Law Enforcement Should Deter Racial Injustice

In 1971, President Nixon created the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 commonly known as the War on Drugs. The war on drugs was implemented to combat production, distribution, and consumption of illegal drugs (Olaya & Angel, 2017). In 2007, law enforcement officers made approximately two million drug arrests in the United States (Potter, 2014). Supporters state that the war on drugs was successful because it lowered the amount of drug users in the United States, created a deterrence in crime, as well as it provided stability in areas that were volatile and impoverished. On the other hand, critics of the war on drugs argue that the war on drugs did not diminish crime rather it created an international drug enterprise. In addition, critics would debate the misallocation of resources and funds and it lead to an increase of crime and overcrowded prisons.

However, those cases should be the only cases that would be permissible. As for reducing racial disparities in adult offenders, along with reformation of poorer communities, we need to focus on fair representation and sentencing for minorities. National surveys conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice find that while African Americans may be subject to traffic stops by police at similar rates to whites, they are three times as likely to be searched after being stopped. The “war on drugs,” acknowledged above, has been a big success in many areas, but it also represents a substantial part of the imbalanced rates of incarceration. In 2005, African Americans represented 14% of current drug users, yet they constituted 33.9% of the people arrested for a drug offense and 53% of people sentenced to prison for a drug offense. Indication of racial profiling by law enforcement does not mean that all officers’ practice this way, it just goes to show that such behaviors still persist to some degree and clearly prevent efforts to promote racial justice. (Justice for All, American Bar

In October of 1982, President Ronald Reagan declared war on drugs. The Reagan administration launched a public relations campaign designed to change the public perception of drug use and the threat posed by illegal drugs. Presidents Bush and Clinton continued the Reagan administration 's anti-drug policies. President Bush established a national office of drug policy, appointed a drug "czar," increased anti-drug spending and intensified drug law enforcement efforts. President Clinton, for his part, increased the anti-drug budget by twenty-five percent, proposed expanded drug testing rules and intensified efforts toward drug interdiction and prosecution (Nunn386-87).

Ultimately, the war on drugs grew because of the influence the first lady had on this movement. During Regan’s acceptance speech he mentioned things such as giving the state more power and tax cuts, but he did not mention a war on drugs. It wasn’t until the first lady traveled on behalf of her husband that drug problem was brought up. “The Reagan administration pressured foreign governments to act against producers and traffickers of opiates, cocaine, marijuana, and other illicit drugs” (Brands, 232). After the declaration of war on drugs statistics showed that Americans were using drugs more than when the Nancy Reagan anti drug campaign began. “Victories in the war on drugs were elusive” (Brands, 232) but states and the federal government

In many ways, the war on terror and the war on drugs have merged. The type of red scare rhetoric from the McCarthy era became nearly interchangeable with the drug war and terrorism during the Reagan administration. “We’re in the middle of a major epidemic...Parents have a right to feel terror,” said Donald Ian MacDonald, Reagan’s top drug advisor. He was referring to drugs. Marlin Fitzwater, Reagan’s Press Secretary openly admitted that “everybody wants to out-drug each other in terms of political rhetoric.” This battle of hyperbole was waged on both sides of the political aisle. Even liberals like former Rep. Stephen Solarz (D-NY) compared the danger from the cartels to “intercontinental ballistic missiles” and wondered “why we treat (their) threat so lightly?” Likewise, former Rep. Thomas F. Hartnett (R-SC) declared that drugs were a “national security threat...worse than any nuclear warfare or any chemical warfare waged on any battlefield.”

Through all of the pop music and big hair there was a growing epidemic of drug usage in the United States. To stop this Ronald Reagan began the War On Drugs, but since he has left office the war has been brought to a stand still. The War On Drugs that Ronald Reagan pursued in the 1980s has been put on the back burner, the amount of drugs and people using them has not decreased, all the while there has not been any new developments to try and prevent drug usage to further build up the arsenal against the War on Drugs.

This paper will discuss the topic of The War on Drugs in America and the harsh realities of what was occurring during the Nixon and Reagan era. It will take a look at past history and the origins of when this drug epidemic became such a hazard in America’s roots. It was first declared in 1971 by President Richard Nixon due to his strong belief that drug abuse was “public enemy number one.” With that, he installed widespread fear amongst citizens as well as creating several alternative means that sought to eliminate the problem. Then throughout President Ronald Reagan’s term, he refocused the nation’s attention back to the issue which led to a significant increase in incarcerations for nonviolent drug crimes. These were times where individuals slipped away from the norm and began experimenting in different areas such as opposition towards the government and social conformity in diverse groups. This then lead to the greater issue of The War on Drugs becoming a war on the people because of its effects on minority groups. The social justice sought by many was to end the racial discrimination placed by higher powers on these groups of people in means to gain political wealth.

