American Drug Society Book Report

It a ludacris ratio, but they stuck with it and stuck it to a lot of low level users and dealers. There was an even harsher punishment for those who carried 5 grams of crack cocaine or more. A first time offender who was in possession of 5 grams of crack would be given a mandatory 5 years in prison. That means that you would be given the same amount of prison time for having 500 grams of powdered cocaine in your possession. If an individual was caught we 50 grams of crack, it would be an automatic 10 years. There has never been a class of drug in the history of the United States that has been as racially skewed in regards to the number of offenses. According to the United States Sentencing Commission, which I might add came about as a product of the Anti-Drug-Abuse Act, 79% of the 5,669 sentenced crack offenders in 2015 were African American 10% where Hispanic, and the remaining 10% were white. When you contrast that with the 6,103 cases were cocaine was the charge, the numbers are a little more spread out along the playing field: 53% Hispanic, 27% Black, 18% white. Rightfully so, someone finally took care of the injustice that was created back in 1986. In 2010, President Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act. What the Act did was it lowered the ratio of crack to cocaine from 100-1 to 18-1. That’s still a very high number for two almost identical drugs that have the same effects, has the same molecular structure, and is just as addictive. Bills are currently being presented in order to lower the sentencing ratio down to

"Cocaine and crack are among the most addictive substances known to modern science, and they have already ruined the lives of millions of Americans" (Morganthau and Miller, 208). Cocaine and crack are both dangerous, harmful drugs. Though pleasurable effects can be obtained from these drugs, the use of crack and cocaine cannot be worth the actual consequences that are inflicted on mind and body. The bad effects of these drugs, by far outweigh the good. Because crack and cocaine are so closely related, it is important to have a firm understanding of both drugs.

Crack cocaine has been popular since the 1970s and mid 1980s. Crack cocaine is not a new drug; this drug is obtained from coca plant which grows mainly in South America. For many years, the native South American Indians chewed its leaves to develop strength and increased energy. By the 1800s, the cocaine was secluded from its leaves and used as a medicinal drug. By the late 1800s, it was used as an anesthetic and to avert surgical hemorrhage. The next century, people recognized crack cocaine an addictive narcotic and its non-medical use of the drug was ended by the Harrison Narcotics Act in 1914 (“How crack cocaine works?”).

Most of us would agree that drug abuse and addiction is no respecter of persons. Regardless of age, race, gender, or economic status drug addiction can rear its ugly head in any situation. Like most Americans, I have personally been affected by the pitfalls of drug addiction from relatives and friends. Therefore, I have witnessed firsthand the devastation that it leaves on family members, friends, and the communities, in which they reside. Since its inception in 1986 the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, as caused more harm than good. At the start of this Act, Congress implemented maximum drug quantities initially targeted at “serious” and “major” drug traffickers. Congress concluded that 500 grams of powder cocaine would trigger a five-year mandatory minimum, and five kilograms would trigger a ten-year mandatory minimum. However, for crack cocaine the triggering quantities were significantly less. Only five grams of crack cocaine would prompt five-years and just fifty grams to prompt a ten-year sentence. This massive gap became known as the 100-to-1 sentencing disparity. Soon after several states began to legislate sentencing disparities between powder cocaine and crack cocaine into their criminal codes. The original targets of

In 1982 the crack epidemic started, which shortly after Ronald Reagan expanded the war on drugs that Nixon started, one of his top aides admitted that the war on drugs was used to “target African Americans and hippies”. The number of incarcerations before the war on drugs was expanded in 1980 was four thousand seven hundred forty-nine for drug related crimes, in 1990 that number increased to twenty-four thousand two hundred ninety-seven, sixty percent of those incarcerations were African Americans (sentencingproject.org). If you were caught with one gram of crack you got the same sentencing as someone found with eighteen grams of cocaine, it was policies like these that targeted lower income black communities because crack was much cheaper than cocaine and was more likely for a white person to have cocaine.

