Overcrowded Prisons and the War on Drugs

The War on Drugs

One must wonder if the "war on drugs" helps or hinders our American Criminal Justice System when you look at the overwhelming impact it has had on crowding issues within our prisons. At the present time there are over 1.5 million people in prison, 59.6 % for drug offenses alone.

The "war on drugs" started over 100 years ago in San Francisco, California when the first law against drugs was enacted to stop the "smoking of opium." In all actuality, this law was against the Chinese people living in the U.S., because they were known for smoking of the opium as a custom. The government feared that opium induced Chinese men would try to lure white women to them. The next drug that was considered illegal was cocaine. The law enacted against cocaine was against Negroes. The government feared that Negroes would use the drug and become violent and go on rampages of raping white women. (Schaffer, n.d.)

Pennsylvania Prisons

The state of Pennsylvania is a leader when it comes to prisons, whether state or federally operated. At the current time, Pennsylvania has 9 Federal Prisons with 3 more proposed, ranking it #2 in the U.S. Pennsylvania is also home to 28 State Prisons, 2 that are new since 2003. Another prison was built, but is still not operating due to lack of funds. (Prisons in PA, 2004)

Why is the building of prisons on the rise in Pennsylvania? Overcrowding is the only logical answer, but why they are overcrowded is another question. Drug offenses are a major factor when it comes to the overcrowding issues. The laws in Pennsylvania are strict when it comes to illegal drugs. All drugs prescribed or not by a medical doctor, are subject to the "Controlled Substance Act."

Pennsylvania, like most other states, is a "no tolerance" zone when it comes to using drugs. While no tolerance may be considered a good thing, it is causing the overcrowding issue for our prisons. Get caught, go to jail. Judges are stating that they have no time for those that use drugs, so even for first offenses, it is off to jail. Is this the answer to the problem of drugs though?

While there are those that tend to believe incarceration is a great tool to stop drug use, there are those seeing that drug use while incarcerated is in full swing. Incarceration is apparently not the answer. And, although there are lots of proposed solutions, as of yet there are no viable solutions.

Proposed Solutions to Overcrowded Prisons

Almost every person in the United States has their own solution to the problem of drugs, but whether any of them are viable or not is the problem. There are many that feel the legalization of drugs, new drug courts, modify or end the policy on "war on drugs," or do away with the "three strikes law" to name a few, would reduce the population in prisons. But, "would any of those solutions send a "positive" message to our children?" is what others are asking.

Proposal 1

The legalization of drugs such as marijuana: Marijuana is one of the "least" addictive drugs on the market according to "The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs" by author Edward Brecher. The drug compares almost equally to caffeine.

The following chart shows different types of drugs and the levels of addictiveness. The number 1 denotes the strongest level of addictiveness, while the number 6 denotes the lowest. (Schaffer, n.d.)

Substance Withdrawal Reinforcement Tolerance Dependence Intoxication

Nicotine 3 4 2 1 5

Heroin 2 2 1 2 2

Cocaine 4 1 4 3 3

Alcohol 1 3 3 4 1

Caffeine 5 6 5 5 6

Marijuana 6 5 6 6 4

By looking at this chart, it is easy to see that Nicotine has more of a dependence issue than any other drug, yet it, as well as Caffeine are both legal. In fact, while the sale of Nicotine requires your age to be 18 and above, there is no age on acquiring or purchasing Caffeine. Statistics also show that while Nicotine kills over 390,000