Former President Jimmy Carter Entered

¶ … former president Jimmy Carter entered the White House, he was left to deal with many of the issues that former president Gerald Ford left behind. The nation's drug issues were one of the things the new president had to deal with immediately because the programs and policies in place were very costly to the new administration. In chapter six of the book, The Quest for Drug Control: Politics and Federal Policy in a Period of Increasing Substance Abuse titled, "The Carter Administration and the End of Accommodation," the authors make it a point to note how frugal the new president was. As we learned from the previous chapter of this textbook, the policies set forth by then President Ford did have the effect of lowering the instances of drug abuse in the country some and then eventually leveling off.

When President Carter took office, he saw the enormous amounts of money that was being spent on several federal programs. At this time, the country was suffering from inflation and we were in an economic crisis. Because he was such a frugal man, he began to make some serious budget cuts on programs that he thought too much money was being spent on. One of the programs where the budget was slashed was the programs to prevent drug abuse and bringing illegal drugs into this country. The new president felt that the drug problem was now under control and not so much money should be spent on this issue.

During former President Ford's administration, heroin was the drug that was sweeping the country and causing the most problems out of other drugs that were considered illegal. Marijuana was thought to be less harmful, so the penalty for use or possession was not as harsh as it was for the use or sale of heroin. These were the laws passed during the Ford Administration and chapter seven of Law, Justice and Society titled, "Civil and Administrative Law," the authors describe the differences between the two types of law. Possession of heroin would be considered administrative law since it deals with the governmental agencies that make and enforce certain laws. The drug policy laws were made by governmental agencies and the use and sale of heroin falls under this umbrella. As such, any infringement of these laws must be enforced.

The Office of Drug Abuse Policy had its budget drastically cut after only one year of operation but was allowed to exist for another year under the new, limited budget. The president agreed to this budget cut, but may have been ill advised. During this time there was beginning to be a rise in the use of cocaine and its use needed to be re-examined to determine what the penalties would be for abuse and sale of this drug.

Cocaine was considered an upscale drug, unlike heroin. Heroin was cheap and easy to get and used a lot in low-income neighborhoods particularly in the inner cities. The drug became a problem when the middle class citizens started using and abusing this drug. Some members of the Carter Administration did not see cocaine as a major problem because at the time, only the wealthiest Americans could afford to buy and use this drug. They also felt that cocaine use, much like marijuana was much less harmful that heroin use. There were very little reports of people committing crimes because they were cocaine junkies. The drug seemed to have a different, less harmful effect that heroin and thus the Carter administration assumed that it was not as addicting as heroin.

One of their solutions to curb the use of cocaine was to limit its entry into the country while driving up the price. It was a matter of basic supply and demand. The administration needed to work with the officials of the countries where the supply came from to (for lack of a better term) strike a deal to restrict the amount of the drug that was being let into America. If the supply of the drug was limited, then naturally the price would sky rocket. Since the price of the drug was so high, it stands to reason that the use of it would be severely limited because only the wealthy people could afford it. The problem with this is that many countries in which the plant used to make cocaine was cultivated had people that relied on this as their livelihood. So, to limit the supply was difficult because it would weaken the economy of the other countries.

What is bothersome about this administration is that some of the administrative laws to curtail the entrance of certain drugs in this country seem to be unethical. It appears that the laws are created in favor of the wealthy, but that they are severe for some of the same infringements against the poor. Without doing extensive research, it was determined that one drug is harmful than others because of the side effects. The underlying issue to all of this that is known to most, but not spoken is that the laws seemed to be based on class. The laws are far more lenient and seem to assist those who have the means to obtain a drug that is considered not as harmful as another. Yet, the laws are stricter when it comes to drugs that as long as they are in the poor communities do not really posed any major threat. However, once this drug makes its way out of the ghetto and into the middle and upper class citizens then it has become a major problem.