One of my fellow classmates made a claim in an Op-Ed piece that we need a new war on drugs initiative to combat the growing abuse of opioids like Xanax, Fentanyl, and heroin. I agree with him that this problem needs to be addressed, but not in the form of a “new war on drugs”. The war on drugs program is a dead carcass that shouldn’t be revived. Former President Nixon used this program for his own political gain to silence his critics. He associated pot with the hippies (anti-war protesters) and heroin with the blacks. Nixon vilified these communities day in and day out. This initiative never was about controlling and stopping drug use. It’s about one thing and one thing only; putting minorities and people of a lower socio-economic status behind bars.
Think about it, have you ever seen a DEA sting operation in suburban areas? Have you ever seen law enforcement bust down doors of a Naperville IL home in search of drugs? The answer is very rarely. Throughout the 80’s and still now, police are shown in lower socio- economic areas (with a high percentage of minority occupants). Their presence in these areas are not of a friendly nature. Law enforcement have been shown countless times on media outlets using force to apprehend drug users and drug dealers. Then, the people who get arrested are given very harsh penalties in the form of mandatory minimums (serving at least 85% of your sentence- Bill Clinton's doing). These inmates are then kept in jail without adequate programs in place to deal with their addiction problems. The recidivism rate in this country is so high that the majority of these people become repeat offenders and just start a never-ending cycle of crime in lower socio-economic communities.
Now, drug use has no race, gender, or economic bias. There are junkies from Crenshaw to Wall Street. However, the war on drugs didn’t see it this way. Because of this program, certain drugs have been and still are associated with race and economic status. Crack has always been seen as a “poor mans” drug while cocaine has been as the “rich mans” drug. In the words of one of my former professor’s, “the only difference between crack and cocaine is a fucking microwave”. Crack is just the harden rock form of cocaine. However, crack users were punished much harsher for possession of it than cocaine users. People who have one gram of crack are given the same sentence as people with 18 grams of cocaine.
Crack was made as a scapegoat for politicians like Reagan and Bush Sr. They used crack as the reason why unemployment rates were so high etc. Crack was also much more prevalent in lower-economic communities while cocaine was seen as “sophisticated” and primarily found in urban areas. There are various different quotes from celebrities who say something along the lines of “doing too much cocaine is God’s way of saying you make too much money”.
The war on drugs dismantled whole communities and families and helped send them on a downward spiral of repeated usage of drugs. The war on drugs never limited drug use. In fact, the smuggling of drugs from countries like Mexico, Nicaragua, and Colombia increased from the 80’s/90’s to now. This is partly because the U.S Government (mainly Reagan’s administration and the CIA) protected Nicaragua and its allies from prosecution of drug smuggling. They did this because the Nicaragua’s were, by help and funding from the U.S, fighting off communist Sandinista’s. With money and weapons from the U.S Government, Nicaragua and its allies created a cocaine empire.
So, to go back to my main point, the war on drugs program should never be started up again. As I’ve shown you, politicians used this program as a way to gain political power. Both major political parties (Democrats and Republicans) carried this idea through. The mission statement of the war on drugs never involved stopping or limiting drug use. I believe government shouldn’t play a role in stopping this epidemic of drugs. People who are drug users aren’t necessarily criminals like the war on drugs initiative would lead you to believe. This epidemic shouldn’t be seen as a “war” but a mental health issue. There needs to be effective rehabilitation centers in place to help individuals curb and eventually stop dangerous drug use.
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