Drug Courts

W. Clinton Terry III

From 1974 until 1980, Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter adhered to policies that allocated more than half of the federal government's antidrug budget to programs designed to reduce demand for illegal drugs through treatment of drug abusers and prevention of drug use by young people. However, after President Reagan's 1981 inauguration, the treatment and prevention approach was virtually abandoned. His policy appropriated more than 50 percent of the antidrug budget for programs to reduce the supply of illegal drugs through (1) enacting, and then strictly enforcing, stronger antidrug laws and (2) adhering to a policy of zero tolerance for all drug dealers and users. When President Reagan's antidrug policy was put into effect, the intensified law enforcement effort led to the more arrests, prosecutions, and incarcerations. From 1980 to 1998, the total number of criminal arrests nationwide increased by 40 percent, from 10,441,000 to 14,528,300, while the number of ...

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