Ever since the 1850's when Chinese immigrants came to California and introduced Opiates to the curious, uninformed area, that which started what is now an enormous illegal drug market has been influencing the entire world. The affect of the introduction of trafficking mind-altering drugs was so astronomically explosive that the entire world became dependent upon this new (mainly black-marketed) area of consumption without even knowing it. Recently, the U.S., along with the majority of the underlying countries of the United Nations have made extensive efforts on the "War on Drugs", and is attempting to globally end the entire illegally marketed drug industry to this day. .
The world is destined to addiction. People will always be addicted to something if it is available. During these times, something needs to be done about this problem of drug abuse. The most logical strategy is to control supply. It is a very simple tactic in which states: if there is no drugs available to the people, then it cannot be abused. Until President Richard Nixon began to apply the Harrison Act in 1972, "little had been done to combat drugs at home. Ten years later, President Ronald Reagan declared war on drugs and expanded the fight to the supply side - farms, factories and traffickers in the developing world. Involving nearly every branch of government, Reagan and each successive president has escalated and globalized this war"(aworldconnected.org 04). .
The amount of money spent on the fight to stop illegal drugs is extremely excessive while compared to the actual affect it has. Applying it to the age-old principle of supply and demand, it proves that the war on drugs is nearly impossible to win. "The trouble, as Courtwright's analysis clearly shows, is that we cannot effectively control supply. And, no, this isn't because we have been soft on drug crime. Our prisons are filled with people found guilty of possessing a few grams of cocaine or an ounce of marijuana.
