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Anti Drug legislation in the United States: Part Three -The state of Arizona and the FBI
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The final part in the three part drug series, what did you think?
The State of Arizona is commonly seen at the forefront of the drug war, and has become infamous in the wake of major drug tunnels and some of its ports of entry being among the largest in the United States as far as drug traffic is concerned. “The amount of illicit drugs believed to enter Arizona alone each year from Mexico is easily in the thousands of tons, according to U.S. officials.” (Potter, 2009) Currently the laws in Arizona are extremely strict and are enforced quite heavily. There are several designations within the Arizona Revised Statutes. 13-3408. Possession, use, administration, acquisition, sale, manufacture, or transportation of narcotic drugs; classification, 13-3406 - Possession, use, administration, acquisition, sale, manufacture, or transportation of prescription-only drugs, 13-901.01 - Probation for persons convicted of possession or use of controlled substances or drug paraphernalia; treatment; prevention; education; exceptions. There are several more, however generally speaking the laws in Arizona mirror those of the Federal Government with regards to its stance on drugs and drug law enforcement. Something that should be looked at as a benefit in the State of Arizona are its stances regarding drug treatment and “drug court” wherein it allows for certain drug related offenses the person to attend a treatment program and to be involved in varying programs to assist in the rehabilitation of those persons.
A. The drug treatment and education fund is established. The administrative office of the Supreme Court shall administer the fund.
B. Fifty per cent of the monies deposited in the drug treatment and education fund shall be distributed by the administrative office of the supreme court to the superior court probation departments to cover the costs of placing persons in drug education and treatment programs administered by a qualified agency or organization that provides such programs to persons who abuse controlled substances. Such monies shall be allocated to superior court probation departments according to a formula based on probation caseload to be established by the administrative office of the Supreme Court. (ARS 13-901.02, 2009)
In conclusion, it should be noted that while these drug laws have been formulated for many different reasons. In the end, it may be better to decriminalize and place the use and distribution policies under the Federal Food and Drug Administration. Versus continuing, a war that currently costs over 200 billion dollars a year to fight and has not assisted in reducing crime.
In 1973, there were 328,670 arrests logged in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) for drug law violations. In 2007, that number rose to 1,841,182 arrests for drug law violations logged in the UCR. Also in 2006, there were a reported 597,447 arrests for all violent crimes and 1,610,088 arrests for all property crimes, out of a total 14,209,365 arrests for all offenses. (FBI Uniform Crime Reports 2008)
One can easily see why it may be more beneficial in the long term to simply tax and treat versus continuing to fight an un-winnable war against something that predates almost every major civilization and religion on earth today. While the moral arguments and objections will remain, the physical realities are overwhelming and lead to the conclusion that fighting drugs is in fact causing more harm than fixing anything. It is this authors opinion that education, and treatment far outpace incarceration in the fight against drugs.
ARS 13-901.02, (2009,).
drug treatment and education fund (l09, 3ss, ch. 6, sec. 6. eff. 11/24/09). Retrieved from http://www.azleg.gov/ars/13/00901-02.01.htm
FBI Uniform Crime Reports (2007)
(Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, 2008), Table 29, from the web at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/data/table_29.html and Arrest Table: Arrests for Drug Abuse Violations, from the web at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/arrests/index.html
Potter, M. (2009, October 22).
Illegal drugs flow over and under U.S. border. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33433955/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
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