The war on drugs led to the creation of stringent measures and policies that create more difficult problems in the country, which include the worsening of the prison system, rising illegal drug prices, and proliferation of drug trafficking. Considering drug addiction as a criminal act led to the increase of criminals in prisons, creating an inefficient and defective prison system. Furthermore, because drugs have been considered illegal and distribution have been hampered, its prices have increased in response to these policies. Inevitably, drug trafficking also resulted from these stringent measures. These reasons, in effect, led to Friedman's belief that war on drugs is unethical. Schmoke (1996) presented a contrasting picture of war on drugs and drug addiction in society. For him the war on drugs is ethical and drug addiction as unethical. This stance was built on his belief that drug addiction, in order to be considered as an ethical issue, must be treated as public-health issue rather than a social problem. Indeed, Schmoke's...

Thus, re-directing the focus of the society from the perception that "drug addiction is a problem" to "drug addiction is a public health issue" diminishes its un-ethicality -- that is, because drug addiction leads to negative physical and psychological effects, it is considered unethical. (This is supported by the society's view that any action that threatens the individual's welfare and dignity is considered unethical).Thus, the war on drugs becomes an ethical and valid reason for this public health issue (i.e., drug addiction) to be remedied by both government and society.
Works Cited

Friedman, M. (1998). "It's time to end the war on drugs." Hoover Digest, No.2. Available at http://www.hooverdigest.org/982/friedman.html.

Schmoke, K. (1996). "The war on drugs is lost." National Review. Available at http://www.nationalreview.com/12feb96/drug.html.