McLemore Traffic

The war on drugs has long since been a losing fight in America. Every illegal substance that America has demonized is used daily, probably in every city in America. The government spends billions on this war on drugs but there is no profit to gain. This “war” only tears apart families, waste tax dollars, and waste the time of DEA agents. This is not to say that these illicit substances are necessarily good things. Many drugs, especially cocaine, heroin, and meth, should never be used, but making these drugs is not the way to solve the problem. Addicts do not get help in jail; prison simply becomes a brief rehab. Once let back on the streets many of these addicts have not been given the skills to learn to avoid these substances. This creates an endless cycle of arrest imprisonment. The only way to truly try to prevent drug use is to educate the community. Drugs cannot be demonized, because for many that only makes them more appealing, almost like reverse psychology. If people are told the truth about many drugs, effects, side effects, and other things of the sort, then they go into drug use as an informed person making a knowledgeable decision, and with deal with the consequences of using that drug. There are several particular scenes that show the uselessness of a war on drugs, but the most compelling argument is the character, General Salazar. He creates such a good argument because it shows just how high up drugs go. Even those paid to get rid of drugs somehow fall under its influence. Salazar never explicitly used any drugs in the film, but he became part of the distribution. Although this film is fictional, imagine how many real DEA agents are like Salazar, even if there are only a few, that’s all a cartel would need to keep up their criminal activities.