The textbook pointed out that drug prevention and drug ________ might have different goals and use different approaches.

Since the inception of mandatory minimum cocaine laws in 1986 to the advent of the Armstrong case, not a single white offender had been convicted of a crack cocaine offense in federal courts serving Los Angeles and its six surrounding counties. Rather, virtually all white offenders were prosecuted in state court, where they were not subject to that drug’s lengthy mandatory minimum sentences. The impact of the decision to prosecute the black defendants in federal court was significant. In federal court they faced a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 10 years and a maximum of life without parole if convicted of selling more than 50 grams of crack. By contrast, if prosecuted in California state court, the defendants would have received a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum of five years (United States v. Armstrong, 1996).

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For decades since the 1986 Act, those prosecuted for possession of crack cocaine were given harsher punishments than those who were caught with cocaine. Despite minimal differences between the effectiveness and formulation of either drug, crack cocaine was prosecuted at a 100:1 ratio to cocaine. Many questioned why the gap existed, but ultimately the reasoning lied with who was consuming either drug. Crack cocaine was popular in extremely urban areas, prone to house more minorities than suburban areas. Cocaine, however, was typically a more “elitist” drug consumed and

Methaqualone, is also referred to as Disco Biscuits, Down And Dirties, Jekyll-and-Hyde, Joe Fridays, Lemmon 714, Lemons, Lennon's, Lovers, Ludes, Mandies, Mandrake, Q, Qua, Quack, Quad, Quaaludes, Soaper, Supper, Vitamin Q, The Love Drug, Wallbangers, Whore Pills, and Sopor. This list of street names for the drug goes on and on.

Narcotics are central nervous system depressants that relieve pain without causing the user to lose consciousness. It is this reason many people choose to abuse prescription narcotics.

The Federal laws states that crack cocaine, or rock cocaine, weighing the same as a nickel carries a five-year minimum sentence, but to get a five year minimum sentence with powder you have to have 500 grams on your person (Locy 3A). This law is known as the 100-to-1 law and primarily affects minorities due to the fact that crack is usually found and sold in inner cities. National survey statistics showed that Caucasians and African Americans are equal when it comes to the distribution and sale of drugs, yet 63 percent of drug offenders in jails and prisons are black (Browne 5). Institutions, such as prisons, are supposed to be used to rehabilitate and remobilize people. Once a person has committed a crime he or she is seen as a deviant, someone who goes against the norms and laws of society. Deviants go through degradation ceremonies to strip them of their identity in hopes of reshaping the person into someone new who is accepted by society. When people are arrested they go through humiliation; they are stripped of their names and given a number, have their personal clothes taken away and are given a standardized uniform, and they’re removed from society. All of this is used to try and change the person. They are put into prison with other inmates who have committed crimes and they must socialize with them. If a person goes to jail for 25 years, their main contact is with criminals. Then when their time has been served, they are going to have that mindset and

Does not have substance related charges; Never attended school while under the influence of drugs; Never operated a vehicle while under the influence of drugs; Never been involved in physical and/or verbal altercation that resulted from being under the influence of drugs or because family members and friends opposed his drug use; Never experienced withdrawal symptoms; Never used more drug of choice than originally planned; Stopped using drug of choice after learning the harmful effects it has on his body and

Tolerance is the condition where the standard doses of narcotics produce less effect or a person develops a state of resistance to the effects if the drug. Because of tolerance, the effect of narcotics diminishes with their chronic use. Thus, to maintain the same level of narcotic effect, a person must take more of it.

Prior to this course, I never really gave substance abuse much of a thought to be honest. I never really thought about the role I could play in the prevention of drug abuse or how it may come up in my future line of work. However, in as little as six weeks, my view has completely change on the “war on Drugs” and how drug abuse prevention and treatment needs every member of society to actively participate in coming up with a solution to this problem.