US Drug Policy: A New Approach

The US likes to fight 'wars' when it faces huge challenges: Lyndon B. Johnson fought the 'war on poverty, ' George W. Bush started the 'war on terrorism, ' and Richard M. Nixon first talked about the 'war on drugs.' One can discuss if these wars failed; however, none of these battles can be framed as a total success. It can be assumed that these long-term overarching wars were better fought on a lower level with less ambitious but more practicable goals. With regard to the US prohibitionist policy on certain psychoactive substances, I will evaluate the US 'war on drugs.' Before taking a closer look at the data, I will outline the criteria which should be used to guide public policy in the area of psychoactive substances. The scrutiny of the statistics of the drug phenomenon in the US will then lead to my analysis of possible policy solutions for those fields where the 'war on drugs' has not been successful. The standpoints and arguments of different interest groups in the public policy field will be discussed, and strategies for coalition building outlined. In a further step, I will describe how international policies can support my public policy. Different types of evidence to assess the future progress of my policy advices will conclude my analysis and will be followed by an outlook.