It goes without saying that the influx of drugs in America has resulted in legislative actions to halt the consumption, possession, and sales of most drugs. The extent to these measures are better known as “The War on Drugs;” a term coined in June of 1971 by former President Richard Nixon. The war on drugs is indeed a war; it induces biased, civil attacks on minority groups in America, executed by law enforcement officials through criminal racism. In the course of my paper, I will explain the facts and details that prove the war on drugs is nothing but merely scapegoating minorities on American soil. Drugs, in the United States, are defined by a classification system. While each state differs in the way in which drugs are governed, the …show more content…
Schedule III drugs have moderate or low abuse potential and are products containing less than 90 milligrams of codeine per dosage unit (Tylenol with codeine), as well as: ketamine, anabolic steroids, and testosterone. Schedule IV drugs have a low potential for abuse and are: Xanax, Soma, Darvon, Darvocet, Valium, Ativan, Talwin, Ambien, and Tramadol. Lastly, Schedule V drugs have an even lower potential for abuse than Schedule IV and include: cough medication with less than 200 milligrams of codeine or per 100 milliliters (Robitussin AC), Lomotil, Motofen, Lyrica, and Parepectolin (DEA.GOV). Why is this a problem? Is it unreasonable to protect the majority of the population from the evils drugs can do? Well, in short, no. The problem with the war on drugs really has nothing to do with the problem of drugs in America, it has to do with the problem America has with who is “using” these drugs. I do not believe the creation of the Drug War was completely misguided, but it certainly did result that way. Throughout this paper, I am going to explore the history, impacts, reasons, and solutions surrounding the War on Drugs and why it is a legal way to target minorities on American soil. Historically, we gave drugs a thumbs up. For
For many years, drugs have been the center of crime and the criminal justice system in the United States. Due to this widespread epidemic, President Richard Nixon declared the “War on Drugs” in 1971 with a campaign that promoted the prohibition of illicit substances and implemented policies to discourage the overall production, distribution, and consumption. The War on Drugs and the U.S. drug policy has experienced the most significant and complex challenges between criminal law and the values of today’s society. With implemented drug polices becoming much harsher over the years in order to reduce the overall misuse and abuse of drugs and a expanded federal budget, it has sparked a nation wide debate whether or not they have created more harm than good. When looking at the negative consequences of these policies not only has billions of dollars gone to waste, but the United States has also seen public health issues, mass incarceration, and violent drug related crime within the black market in which feeds our global demands and economy. With this failed approach for drug prohibition, there continues to be an increase in the overall production of illicit substances, high rate of violence, and an unfavorable impact to our nation.
The American “War on Drugs” war created to keep an exorbitant amount of people behind bars, and in a subservient status. First, America has a storied history when it comes to marijuana use. However, within the last 50 years legislation pertaining to drug use and punishment has increased significantly. In the modern era, especially hard times have hit minority communities thanks to these drug laws. While being unfairly targeted by drug laws and law enforcement, minorities in America are having a difficult time trying to be productive members of society.
In the past forty years, the United States has spent over $2.5 trillion dollars funding enforcement and prevention in the fight against drug use in America (Suddath). Despite the efforts made towards cracking down on drug smugglers, growers, and suppliers, statistics show that addiction rates have remained unchanged and the number of people using illegal drugs is increasing daily (Sledge). Regardless of attempts to stem the supply of drugs, the measure and quality of drugs goes up while the price goes down (Koebler). Now with the world’s highest incarceration rates and greatest illegal drug consumption (Sledge), the United States proves that the “war on drugs” is a war that is not being won.
Throughout history, the drug war has always targeted minority groups. “At the root of the drug-prohibition movement in the United States is race, which is the driving force behind the first laws criminalizing drug use, which first appeared as early as the 1870s (Cohen, 56)”. There were many drug laws that targeted minority groups such as the marijuana ban of 1930s that criminalized Mexican migrant farm workers and in the Jim Crow South, reformist wanted to wage war on the Negro cocaine feign so they used African Americans as a scapegoat while they overlooked southern white women who were a bigger problem for the drug epidemic (Cohen, 57). Instead of tackling the root of the drug problem they passed the blame to struggling minority groups within the United States.
The war on Drugs played a heavy role in minority American society. It affected policing and most importantly the American minority people. The war on drugs started by President Nixon and up until President Bush was a disaster that affected America with high incarceration and high recidivism rates for low level and non-violent drug offenses that mainly targeted minorities in America. The war on drugs was a massive American failure that mainly affected minorities. President Obama and his drug reform alongside the American public’s strong opinion to switch towards marijuana reform which we see in places like Colorado and Washington has caused the war on drugs to lose steam. The American public’s decision for drug reform is no surprise after nearly 40 years of the unsuccessful war on drugs.
Doris Marie Provine writes her book, Unequal under law: Race in the War on Drugs, to inform her audience that race plays a key role in the War on Drugs. She writes about how this war has become a war on race rather than a war intended to improve drug abuse. Provine begins her book with some background on the first account of the “war on drugs”. She describes how the prohibition age was the beginning of this war which targeted women and blacks. In Unequal under law, Provine explains how different race groups have been given crime labels. Africans have been labeled as the cocaine abusers, Mexicans are known as the weed smokers, and Chinese are deemed the opium addicts. She argues that the government supported the war on drugs although it knew
The war on drugs is a movement that had started in the 1970s and is still evolving from today. Over the years, people have had mixed reactions to the campaign, ranging from full-on support to claims that it has racist and political objectives. People who are affected by drugs are the people you use them and have gotten addicted to the substances that they started using for medical or recreational purposes. The war on drugs has many challenges attached to it but there are five possible solutions that can hopefully end the war on drugs.
The war on drugs during the 1980s to present has become a center of attention for the American governments’ foreign and domestic policy. Though the idea to clean up Americas streets sounds convincing, the truth is, it’s not. Hence, the War on Drugs is seen as a situation of the war within our government and institutionalizing the streets of America, in other words, the separation against certain groups to possess a certain radical objective. Although most are unaware, race and the declaration to the War on Drugs has played a vital role in marginalizing the communities as a target. In return those, mostly of African American decent, are expose tot the institutions and police control within neighborhoods. In addition, the Drug War has been a
There is a war going on. It is a war that has targeted, jailed, and killed millions of Americans. To see its profound impact, one does not even need to leave our nation 's borders. It is a civil war, that Consists of the U.S. Government, versus our country 's minority communities. It has spanned multiple generations and numerous presidential administrations. Declared by President Richard M. Nixon in June, 1971, the war on drugs has been one lost at great cost. In this paper, the argument will be presented that the war on drugs was a war on minority communities by disproportionately negatively affecting them through means of mass incarceration, ignoring a massive unknown disease, and gentrification.
No matter who has occupied the executive branch, the United States has pursued the same overall policies throughout the drug war. Anti-drug policies can be separated into two general camps, 'supply-reduction ' and 'demand-reduction’ (McCabe 5). Supply-reduction strategies seek to reduce the availability of drugs by limiting access to drug sources and increasing the risks of drug possession and distribution. Demand-reduction strategies, on the other hand, seek to reduce demand for illegal drugs through drug use prevention and treatment. The rhetoric of war helped shape the strategies that were used to combat the perceived drug threat.
The war on drugs began during Nixon’s administration in 1968 and was designed in efforts to reduce the amount of drugs being sold and consumed in America (Moore & Elkavich, 2008). Nixon believed that getting drugs out of the hands of people would make the country a safer and better place, however these new drug laws did not reduce the amount of drugs being consumed or distributed. Instead, these laws incarcerated a large amount of people and have resulted in a continuation of inequality in our country. While Marx would argue that the war on drugs prolongs inequality through class conflict because it targets low class individuals, advantages upper class communities while disadvantaging the poor communities, and it makes the cycle of class differences continue, Wells-Barnett would argue that the war on drugs perpetuates inequality through its racism because it was created in response to colored people using drugs, it targets black males, and the sentencing varies based on whom the drug is linked to.
“The war on drugs” is an American phrase which is usually applied to an operation of military intervention, prohibition of drugs and military aid, with the stated target of abbreviating the illegal drug trade. The massive amount of growth of prisoners from that time has highly contributed to the prison overflow that the US has become accustomed to today. In the United Sates, prisons contain more individuals than any other country in the world mostly because the war on drugs. Harsh punishments and misguided drug legislations specifications have resulted in great unfair consequences for those of colour. Even though rates of drug usage are parallel amongst ethnic and racial lines, people of Latino or black origin have a considerably higher chance of being criminalized. The drug war leads the way in mass incarceration and racial differences in the U.S. legal
According to Michelle Alexander, why and how has the “war on drugs” developed over the last 40 years? What are the main political and economic factors that led to the war on drugs, and what are the main political and economic factors that shaped it as it developed over the last four decades? Draw on material from the Foner textbook chapters 25 through 28 to supplement Alexander’s discussion of the political and economic context.
The so-called “War on Drugs,” as declared by the Nixon administration in the signing of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, marked the beginning of the current era of mandatory minimum sentencing, racism, privatized prisons, and a powerful constituency that profits as a result of the prohibition of drugs. Psychoactive substances have been apart of the human experience as long as humans have walked the earth. There is little hope that drug production will ever be curtailed, so long as there is a demand; a demand that has remained steady even though it has been forty years since the beginning of said war. As Judge James P. Gray from the Superior Court of Orange County has so plainly put it: “Where did this policy
The War on Drugs is a current conflict that has been going on for many decades. It is a movement organized by the United States Government in attempts to reduce the amount of illegal drug trafficking in the country. The War on Drugs enforced strict drug policies that are intended to reduce both the production, distribution, and consumption of illegal drugs. The term was first used by President Richard Nixon, during a press conference concerning the nationwide drug abuse issue, in which Nixon announces to the Congress that drug abuse was, “public enemy number one”. Illegal drugs are certainly dangerous; addiction and death are two but many factors as a result of drugs. However, even though the War on Drugs might sounds justifiable, in truth, it is actually making the drug issue worst in the country.