NCJ Number
146280
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 73 Issue: 3 and 4 Dated: special issue (September/December 1993) Pages: 253-256
Date Published
1993
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The 1980's witnessed the rediscovery of crack cocaine and increased drug use and crime rates in the United States, and Federal and local governments responded with a war on drugs that incorporated varying degrees of emphasis on drug law enforcement versus drug treatment.
Abstract
In 1988, the national drug control strategy expanded the war on drugs to include suppliers, dealers, and users and stipulated that aircraft, vessels, and vehicles could be confiscated for carrying even the smallest amount of a controlled substance. At the local government level, many user accountability statutes were enacted that incorporated mandatory penalties for those in possession of even small quantities of drugs. During the Bush presidency, a period of growing conservatism and escalating crime rates, the war on drugs engendered a criminal justice process that appeared to be drug-driven in almost every respect. New laws were created to deter drug involvement and to increase penalties for drug-related crime. In the police sector, funding was made available to expand street drug law enforcement initiatives. The increased flow of drug cases resulted in overcrowded dockets and courtrooms and the creation of new drug courts, special dispositional alternatives for drug offenders, and higher conviction and incarceration rates. The spread of AIDS among inmates resulted from the higher density of prison populations combined with the expanded presence of intravenous drug users and others at risk for the disease. With the election of President Clinton, the focus of drug policy moved toward treatment, a shift that also emerged in the 1970's with the Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime Program and later with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986.