Why America Has Repeat Drug Offenders

Repeat drug offenders are not a thing of the past. In the wake of the War on Drugs, prisons are seeing more repeat drug offenders than they did twenty years ago. Why do we have repeat drug offenders and what can society do to reduce the recidivism rates of drug crimes? This article will take a look at several reasons and solutions to the problem.

Since the "war on drugs" began, there have been many debates on why we have a drug problem in America and what does America need to do in order to make the problem less prevalent. One viewpoint of why there is a drug problem, from a legal viewpoint would be similar to what happened as a result of alcohol prohibition. Some law enforcement officers, who are involved directly with the "war on drugs", feel that the government needs to switch its focus from prohibition to one of regulation and/or legalization (O'Connor, 2005). These officers state that prohibition of drugs is a root cause of many crimes and that since this so-called "war on drugs" there has been a direct correlation to violent crimes. Another reason that law enforcement disagree with the "war on drugs" is because it is essentially a war against law enforcement and it promotes lying among informants and other involved persons (O'Connor, 2005).

There are other viewpoints against prohibition comes from the conservative republicans. This group of people argues that prohibition promotes waste and that illicit drugs should be legalized and sold in the same manner as state liquor stores and have the profits be utilized for treatment and education purposes (O'Connor, 2005). The United States only accounts for five percent of the world's population, yet consumes over sixty percent of the world's illicit drugs. This would make the United States the best subject tin a case study for legalization of illicit drugs. Prohibition has created a large black market for drugs with most of the profits going to overseas drug lords instead of using the profits of drug sales for benefits within the states (O'Connor, 2005).

What are some psychological causes for this expanding drug problem? The main psychological explanations of drug abuse are either personality disorders or the consequences of social learning and reinforcement on drug-taking behaviors (Kendall, 2004). When looking at drug abusers, as a whole, personality disorders are more common than individuals who abstain from drug abuse. Some argue that this is because people who have low self-esteem or a lack of motivation, they have an intense desire to rid themselves of their problems and, for most, abusing drugs provide the most available option (Kendall, 2004). Still others argue that drug abuse behaviors are acquired and continued through a learning process. The individual who is exposed to positive views on drug utilization at home and by friends is more likely to keep those views and abuse drugs (Kendall, 2004).

There are many social perspectives to drug abuse: symbolic interactionist perspective, functionalist perspective, and conflict perspective (Kendall, 2004). The symbolic interactionist perspective is similar to that of the psychological perspective of learning. The sociologists, who utilize the symbolic interactionist perspective, believe that there is a "drug subculture" and the more time an individual spends with that subculture, the more s/he disconnects from people not in that culture, thus leading to drug abuse (Kendall, 2004). Another part of the symbolic interactionist perspective is the labeling theory. Sociologists believe that once a person has been labeled a "drug addict" it makes it that much harder for the individual to quit the abuse because society holds the person solely responsible for their behavior, rather than identifying the addiction as a social problem (Kendall, 2004).

The functionalist perspective to drug use is one that drug offenders provide a function to society. This perspective maintains that drug addicts create jobs within the pharmaceutical, correctional, and law enforcement sectors. For example, if there was not a drug problem within the United States, what would happen to the DEA employees and other law enforcement task forces? Drug abuse provides a form of stability within our society at the cost of many lives (Kendall, 2004). The conflict perspective believe that people in high positions of economic and political power have made the sale, use, and possession of illicit drugs that are generally abused by the poor and the powerless illegal (Kendall, 2004). For example, the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was created to criminalize marijuana and was utilized as a means to divert marijuana smoking Mexican workers back to Mexico so they would not threaten the ability of citizens from getting jobs during the Great Depression (Kendall, 2004).

What can be done to lower recidivism rates for drug offenders and overall use of drugs? Prisons in the United States tend to have a negative effect on the nonviolent offender and in a sense, make him/her a better criminal, thus leading to higher recidivism rates (Seiter, 2005). There are many different programs that can be used to reduce the numbers of repeat drug offenders within the United States. Instead of focusing on mandatory sentencing laws, these offenders should be offered the chance to rehabilitate. Some options for rehabilitation would include vocational training, monitoring by specialized police units, therapeutic community-based resident programs, drug courts, and drug treatment in jails with urine testing in the community, and fines (Seiter, 2005). These programs give the drug offender a chance at becoming a productive member of society, thus reduce the recidivism rates.

References

Kendall, D. (2004). (Eds). Social problems in a diverse society. Alcohol and other drugs (pp. 156-181). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

O'Connor, T. (2005). Prohibition Policy for a Democratic Society. Retrieved 21 Jun 2006 from http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/pol/495lect01.htm .

Seiter, R.P. (2005). The drug trade and the American criminal justice system. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing.