Read the latest and greatest from our team
of incredible specialists.
Beach House Recovery Center » Blog » Drug Addiction in America: How Government Policies Are Changing the War on Drugs
Not long ago, “Just Say No” was the famous rallying cry of America’s drug abuse efforts, as part of a larger national War on Drugs. These two slogans (“Just Say No” and “the War on Drugs”) probably best epitomize the U.S. government’s approach to addiction and substance abuse in the 1980s and early 1990s: a popular campaign to teach school-aged children about the dangers of drugs and how to “just say no” accompanied an aggressive federal crackdown on the drug trade characterized by stiff criminal penalties for drug addicts.
By the year 1994, this War on Drugs was incarcerating more than one million Americans each year, according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine. There researchers cited an eightfold increase in the federal budget for the control of illicit drugs, with more than two thirds of the total set aside for “increasingly harsh criminal laws.” Meanwhile, rates of illicit drug use continued to rise, prompting the Global Commission on Drug Policy to declare fatefully, “the war on drugs has failed,” in a 2011 report.
Today, as the number of Americans who abuse illicit substances still continues to rise, according to the latest survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, slogans like “Just Say No” and “War on Drugs” have largely given way to an emphasis on treatment for drug addiction. Or so changing public views and developing government policies, their origins dating back as early as the 1940s, would suggest. This article highlights these key policy developments, with a view to showing how shifting frontlines in America’s fight against drugs spell renewed hope for the millions of Americans with substance use disorders and their families.
Recent advances in brain research and addiction science, among other trends, are changing public views about drug addiction and, in turn, state and federal drug policies. In 2014, more than two thirds of all Americans (67 percent) said the U.S. government should focus on treatment—not prosecution—of users of illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine, according to a national survey by the Pew Research Center. In the same survey, an even larger majority of Americans (76 percent) supported the ending of jail sentences for those caught possessing small amounts of marijuana. And the number of Americans who supported a move away from mandatory state sentences for non-violent drug offenders was double the number of Americans who opposed the move.
With these changing public perceptions, America’s drug policy landscape is also shifting, as evidenced by fresh federal legislation to curb an alarming rise in deaths from opiate and heroin overdose in recent years. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), which the president signed into law this summer after the bill received strong bipartisan support in both houses of Congress, lays out a number of provisions to treat opiate and heroin addiction as a public health crisis. Notably absent from the new federal law are punitive measures for heroin users. On the contrary, CARA aims, by its own description, to “shift resources towards identifying and treating incarcerated people who are suffering from addiction, rather than just punishment as is often the case currently.”
The same tenor (of a less punitive, treatment-oriented approach to drug addiction) pervades CARA’s other goals. These are to:
One provision of the new federal law CARA is itself an interesting case study in how government policies are changing the so-called war on drugs from times gone by. In the year preceding CARA’s expansion of naloxone for heroin overdose, 14 states expanded access to the life-saving drug, so that by February 2016, a vast majority of U.S. states—some 41—reportedly had laws on their books encouraging the administration of naloxone. These “Narcan” or “Good Samaritan” laws have provided civil or criminal immunity to healthcare providers or lay responders (illicit drug users included), who administer naloxone in cases of suspected overdose.
The mandated expansion of naloxone is but one policy development in the larger story about changing U.S. attitudes and policies in response to drug and alcohol addiction (which is itself the reflection of a growing trend to treat drug addiction as a disease). The below timeline highlights four of the most important milestones in this general policy trajectory toward recognizing the benefits of addiction treatment:
Whether you’re researching for yourself or a loved one, Beach House can help. We understand that this is a serious time in your life and that the treatment center you choose matters. We want you to feel comfortable and empowered to make the right decision for yourself, a friend, or a family member. This is why a counselor is waiting and available to answer your questions and help put your mind at ease regarding the next steps. Many of the staff at Beach House have walked in your shoes. If you feel you’re ready or want more information about how to help a loved one, we can help today. You can also learn why we are voted the #1 rehab for addiction treatment in Florida.
"*" indicates required fields