China Death is No Deterrent

In America drug trafficking carries a heavy prison sentence, and depending on how much of the drug is being smuggled, these prison sentences can range over many years. A common argument is that the possibility of prison time acts as a deterrent to stray people from taking part in this illegal activity. If this was an effective deterrent we would see much less activity in the drug trade then what is a reality today. Others argue that we need harsher punishments for people who are involved with the illegal drug trade. Would this really be an effective deterrent? We can find the answer to this question if we look at China’s policy on illegal drugs. Rather than send someone to prison for a decade or two, China sentences anyone who traffics narcotics to death. That’s right; involvement with drugs earns you the death penalty in China. You can’t have a harsher punishment than death, so would applying the death penalty to drug trafficking offenses in the United States effectively combat the drug trade? Not at all, because even though drug trafficking carries the death penalty in China, people still take the chance and run drugs into the country, and this would be no different in America.

                Is death a deterrent in the illegal drug trade? I really don’t believe so, because drug trafficking is a dangerous game to play on its own. Even if the government utilized China’s policy, the drug smuggler and dealer would have a greater chance of being killed by a rival gang or cartel in the street than being killed by the government. Drugs carry the very real possibility of death day in and day out. Why do people think that a harsher punishment by the government will deter them from running drugs? These people live with the possibility that they will get killed every day. In the mind of the criminal, the lure of making large amounts of money will always outweigh the possibility of getting killed. If this was not true then there would be far less people involved in the trade. How do you fight someone who is undeterred by death or prison time? There is no punishment harsh enough to deter these criminals from their lifestyle.

                We can see that China’s model for combating drugs is not as effective as some might think. Even if we started to use the death penalty as punishment for drug offenses, the criminal is much more likely to get murdered than to be put to death by the state. We have to start looking for an alternative strategy when fighting against the drug trade. No threat of death or longer prison terms will ever be able to effectively fight the war on drugs.