In 1971 Nixon declared his “War on Drugs”, stating that drugs are “America’s public enemy number one.” Although drugs were illegal long before Nixon, his war on drugs was the beginning of the Unites State’s drug policy as it exists today. In 1973, Nixon went on to create the Drug Enforcement Agency, otherwise known as the DEA, in order to rage “an all-out global war on the drug menace” (Suddath, “Brief History: The War on Drugs.”). This set the stage for what is now nearly 45 years of this “war” in an attempt to stop both the use of drugs and the harms they cause to the country. As such, the aim of this policy, as with most political policies, was to improve the United States, and create a

President Richard Nixon coined the phrase the “war on drugs” in the 1970s after he and Congress introduced a campaign to reduce the rapidly increasing consumption, production, and distribution of psychoactive drugs, which were already deemed illegal. In the years since, many policies and laws have been created in the United States from mandatory minimum sentences to drug courts. The organization, Learn Liberty, recently put out a YouTube video pointing out that every 2016 presidential nominee has spoken about the current drug epidemic. As pointed out in the video, not all candidates agree on the method of solving the issue, yet they all agree it’s a massive issue.

Therefore, president after president has adopted the “war” metaphor and declared drugs as a national security risk that must be fought at an international level to maintain society safe. In Bush’s speech to the nation, he states the citizens must come together behind one plan of action, “an assault on every front” (cited in Elwood, 1995 p. 106). Consequently, the misuse of rhetoric, war metaphors, and the assault on drugs have had a negative impact on society which has failed American citizens.

Drugs are magic because they help reduce stress and make people relax. With their grow-ing popularity, some doctors even use drugs as medications. One example is morphine, a kind of drug mainly used to relieve pains. Also, people from different regions prefer different types of drugs. For instance, African Americans like to consume cocaine whereas many Mexicans use Marijuana (The House I Live In). Gradually, people have realized drugs’ potential addictions, health problems, and drug-related crimes. Thus, they turn to restrict drug abuse. The term “war on drugs” was first coined by President Richard Nixon, who increased the drug control agencies nationwide and dramatically fought for drug abuses. Between 1981 and 1989, President Ronald Reagan

The restrictiveness of federal drug policies would only increase over the coming decades when President Ronald Reagan also prioritized incarceration of nonviolent drug users. In the 17-year period from 1980 to 1997, the number of people incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses would skyrocket from 50,000 to over 400,000 (A Brief History of the Drug War, n.d.). In 1986, Reagan also addressed the issue of drug use in the federal workplace by determining that it interfered with the efficiency of government employees and therefore should be outlawed under Executive Order 12564 (Executive Orders, n.d.).

As we approach the 1980s president Ronald Reagan took office. Reagan drastically increased the efforts for the war on drugs. Not only did he increase funding for all agencies but he also enacted several bills that began to increase the rate at which people were incarcerated for nonviolent drug related offenses. In the same decade, a lot of the public began to fear and support the war on drugs. In 1985 roughly 2 – 6 percent of the American population saw drugs as the number one problem in America. In 1989 however that number had risen to roughly 64 percent of the population. This was mainly due to propaganda that was implemented into the television and entertainment medias. Within less than a year the percentage of Americans that felt drugs were the number one problem dwindled down to roughly 10 percent of the population due to the media losing interest in the war on drugs.

In 1971, President Nixon created the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 commonly known as the War on Drugs. The war on drugs was implemented to combat production, distribution, and consumption of illegal drugs (Olaya & Angel, 2017). In 2007, law enforcement officers made approximately two million drug arrests in the United States (Potter, 2014). Supporters state that the war on drugs was successful because it lowered some drug users in the United States, created a deterrence in crime, as well as it provided stability in areas that were volatile and impoverished. On the other hand, critics of the war on drugs argue that the war on drugs did not diminish crime instead it created an

The most obvious function of drug control, and the primary reason lawmakers cite is to reduce the amount of a specific drug that is used (Mc Neece, & Dinitto, 2012 pg. 203). However societal regulation appears to be motivated by which drugs are stable sources of wealth and power and whether drugs may threaten established business and profit. As a result, federal policies are for more concerned with preventing recreational drug use than helping addicts. According to the “ The War on Drugs Winners and Losers “ Ronald Regan introduced the self- perpetuating never- ending war on drugs and in the process generated funding for the third- largest growth industry in the united states (U.S.). In addition funding for drug treatment dropped