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The “War on Drugs” originated during the Nixon Administration in the early 1970s, and has continued since that time. The United States can’t claim to be winning the war on drugs because statistics show that percentages of those convicted for drug related issues have increased during the past few years. Between 1984 and 1999, the number of defendants charged with a drug offense in U.S. district courts increased about three percent annually, on average, from 11,854 to 29,306." Over eighty percent of the increase in the federal prison population from 1985 to 1995 was due to drug convictions. Our society as a whole is affected by the “War on Drugs”. Focus has been shifted from important matters such as murderers toward comparably trivial matters such as catching teen-age pot-smokers because of the drug scare said Sheriff Masters, whose book, Drug War Addiction, Notes From the Frontlines of America's #1 Policy Disaster, was published recently. "We spend $50 billion a year on drug enforcement," said Sheriff Masters.
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