Speech about us war on drugs

Name
Tutor
Course
Date
Informative Speech
Topic: The US. War on drugs
General Purpose: To inform
Specific Purpose: To Inform my audience of the failures in the fight against drugs in the US.
Thesis: Ineffective approaches have led to failure in the war against drugs in the U.S.A as evidenced by the large numbers of petty drug offender in the prisons and a large number of lives lost to drugs despite the millions of dollars spent in this fight.
Introduction
Drugs have been nothing but a serious problem though out the history of the U.S. From stories of the poet Edgar Allen smoking opium in the hope of increasing the creativity of his poems to soldiers coming back from Vietnam addicted to heroin, drugs have been a serious burden to the country (Wood et al. 989). The government has responded to the drug menace through the means deemed effective such as the creation of the Drug Enforcement Agency in 173 with a significant budgetary allocation. However Ineffective approaches have led to failure in the war against drugs in the U.S.A as evidenced by the large numbers of petty drug offender in the prisons and a large number of lives lost to drugs despite the millions of dollars spent in this fight.
Criminalization of the problem
The war on drug has failed as a result of the criminalization of the drug problem. The criminalization of this problem was more pronounced during the Reagan administration leading to a rise in the number of arrests related to drugs from 50,000 to 400,000 in only one and a half decades (Wood et al.

890). This criminalization makes it hard for people facing the challenge to come out and seek help.
Lack of support for anti-drugs public education programs
The 1984 campaign by Nancy Regan dubbed “Just Say No” which was aimed at discouraging drug abuse by educating the public on the effects of drugs failed due to lack of support from the government (Hari 18).
Over focus on the reduction of supply at the expense of reducing demand
The present regulations on the drug are focused on reducing the supply of drugs. It is very little concerning regulation to address the demand for drugs in the population.
Conclusion
For the war on drugs to be effective, the government must start by decriminalizing drugs, and then supporting programs aimed at educating the public on the impacts of drug abuse. The current strategies focus more on the reduction of supply at the expense of reducing demand. Anti-drug campaigns will help to lower the demand.

Works Cited
Hari, Johann. Chasing the scream: The first and last days of the war on drugs. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2015.
Wood, Evan, et al. “The war on drugs: a devastating public-policy disaster.” The Lancet 373.9668 (2009): 989-990.