The war on drugs was official launched by President Richard Nixon in 1971. Billions of dollars are spend every year to reduce drug and drug related crimes in the United States; however, currently drugs are more available in the country than ever before. After 40 years of fighting the war and billions of dollars spend in the fight, the result is unsafe streets and more drugs. The war has
transformed into a war against minorities leading to a large number of minorities in the prisons. Arizona is one of the many places in the country notorious for racial profiling. Racial profiling is the use of race and color to decide law enforcement criteria. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officers receive training on how to identify possible suspects involved in the trafficking and sale of drugs. The training is often racial biased leading to the arrest and investigation of persons of color without just cause (Nicole, 2013). Those who support racial profiling the war against drugs suggest that the racial differences in the rates of arrest in drug related cases correspond to the ratio in other crimes; however, the racial profiling leads to high number of minority groups encountering police checks and thus members of the minority groups who use drugs are more likely to be arrested. This makes the statistics seem like blacks and other minority groups like the Latino use drugs at a high rate than the whites when in reality there is no significant difference (Wilkins, Vicky & Brian, 2008).
The selective application of the law results in the loss of trust and confidence in the criminal justice system, especially among the minorities. When the members of certain communities perceive that the justice system is targeting them unfairly, they are less likely to cooperate with the police. The encounters with the police are also avoided at all cost, including the use of violence. The selective enforcement of the law also results in a divided society through the accumulation of racial grievances. Legitimizing such laws creates a vicious cycle where the minority community resists whereas the majority community increases their suspicion, leading to further measuring against the minority groups. The disproportionate criminal supervision increases the number of people in prison leading to a low education, and broken families. The effect the war against drugs has on the children is even more devastating. Currently, more than 1.6 million children grow up without a father because he is serving time in prison. More than 0.2 million children grow up without a mother for the same reason. The Black children are nine times more likely to grow up without one parent. Drug use among the youth is similar across a racial groups; however, youth from minority groups account for up to 75% of the drug related arrest in most of the American cities. Black youths arrested with drugs are 25 times more likely to serve jail time than the white youths (Wu, 2005).
Filling the prisons with people of a particular racial group is only the tip of the effects of the war on drugs. This war has far-reaching consequences in every aspect of life, including education, voting, health, and welfare. Currently, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death among the youth in the minority communities. More than half of the infections occur through the sharing of needles to inject drugs. Availing needles and other injection equipment seems like a logic step to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS; however, instead of the government ensuring the availability of needles; it passes laws blocking the funding for such measures and even arrests any individual who supplies needles to people. Currently, only 20% of the government budget is used for the treatment of drug related problems. The government estimates that more than five million people are in need of treatment; however, less than 1 million people receive treatment every year. The war against drugs not only affect the treatment of those suffering from drugs related conditions negatively, it also affect them in the areas of welfare and education (Sirin, 2011).
The 1996 Welfare Reform Act ensures that anyone convicted of a drug related crime never receives welfare assistance. This greatly reduces the ability of poor minority family to meet their basic needs and take their children to school. The High Education Act amendment of 1998 ensures that no one convicted of a drug offense receives financial aid for college or university. Such laws are welcomed in a society where there are five times more blacks in prisons than in college. These two acts target only drug related offenses, other crimes like rape do not attract such penalties. A 2002 Supreme Court ruling legalizes the eviction of families from their homes if one resident in the house uses drugs. This is regardless of whether the other members of the household support these habit or are aware of it. Clearly, these laws target those people with no political voice in the country. Some states design the laws to ensure these status quo remain by striping individuals convicted of a drug offense the right to vote (Tomer & Yoram, 2008). The loss of the right to vote is often for a period; however, some states it is permanent. Currently, 13% of black males cannot vote and in some states, the number is as high as 40%.
Conclusion
Justice and equality do not come in degrees, there is only fair or unfair. The current administration has taken several steps to address the issue of racial injustices resulting from the war on drugs; however, much remains undone. A recent progress in the right direction is the fair sentencing act of 2010; however, the act only affects those sentenced under the federal law but not the state law where the vast majority of convictions occur. The law does not affect those already serving time for the possession of drugs. Clearly, the war on drugs has on brought more drugs with the constant campaigns only succeeding at informing the youths about the existence of a particular drug, which is readily available even in schools. Addressing poverty, criminal justice, education, and health are the only sure ways of winning those war. It is time to end the 40-year war and reconsider the strategy.
References
Nicole Vitellone. 2013. The empirical war on drugs. International Journal of Drug Policy. 24(3): 182-188, ISSN 0955-3959.
Sirin, Cigdem V. 2011. "From Nixon's war on drugs to Obama's drug policies today: presidential progress in addressing racial injustices and disparities." Race, Gender & Class 18(3):82-99
Wilkins, Vicky M., and Brian N. Williams. 2008. "Black Or Blue: Racial Profiling and Representative Bureaucracy." Public Administration Review 68(4):654-664
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