ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the war on drugs, its legacy, and its impact on American corrections. It reviews evidence of the general effectiveness of the war on drugs and the effectiveness of specific drug war components. "The war on drugs" refers to a set of drug control policies adopted largely in the mid 1980s, which continue to dominate drug enforcement to the present. Earlier drug control strategies concentrated on reducing illicit drug crops, disrupting international drug distribution networks, interdicting drugs at United States borders, and apprehending high-level drug dealers. The primary intended consequence of declaring a war on drugs was to reduce the availability of drugs, drug use, and drug-related violence. The policies enacted as part of the war on drugs have not achieved their stated goals. Crop eradication and interdiction have had many successes, and the criminal justice system has arrested, prosecuted, and incarcerated countless drug offenders.
