Monika Fitts

Research Proposal

ENG 123

Oct. 1, 2017

The Failure of The War on Drugs

The war on drugs arose during the time of the Civil Rights movements. During the

protests and rallies, President Nixon declared that the usage of drugs is Americas public enemy

No.1. The attempt to eliminate the usage of drugs first started within the communities where

minorities resided. Throughout the years that followed the war on drugs, African Americans

faced economic hardships and families were broken apart. Instead of standing united, our

country divided. The economic problems and racial inequalities that increased during this war

also contributed to high incarceration rates and over population in our prison systems. The

intention of the war when it first began was to lock up the bad guys that were using drugs in

hopes that it will better society, but the timeline of the war on drugs shows that it did just the

opposite. Statistics have shown that the billions of dollars used to fund this war has not decreased

the amount of people who use or sell drugs. The purpose of this proposal is to raise awareness

about the failures of the war on drugs while also showing how I will be organizing my paper. My

intention of this proposal is to educate myself and my professor on the progress of my paper,

research and the ideas that I have come up with so far. There are many different directions that I

can take while convincing my audience about the failure of the war on drugs, but I would like to

inform my professor on what I have so far so that I can continue the composition of this paper

with clarity.
 Outline of Paper

Introduction- I will introduce the problem that we are facing as an effect of the

war on drugs. In this first paragraph, I will strongly state my thesis and relate my

expectations to the reader so they know what the structure of this essay will look

like.

Current Problem- In these couple paragraphs, I will dig deeper to the root of the

problem and describe the key components that have contributed to overpopulation

within our prison systems.

History- In this section I will give the rundown on how the war on drugs started

and its impacts throughout the years.

Solution- In this final section I will discuss several different ends to the war on

drugs. I will also do into depth to explain how the implementation of one of these

solutions will help alleviate the problem that we are facing in the United States.

Conclusion- In this last paragraph, I will restate my original thesis statement and

reiterate the importance of holding up a white flag and ending this war.

Brief History

In 1969, President Nixon announced that the usage of drugs was a serious national threat

to the United States. Within a span of two years, Nixon proclaimed the usage of drugs as public

enemy No. 1 and officially declared a war on drugs. The start of this drug war began in a time

when the usage of drugs began to decrease and the fight for equality amongst African Americans

began to increase. With the up rise of the war on drugs, minority communities became a target,

government drug agencies were formed and spending increased. As an effect of this biased war,
both drug users and sellers were thrown into jail for an unusual amount of years. In the history

portion of my paper, I would like to note that during the start of this 1971 war, President Nixon

was struggling to obtain votes from the southern whites so he publicized African Americans and

drugs in a bias, cruel view so that he could influence the southern whites to adhere to his beliefs.

Id like to use politics to lead into the negative effects of the drug war. Id also like to compare

and contrast what life is like prior to being sentenced and what life is like after being released.

By using cause and effects and foreshadowing whats to come in the next paragraphs, I think that

it will give me the ability to keep my readers glued the text while also giving them the raw

information that is typically left out of the media.

Possible Solutions

There are many different ends to the war on drugs epidemic, although the end may not

seem like it is near, there are many things that we the people can do to speed up the process.

One proposed solution is to join together and embark on a social movement. It has been said that

a team works better than just one, a protest proves that point. For instance, June 26th is known at

the Global Day of Action against the war on drugs. On this day people from all over the country

unite to demand a resolution to this harmful war. By initializing a social movement and reaching

out to congress, they may be more incline to realize the negative impacts that this war has caused

and move towards reforms. Another solution to the end of this problem is to rid certain

prohibition laws and legalize the usage of certain drugs, specifically marijuana. This solution

seems to be very popular amongst liberal states in which they have already regulated and

legalized the usage of medical marijuana. The legalization of marijuana in states such as

Colorado, California and Massachusetts seem to contradict Americas hatred towards drugs, so

why is it that you can smoke marijuana freely in some states, but if you cross the line into
another territory you can receive a harsh mandatory minimum sentence? Hence, why many

people agree that the government should rid the war on drugs. Another recommended solution is

to use some of the billions of dollars being contributed to the war and use it to improve the

targeted minority communities. The expectations from this solution is that it would give people

the education to break free from the prison cycle and resort to bettering themselves instead of

reverting to a dangerous, money hungry lifestyle. Another hope for this solution is that it will

give both blacks and whites the opportunity to come together and see things from a different

perspective. I believe that I need to read up more on what solution works best statistically

speaking and see how the proposed solutions will be executed. I will find information regarding

racial differences, what economic struggles minorities faced and I will seek sources that give me

first hand experiences on how life was before and after prison.

