NCJ Number
195801
Journal
Crime & Delinquency Volume: 48 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2002 Pages: 380-398
Date Published
2002
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article examines the public support for the government’s approach to the war on drugs.
Abstract
The author describes the so-called “war on drugs” that has been launched by the past six presidential administrations as a controversial war-centered drug control strategy. Spending on this drug war has grown from 30 percent of the total drug control budget to 52 percent, with only 18 percent of this funding funneled into drug treatment programs. Despite its controversial nature, little research has been conducted that probes the public attitudes toward this war on drugs and the government’s focus on criminal justice approaches as the main solution to the drug problem in America. The authors of this article fill this gap in knowledge by analyzing public support for the government’s approach to the American drug problem. Analyzing data from a 1998 survey of residents of the five largest U.S. metropolitan areas, they probed whether Americans would prefer to combat drug problems from a different perspective. The authors focus their analysis on domestic drug spending, which includes drug treatment, prevention, and criminal justice programs. Results of statistical analysis suggest that the American public is concerned about the drug problem and supports the current level of funding. However, the results show that people across all sociodemographic categories would prefer to see more funding going toward prevention and treatment of drug problems, rather than toward criminal justice programs. The authors conclude that the perceptions of the American public have shifted and that more support may now be garnered for those advocates of a prevention and treatment approach to the war on drugs. However, the authors caution that their survey may be upwardly biased in terms of age, education, and income making generalizations problematic. Tables, notes, references