the farmers concerned. The President rolls out National Drug Control Strategy for each year incorporating three key strategies namely (1) Stopping the Use before it Starts; (2) Intervening and Healing America's Drug Users; and, (3) Disrupting the Market. The Drug Budget for FY 2008 is $12.961 billion short of $0.167 billion from last year though it is compensated by additional request for $ 266 .1 million for emergency spending in Afghanistan.(National Drug Control Strategy). The Rand Report 2005 says that every year 16 million Americans forming 7 percent of the country’s population above the age of 12 consume about $60 billion worth of illegal drugs. And invariably the surveys on Americans have reveled that â€Å"drugs’† is one of the major ten problems of the country. ... (Caulkins P et al 2005 p 13) About 3 million drug consumers are affected by serious drug related problems and about 17,000 people have died due to problems illicit drug use in the year 2000 as against 20,000 in the year 1990. In 2003, 28,723 people have died for the same reason. (McVay) President's Drug Policy of Feb 2007 says that contrary to the reports in many quarters that drugs abuse has not been checked, performance records show a positive trend towards drugs control for the past six years ever since the present incumbent took office. As against the targeted reduction of drug abuse by 10 percent within 2 years and 25 percent within 5 years, administration claims to have achieved 11 percent and 23.2 percent respectively. And this was achieved by strategic benchmarking of each month's consumption. Figures beyond five years are even higher and in terms of number of youth who gave up drug use, it is 840,000. The lessons learnt during the last six years of the President's first of its kind National Drugs Control Strategy evidence that a sound policy can bring out results. Demotivating young users, identifying chronic consumers, maintaining vigil against steroid use for performance enhancement, and monitoring the use of other drugs such as Marijuana, Methamphetamin e, Amphetamine, pain relievers like OxyContin have been the features of the broad spectrum strategy of drugs control. Basically these will fall under the key elements of the above said prevention of drug use before its commencement by the potential users, intervention and healing of the people already on drugs, and disruption of the market for illegal drugs with the sole aim of reducing drugs consumption in the