Working Thesis Statement

My current thesis statement is: Raising a white flag to the war on drugs and moving

towards equality and restoration will rebuild targeted minority communities. The war on drugs

was started in an attempt to improve society by locking people up for drug charges, but it did the

opposite. From this thesis, you can see that the solution I am advocating for is using the war

funds to be restorative within the community. My goal in life is to help people and I truly believe

that locking people up does nothing but ruin their reputation for life and their outlook on the

prison system. To solve the drug abuse epidemic and reduce incarceration rates, we must raise

awareness and help people like the Lord wants us to. By doing so, this will make minorities feel

like they are a value to society, it will confront our nations problems and prevent them from

creating more problems in the future.

Multimodality Portion
 For the creative aspect of my project, I have decided to create a website and a video to

present my topic to my audience. I believe that our generation wants information and they want

it as fast as possible. On my website, I will include visuals and broadcast the key parts of my

paper in an organized creative manner.

Admin. The Alarming Annual Cost of the War on Drugs and Why It's a Failure. Elevations

Health, Elevations Health, 29 Nov. 2016, elevationshealth.com/annual-cost-war-on-

drugs/. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017

Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.

New York :New Press ; Distributed by Perseus Distribution, 2010. Print. Accessed 11

Sept. 2017.

Burch, Traci. Review of Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes

Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse. Law & Society Review, vol. 43, no. 3, Sept. 2009,

pp. 716718. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.

Carroll, Lauren. The War on Drugs and Incarceration Rates. @Politifact, PolitiFact, 10 July

2016, www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jul/10/cory-booker/how-war-

drugs-affected-incarceration-rates/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2017

Drug Policy Alliance. A Brief History of the Drug War. DrugPolicy.Org, Drug Policy

Alliance, www.drugpolicy.org/facts/new-solutions-drug-policy/brief-history-drug-war-0.

Accessed 11 Sept. 2017.

Haney Lpez, Ian F. Post-Racial Racism: Racial Stratification and Mass Incarceration in the

Age of Obama. California Law Review, no. 3, 2010, p. 1023. Jstor, EBSCOhost,

http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.calbaptist.edu/stable/27896699. Accessed 13 Sept. 2017

Rights Struggle of Our Time. New York, New York ; London, England : The New

Press, 2015., 2015. Accessed 5 Sept. 2017.

Martensen, K. The Price That US Minority Communities Pay: Mass Incarceration and the

Ideologies That Fuel Them. Contemporary Justice Review: Issues in Criminal, Social,

and Restorative Justice, vol. 15, no. 2, Jan. 2012, pp. 211222. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.

Rabuy, Bernadette and Peter Wagner. Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017. Mass

Incarceration | Prison Policy Initiative, Prison Policy , 14 Mar. 2017,

www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2017.html. Accessed 18 Sept. 2017

Rabuy, Bernadette, and Daniel Koph. Detaining the Poor. Detaining the Poor: How Money

Bail Perpetuates an Endless Cycle of Poverty and Jail Time | Prison Policy Initiative,

Prison Policy , 10 Mar. 2016, www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/incomejails.html.. Acessed

18 Sept. 2017

Speare, Grace. Grace Speare Quote. The Quotations Page, Quotations Page, Aug. 1979,

www.quotationspage.com/quote/9073.html. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017

Steiker, Carol s. Introduction. Symposium: mass incarceration: causes, consequences, and exit

strategies, vol. 9, no. 1, 2011, pp. 16.,

moritzlaw.osu.edu/students/groups/osjcl/files/2012/05/Steiker.pdf. Accessed 11 Sept.

2017.

Timeline: America's War on Drugs. NPR, NPR, 2 Apr. 2007,

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9252490. Accessed 19 Sept. 2017