American Drug Policy as a Means for Perpetuating Racist Control of Certain Groups

However, an underhand, racial impetus has been mooted. The drug policy has caused the formulation of codes and legislation that are controversial such as mandatory minimum penalties as well as stop-and-frisk searches (Ledford, 2018). In addition, many people believe that these controversial policies and legislation have been carried out inexplicably against minorities. The impacts of American drug policy are contentious; a majority of the Americans believes that it has brought about national disparities in prosecutions, captures, rehabilitation and incarceration (Koch et al, 2016). The war on drugs has created profoundly unequal outcomes when it comes to different racial groups. drug policy being used to oppress, suppress, stigmatize, harm and segregate certain minority groups. This section gives a summary and discussion of some of the findings on how the drug policy and legislation are used to demean the Hispanic and black Americans and make them feel inferior to other races.

Alternative Motivation It has been claimed that there was an alternative motivation when the war on drugs was coined/declared. War on drugs drives racial inequalities and disparities within the country’s criminal justice system (Rosenberg et al, 2017). Ehrlichman, a former adviser of President Nixon, claimed that the fight on the drug was politically and racially motivated. According to a study by Mitchell & Caudy (2015), the mandatory minimum sentencing outcomes showed that the Hispanics and the blacks were subjected to sentences, which were severer when compared to the ones for their white counterparts. U. S’s sentencing commission would after sometime deliver a report indicating that since over ¾ of the crack offenders were black, the rule of 100:1 disproportionately affected the people of color (Ledford, 2018).

Recommendations about amending the sentencing ratio as well as amending other policies were proposed. However, the Congress declined the proposal. The racial geography is considered to play a great role in perpetuating arrest disparities as police officers have a high probability of arresting black people found within the white neighborhoods. Similarly, white people are also more likely to notice and report the presence of the lack individuals within their neighborhoods, especially if they suspect that they might be involved in some kind of drug dealing or usage. This trend is exacerbated in neighborhoods that are highly segregated and where the little to no form of integration is embraced between individuals of different races. People of color may likewise be bound selectively captured in localities of the whites if the drug squad or white individuals trust that capturing them will safeguard the security of White occupants from the violence linked Black people.

This exchange between institutional police inclination and white inhabitant predisposition deliberately ousts African Americans from the estates of the whites and may propagate seclusion. 1 percent longer compared to the prison terms for the whites in the nation from 2007 to 2009 (Koch et al, 2016). The disproportionate sentencing has long-lasting impacts in demeaning the people of color and undermining their efforts to be self-reliant. When one is sentenced for a longer period for a simple mistake of possessing illegal drugs or being suspected to possess some, he will be discouraged to continue to work hard and provide for himself even when he is released from the cell. Moreover, the families of those arrested are affected financially, emotionally and morally in case of children without a father or mother.

The depression of having your family member in jail is enough to cause lifestyle diseases and deviant behavior among the family members of a convicted person. The region law court accepted his request and further requested the government to provide relevant statics for the similar cases for the past 3 years. The government did not consent and thus Armstrong’s case was dismissed. The government went ahead to appeal the decision and it was affirmed by the court of appeals. The case was thus forwarded to the federal court, which overturned the earlier judgment claiming that Armstrong should provide evidence that the state had not prosecuted other individuals in similar situations. Another important case in this regard was a case between John Bass and the United States.

Hidden within the societal adherence to the failed approach of criminalization is the indifference of the racial effects. Children of African-American communities are in actual sense over-represented in family court cases and juvenile hall. It is believed that this trend began because of the starting of war on drugs initiative. The admissions of the blacks below 18 years of age are said to have skyrocketed by 68% between 1985 and 1999 (Provine, 2011). Moreover, increased imprisonments of male black parents meant their boys were less likely to acquire appropriate skills for their early development and education. S. during that time, will bring a clear picture of how women of color are disproportionally targeted when it comes to fighting against illegal drugs in the nation. Although programs exist to help women, women of color do not take advantage of such programs, preferably due to regulations.

Women's right to use to methadone for example, which quashes the thirsts for substances like heroin, is affected because state treatment centers have fixed appointment times, which may not favor women because of the busy schedules they have. Other forms of support from the government to women such as an offer of job opportunities do not always help women, as most of those jobs have no childcare making women consider them impractical since they cannot abandon their babies at home with no one. The ultimate result, in this case, is huge numbers of families broken as well as communities separated a year after another. Over 250, 000 people are sent back to their original nations from the U. S each year since 2007, because of drug violations.

According to Mitchell & Caudy (2015), a report from the Human Rights Watch in 2015 indicated that deportations resulting from drug possession offenses amplified by 43 percent within 5 years (2007-2012). Possession of marijuana was ranked fourth among the reasons for deportation in regards to overall offenses in the year 2013 and was the main reason for deportation when it comes to drug law violations. The drug possession policies should be decriminalized to do away with policies that are the main causes of disproportionate arrest as well as incineration of individuals of color. Doing so would ensure that many individuals get drug treatment as and when appropriate. Therefore, resources that are wasted in discriminatory law enforcement will otherwise be used in programs which facilities the growth of the society and healthier communities.