U.S War on Drugs
In 2016, out of the 42,249 deaths from drug abuse, 33,450 of those people are white. But in the late 20th century and 21st century, the war on drugs was a war against black America. Black men were seen as hoodlums, thugs, and criminals. More time was spent putting young black men and women than actually trying to fix the problem. The obvious solution is to get them help. By the time America came to that realization, the main victims of drug abuse and overdoses were white. Now, instead of jailing the white drug addicts, they went to rehab. They were given second chances.
Drugs were really into introduced into America in the 1600s. Perhaps the oldest drug, marijuana, was grown by the Jamestown settlers around 1600. Before the Civil War, marijuana brought the colonies a lot of revenue during the 17th through 19th centuries. It was mainly used as a medicinal drug from 1850 to 1937 and could be purchased over the counter in almost every state. It was used as an alternative to alcohol after the price was raised in 1920. In the 1930s, studies showed that lower class communities that used marijuana had a spike of crime and violence. It was eventually banned in 1937. White people claimed that marijuana’s ability to cause men of color to violent and solicit sex from white women. This was a turning point in the hearings to make marijuana illegal. In the 1960s, when marijuana was still illegal, it became popular amongst white youth. Since then, people have been fighting to legalize marijuana.
Cocaine is one of the most harmful drugs you can take. It was also one of the most detrimental to the black community. Cocaine was very popular in Europe years before it was introduced to the U.S. In 1886, Coca Cola was made and it contained syrup derived from coca leaves. That same year, cocaine was endorsed by the United States Army for medical use. Hundreds of silent Hollywood movies depicted scenes of cocaine use. By 1902, only a mere 16 years after cocaine was brought to the U.S, there were an estimated 200,000 cocaine addicts in the United States. It was finally outlawed in 1914. It regained popularity in the 1970s as a recreational drug. It reached its peak in 1982, with an estimated 10.4 million users. The media claimed it was harmless until crack was introduced in 1985.
Crack cocaine is sold as “rocks” and smoked. It became a much better alternative in urban, working class, and mainly black communities because it was cheaper than cocaine. This finally led a “crackdown” on drug abuse.
Once black and colored people started using drugs, way after whites had been abusing it, the government immediately took action. They didn’t go and tell black people about treatments. No, they ravaged black communities. They “patted down” any black boy that was walking down the street. The policemen’s way of patting them down was beating them, stripping clothes off, even handcuffing them and taking them to the police station just to see if they had any type of drug on them. In the winter of 1985, in southern Los Angeles, the LAPD, called in the SWAT team. They used a fourteen-foot battering ram attached to an armored vehicle to break into a small house in Pacoima. It tore a wide, gaping hole into the house and the team found two women and three children inside eating ice cream. After tearing apart the house, turning up carpet and tables, they found negligible quantities of drugs. This explains how far police will go just to find a chance to get black people in jail. Nearly 80% people in jail are black. Prosecutors are twice as likely to pursue a mandatory minimum sentence for black people as for white people charged with the same offense.
Sources:
“Race and the Drug War.” Drug Policy Alliance, www.drugpolicy.org/issues/race-and-drug-war.
Staff, Casa Palmera. “The History of Illegal Drugs in America.” Casa Palmera, 23 July 2015, casapalmera.com/blog/the-history-of-illegal-drugs-in-america/.