Research and Policy Library
A 25-Year Quagmire: The War on Drugs and Its Impact on American Society (The Sentencing Project)
- Organization: Sentencing Project
- Document Type: Report
- Date Created: Wednesday, October 17, 2007
- Submitted: Wednesday, October 17, 2007
- Attachment(s): LINK
The report documents how the drug war has produced a record expansion of prison and jail systems and highlights additional indicators of the war's impact on the criminal justice system and communities, including:
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Drug arrests have more than tripled since 1980 to a record 1.8 million by 2005;
- Four of five (81.7%) drug arrests were for possession offenses, and 42.6% were for marijuana charges in 2005;
- Nearly six in 10 persons in state prison for a drug offense have no history of violence or high-level drug selling;
- Only 14% of persons in 2004 who report using drugs in the month before their arrest had participated in a treatment program, a decline of more than half from participation rates in 1991;
- A shortage of treatment options in many low-income neighborhoods contributes to drug abuse being treated primarily as a criminal justice problem, rather than a social problem.
The report also provides policy recommendations that can help effectively reinvest government resources in community safety by encouraging comprehensive drug treatment and prevention strategies to address drug addiction.
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