The War on Drugs and Americas Prison Population.
The United States has the largest prison population on earth. This was not always the case though. America today has three times as many prisoners as it did in 1980. The legislation that followed in the wake of the crack scare in the 1980s is responsible for this. There needs to be a change in the basic drug laws in the country and a larger push toward treatment (which has been proven to work) rather than incarceration.
The war on drugs in America has been around, in various forms, for almost as long as the country itself but the first major stroke the government took against drugs was on January 16, 1920. On this date the Eighteenth Amendment was enacted and all importing, exporting, transporting, manufacturing, selling and of intoxicating liquor was put to an end. This was called Prohibition.
Prohibition was meant to reduce the consumption of alcohol, and by doing so, reduce crime, poverty, death rates, and improve the economy and the quality of life. Instead the crime rate only skyrocketed.
"In large cities the homicide went from 5.6 (per 100,000 population) in the pre-prohibition period, to nearly 10 (per 100,000 population) during prohibition, nearly a 78 percent increase. Serious crimes, such as homicides, assault, and battery, increased nearly 13 percent, while other crimes involving victims increased 9 percent." (Thorton, 10).
Organized crime was the main contributing factor to the sudden increase of felonies; this was mostly in the large cities. Because liquor was no longer legally available, the public turned to gangsters, who started the bootlegging industry and supplied them with liquor.
Prohibition ended, after failing, in 1933 when the new President, F.D. Roosevelt was elected, the Congress passed the 21st Amendment which would repeal the 18th Amendment. After the repeal, liquor control was passed back into the hands of the state.