The United States anti-narcotics laws were originally based on racial prejudice against the Chinese Americans and African Americans. Beginning in the early 1900s, officials spread vicious rumors against African Americans and the Chinese Americans in order to gain support for the United States anti-narcotics law. Considering that the prohibition on narcotics has been in effect since the 1940s and was originally centered on racial prejudice, this "war on drugs" has not been beneficial to society. In recent reports, records show that there are a two or three times the amount of African American arrests for marijuana offences compared to the arrests of White Americans for the same offence. The alarming side of this revelation is that additional records show that more White Americans use marijuana than African Americans. In this paper I will explore further into the reasons why the Anti-Drug policy is based on racial prejudice and is harmful to our society.
Due to the anti-Chinese sentiment in 1902, California began the official war on drugs by passing the first prohibition by prohibiting the use of opium. Wide spread rumors were spread that white women were becoming seduced by opium, resorting to prostitution and out of control behavior. Officials became exceedingly concerned by reports that the upper class had begun to use opium also.
During 1910 and 1920 the author of the United States anti-narcotics law, claimed that the African American society had become addicted to cocaine and had become out of control, gaining support for the anti-narcotics law. Police departments began to carry .38 caliber revolvers instead of .32 calibers, under the impression that African Americans on cocaine would not be affected when shot. Stories were generated claiming that African Americans high on cocaine were sexually attacking white women.
Racial discrimination is used to this day surrounding the arrests and convictions due to drug related charges. Federal and local law enforcement are partial responsible for the continued racial discrimination in our society. Police departments have increased numbers of police patrol cars to target and patrol areas that are considered the “lower class”, often stopping and searching vehicles for drug related items. According to sources, (DPA, PP.9. 2010), many records show that the police departments and the FBI have charts showing the races of each arrest, showing that African Americans and Latinos are a majority of the drug related arrests, yet they keep targeting areas that contain a majority of these two races.
Statistics show that African American convictions outnumber the convictions of any other race. Although reports that white adolescents use more marijuana than African Americans their age, more than double of the arrests for marijuana related charges are African American. In 2006 the number of sentenced prisoners for drug related offences where 117,660 African American and 72,100 White (U.S. Department of Justice, 2010). According to Jack Cole, Co-founder of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), statistics show that 72% of people who use, distribute, or involved in drugs are white, while only 13.5% are African American, yet 60% of people who are in federal prisons on in because of drug related convictions are African Americans (Cole, 2004).
In 1986 the introduction of Mandatory Sentencing required a judge to convict and sentence any person who violates any anti-narcotics law with a fixed sentence, now turning toward punishment rather than treatment. The financial cost of investigating, arresting, convicting, and punishing a person for a drug related crime using mandatory sentencing has been proven to not be cost effective and could be corrected with different laws centered towards prevention and treatment. (DPA, 2010)
Mandatory sentencing is responsible for incarcerating many citizens for long amounts of time requiring tax payers to pay for the arrest and incarceration, even if the drug related offense is considered a victimless act, such as six months jail time in some states for the possession of a seed or stem from a cannabis plant. Mandatory sentencing is based on the type of drug, its weight, and the number of convictions the person has had, making it impossible for a judge to order drug treatment in place of incarceration.
There is much debate over the use of Mandatory sentencing on whether the time of incarceration served is too long. According to surveys (Regional Business News, 2010), a large majority of judges believe that all of the mandatory sentencing set incarceration times are unjust and should be decreased. Mandatory sentencing does not allow a judge to take into consideration the circumstances of the crime, the past criminal history of the guilty party, or the amount of drugs involved, if any. Judges are trusted and depended on daily to make important decisions concerning the punishment of criminals, often adjusting sentencing to fit the punishment. By imposing the mandatory sentencing, judges cannot make these decisions, forced into increasing overcrowded prisons and imposing harsh punishments for those who would benefit otherwise.
Some cases may be more effective to treat the offender rather than punish that person to jail time. Cases where small amounts of Marijuana, which is now medically legal in many states, or first time offenders of small amounts of narcotics, may benefit treatment for their addiction, other than going to jail with hard core criminals. In other cases where the offender is very young, or has a family history of drug related incarcerations, judges should have the option to over- ride a mandatory sentence, and provide treatment and prevention programs.
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) main duty is to insure that the laws and regulations related to controlled substances are upheld and that any person or organization that disburses, cultivates, or produce any controlled substance will be brought into the United States justice system, and to suggest or assist programs aimed at controlling and eliminating controlled substances throughout the world markets. (DEA, 2010) The DEA was created during the Nixon president in 1973, declaring a war on drugs. As of present day, the DEA has a budget of 2.3 billion dollars, with 5,235 agents and 87 offices all over the world. (DEA History, 2010)
The purpose of LEAP is not to just legalize drugs, but to regulate and control it in order to keep it out of children's hands and stop arresting people for drug related crimes. (COLE, 2004) This agency consists of active duty and retired police officers who do not believe that the current drug policy is not effective. (LEAP “Mission Statement”, 2010) Many of these officer have experience the anti-drug war first hand and have a strong belief that the policies need to be changed in order to really end drug related crimes. LEAP also offers educational materials about the effects of the drug war and ways that the policy can be changed to benefit society.
Sources claim that the illegalization of marijuana is harming society; according to The Washington Post (2010) there are over 800,000 arrests that are marijuana related prohibiting officers from spending much needed time on DUI’s. This is also distracts the police from focusing on harder narcotics, such as heroin or cocaine, which are detrimental to society. Opposers of the war on drugs, claim that the decriminalization of marijuana itself, will decrease our prison populations, and drug related arrests.
There are no documented statistics that verify that the anti-drug policy has been effective since its introduction. Strong supports of the war on drugs include the FBI, DEA, and Home Land Security. The anti-narcotics law established in the 1970s has relied on deterrence. With such strong punishments enforced, the drug policy has insured that more individuals will avoid illegal drug activity.
The average cost of imprisonment is 30,000 per inmate every year of incarceration, costing more yearly than the Federal government spends on Welfare. In the future, due to the cost of taking care of the inmate’s medical needs, the price of incarceration will continue to increase. Reports indicate that more inmates are incarcerated over drug related crimes, explaining the increase in the prison population over the last twenty years. Experts claim that the introduction of prevention and treatment programs, instead of imprisonment, will help reduce the increase in the prison population. The United States prison system does not focus on rehabilitation, making it hard to help rehabilitate drug offenders. Without further support for prevention and rehabilitation programs, our prison populations will continue to grow.
One of the commonly forgotten and saddest victims of the war on drugs is the children of the drug offenders who are placed into incarceration. Many studies show that children who live in a single parent household have many emotional, mental and social problems. Unfortunately, the United States anti-drug policies require for drug offenders to be imprisoned with mandatory sentencing, regardless of the situation. In many states the anti-drug policy is enforced to such a degree of no tolerance, a person can be imprisoned for up to 6 months for possession of a marijuana seed. Although possession is illegal and requires punishment, perhaps a drug treatment program would be more appropriate. This would allow the offender to remain at home with his or her children, maintaining a structured family environment.
Studies show that children who have a parent who is incarcerated are at risk to experience anxiety problems, risk of depression, and abandonment issues. (Wakefield, 2008) Another effect of having an incarcerated parent increases the chance of that child also committing criminal acts. This is the effect of the child’s home environment, lacking a crucial parent role model, or the child may act out to obtain attention. Other aspects are that the minor is financially driven to commit drug related crimes, due to lack of income from incarcerated parent.
Alternatives to the anti-drug policies are often debated, claiming that the legalization and control of narcotics would be beneficial in many aspects. For example the legalization of Medical Marijuana in California generated taxable income for the state. Studies reveal that in other countries, such as Amsterdam Holland who has legalized all drugs, has a lower drug use rate than the United States. Countries that have adopted the legalization or decriminalization of drugs focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment as a deterrent. Has a lower drug use rate than the United States. Countries that have adopted the legalization or decriminalization of drugs focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment as a deterrent.
The continuing costs of investigating, arresting, convicting, and imprisoning citizens for drug related crimes are not cost efficient. The continued decay of the family structure is drastically affected by incarcerations that may have been more beneficial to society if given the option of treatment instead of punishment. After considering that the prohibition on narcotics has been in effect since the 1940s and was originally centered on racial prejudice, this "war on drugs" has not been beneficial to society. Possible restructure of the Drug Reform Policy, or the dismissal of the Mandatory sentencing may provide relief to society.
Research done by Myra Oppy
Research Paper for College (She recived an A+ by the way)
RESOURCES:
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (2010) "Mission Statement"(2010) Retrieved June 09, 2010, from website: http://www.justice.gov/dea/agency/mission.htm
Law Enforcement against Prohibition. (2010)"The War on Drugs full transcript, Jack Cole, Radio One Interview" (2004) Retrieved June 09, 2010, from website: http://leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=30
Drug Policy Alliance “Targeting Blacks for Marijuana” pp. 9 (2010) Retrieved July 25, 2010, from website: http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/Targeting_Blacks_for_Marijuana_06_29_10.pdf
Drug Policy Alliance “Mandatory Minimum Sentence” (2010) Retrieved July 25, 2010, from website: http://www.drugpolicy.org/drugwar/mandatorymin/
Drug Enforcement Agency “DEA Mission Statement” (2010) Retrieved July 25, 2010, from website: http://www.justice.gov/dea/agency/mission.htm
Drug Enforcement Agency “DEA History” (2010) Retrieved July 25, 2010, from website: http://www.justice.gov/dea/history.htm
U.S. Department of Justice “Bureau of Justice Statistics” (2010) Retrieved July 25, 2010, from website: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/p08.pdf
Sara Wakefield “The Effects of Parental Incarceration on Children:
Using Qualitative Interviews to Inform a Survey Analysis” (2008) Retrieved July 25, 2010, from website: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=36954989&site=ehost-live
The Washington Times “Marijuana Ban Keeps Us Less Safe” (2010) Retrieved July 25, 2010, from website: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=4KB520100719043444810020&site=ehost-live
Michelle Lore “Judges Think Mandatory Minimum Sentences Are Too High” (2010) Retrieved July 25, 2010, from website: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=L54604458MLMN&site=ehost-live
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