Public Enemy Number One: Heroin

Last year, the United States tackled a deadly epidemic that made its way into the nation’s borders; however, the nation looked past a preexisting threat that has killed more people in the past few years than ever before in history.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that the deadly drug, heroin, has killed more people recently than in previous years; 43,000 people per year, to be exact.  To give this number more meaning, the father of a young man who died of an overdose found that this number is fourteen times the number of people who died in the September 11th attacks, and it means that in a twenty-month period, heroin will claim more lives than the Vietnam War did in its entirety.  National figures show an increase in deaths by thirty-nine percent, and over 2,000 more lives claimed in 2013 than in 2012.  The drug has also claimed more lives than violent crimes and automobile accidents.  Moreover, this is the fifteenth year in a row that the number of heroin-related deaths has risen.

Snitches: The Government's Overreliance on Informants in the War on Drugs

In recent decades the United States has entered into multiple unconventional wars where it seems that victory will not be obtained until the enemy is eradicated.  One such war is the war on drugs.  It is unclear what a “win” in the war on drugs would look like, and the ambiguity leads to an ongoing fight, but the fight has become a dog eat dog battle of survival of the fittest.

The war on drugs began in the 1980’s as a response to the public opinion that Democrats were soft on crime.  To avoid this public perception before the 1986 election, Democrats came out strongly against drugs.  They introduced the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 and the Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of 1986 and 1988.  Because both parties were anxious to appear strong on this issue, the legislation was passed quickly and without much scrutiny.