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Week 14 and 15 Questions War on Drugs Return to Week 14 and 15 Assignments 1) Should enforcement strategies focus on the user of the dealer? (of illegal drugs)
This is a difficult question to answer and no clear
answer exists. If you focus on the user then generally you will
arrest people who are addicted to the specific drug and not make
much of an impact on the selling of drugs. You will disrupt the
market and may impact the demand for the drugs. If you focus on
the dealer, you may be arresting individuals who are both users
and dealers, dealers who are supporting their habit by selling
drugs. Through this method you may drive up the cost of drugs
and as the potential income increases more dealers may be attracted
to the illegal trade. The answer is not clear, nor is it easy. 2) When did the war on drugs start?
We have had different strategies for the use of
habit forming drugs throughout our history as a country. We tried
making alcohol illegal in the 1920's with limited success. The
war on drugs probably started in the late 1970's and the early
1980's. We have tried different strategies, for example the Nixon
administration tried to use a treatment strategy for some addicts.
Some researchers believe that this offered great opportunities
for solving or reducing the drug problems. Probably the term a
war on drugs stems from the term a war on crime and most probably
dates back to the mid 1980's in its current form. 3) Does the SARA model apply to predicting the long term future? The prediction of the future is difficult. SARA stands for Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment. The purpose of SARA is to review existing programs, or issues to see if they are working, or to develop possible solutions to identified problems. It has some predictive use, but is primarily for developing solutions to identified problems. I suggest that the system can offer some insight into what might be in the future. 
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