The Effects of America’s Drug Scene Throughout the Years on Different Communities

Abstract

This paper focuses on America’s drug problem and its impacts on society. The current issues we see in relation to drug use is a result of the illegalization of drugs in the early twentieth century. These issues have led to what we now call the “war on drugs”. The term war on drugs was declared by Richard Nixon in 1971. Years later Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan put programs in place to try to stop the negative impacts it was having on society. They created education programs implemented in schools and brought awareness to the issues. The government's involvement in America's issues with drugs quickly became a new way for the government and white people to continue to oppress the minority populations. The prison system has benefitted from the laws made in place for drug offenders as it has imprisoned a large amount of our population over the years, but while some are more affected by these sentencing some are not. In recent years many states have worked towards the legalization of marijuana which is the drug behind a lot of prison cases.

Keywords: America, drugs, race, legalization, government

The Effects of America’s Drug Scene Throughout the Years on Different Communities

The drug crisis in America is one that has affected the nation for centuries. There have been many studies done over the years to determine exactly how it has affected our communities. Some focus on how it has played into the systemic racism of the country, how it has affected our foreign relationships, how it has affected our health care system, if the education against it is effective, or even how we have made a full circle into considering legalizing certain drugs. All of these different studies have led to different statistics and responses throughout the nation. There is a divide between the nation over drugs just like there is over everything else and how certain politicians play it to be to certain people.

The history of drug use in the U.S. is quite extensive. There was a period of its early history where everything was legal, and then it was prohibited, and now certain drugs are being legalized again. Drugs were first prohibited in 1914 when congress passed the Harris Act, and “By 1920, alcohol production and sale were criminalized through the Eighteenth Amendment” (Waters, 2019, 536). This made the U.S. what is called a dry nation meaning the sell, distribution, and consumption of alcohol was illegal. These bans failed to stop drug use, it just made it unsafe. People were using cheaper, more dangerous versions of the drugs, skipping certain sanitization skills to save money, and buying from people they did not know in order to obtain the drug. This led to when president "President Richard Nixon proclaimed the initial war on drugs” in 1951. (Lyons, 2023, 134) The fifties is when the narcotic crisis began and went all the way to the eighties when there was a crack epidemic. This is not when drug use/abuse started though. Previous to the bans and prohibitions drug use was legal and many participated. It was safer to do so as people did not have to hide it or go through backdoors to do so. These bans started the conversation around whether or not the government should be involved in these kinds of things or not because it was up to that person what they wanted to do with their body, but the government saw it as a national health issue making it their business.

Since the fifties government officials have used drug issues and issues that have a correlation to drugs as part of their campaign and platform. Everybody wants low crime and if the government says that drugs create crime then they will gain votes by saying they will be harsh on crimes. A lot of politicians will “[introduce] legislation designed to deter illegal drug use by implementing harsh penalties” (Kain, 2021, 2063). These harsh penalties often include minimum sentences and harsh punishments. People have served decades for simple possession charges, have gotten life for possession or intent to sell, or have even been killed over drug charges. Although some may say that these harsh punishments are necessary to diminish the amount of drug abuse and drug related crimes, these simple possessions that get harsh punishments are nonviolent crimes. People who have nonviolent drug charges should not be getting sentences harsher than violent offenders.

Some of these studies have proven that the government's involvement is more harmful than productive. “Politicians, police, and military often are a part of the drug business in some way shape or form or at least help cover it up/ ignore it” (Block and Futerman, 2021, 5). In many major cities when crack cocaine became popular it was often planted on the streets by government officials to increase prison rates. Increased prison rates can improve the workforce because the more people in jails and prisons, the more people working for close to no pay. It has also affected our relationships with other countries. “Most of the fentanyl shipped to the U.S. does arrive from China,” leading to ill feelings towards the Chinese and at one point even resulting in banning “Chinese immigration to America from 1882 to 1943” (Minhee and Calandrillo, 2019, 581) (Waters, 2019, 537). It has also affected our relationship with Mexico creating a bigger divide than we already had. America has had a bad relationship with Mexico for a long time for many different reasons. Under the circumstances of drugs, America worries about the illegal drugs coming over the border, which strengthens their want for the wall to be built. Drug charges are also an easy way for the American government to deport foreigners, mostly from Mexico, after coming over here illegally. They get deported for simple crimes that citizens might be able to get no jail time for. All of this continues to deteriorate our relationships with other countries around the world.

Not only does this cause issues with our foreign relationships but with our relationships within the nation. The main one being the relationship between the race that holds the majority and the race that holds the minority of the population. The illegalization of drugs and alcohol “began the tradition in American politics of equating certain types of people with substances” (Waters, 2019, 536). For example, poor people were more associated with crack and the middle class was associated with cocaine. Cocaine was more expensive than crack and crack was easier to make. Drugs in general were more associated with the low income, inner city, minority populations when in reality for example, “non-Hispanic whites are far more likely to use prescription opioids than Hispanics” (Minhee and Calandrillo, 2019, 577). White people typically make up the majority of the middle and upper class, so when “members of the White middle class are the focus of drug addiction, they are presented as victims” instead of criminals (Waters, 2019, 537). This is largely because the laws almost target the minority groups, more specifically the African American population, in order to make room to let middle class white people by. Every system in America was put into place in order to protect the white man and oppress everyone else and that is just what it does. African Americans are more likely to be incarcerated than white men and in drug cases are more likely to actually be convicted. Higher class white people can afford higher top of the line lawyers to get their case dismissed as well as having other privileges to keep them out of trouble that minorities do not have. This evidence proves that the “drug rhetoric further confirms the corrupt moral character of a marginalized group” (Waters, 2019, 536). The government has caused a lot of harm to low income communities in the name of combating drug related crimes.

In contrast to the government doing harm to communities, they have tried to implement education programs to prevent the use of drug use in the younger generations. Ronald Reagan’s wife, Nancy Reagan, started a “Just Say No” campaign. She went to give speeches at different schools and events encouraging students to just say no to drugs. She also placed an emphasis on the fact that no one is immune to trying drugs. Trying drugs is a common thing to do in bigger social groups and falling victim to a crime or incident can happen to anyone no matter the place, time, or whether or not it was your first hit. Years later a program called Drug Abuse Resistance Education or D.A.R.E. was started and implemented in schools nationwide. After several years of schools using the D.A.R.E. Program studies were done that proved the educational program to be ineffective in keeping young kids from using drugs. On the other side of the spectrum from education is rehabilitation and there are hundreds of rehabilitation centers around the country. An example is the “Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act of 1966” that “provided the prosecutorial option of hospitalization for defendants arrested for possession” so they did not have to end up in jail for their crime but could possibly get serious help (Lassiter, 2015, 130). The proper education and rehabilitation can go a long way in helping to keep people away from drugs or help them to get off of them. America has failed in providing these resources in an effective way that can help lower drug abuse and drug related crime without direct government official intervention.

Rehabilitation can also fall under the healthcare related to the drug crisis. The American healthcare system is already rigged but when you add in drugs, it is one of the biggest scams an American can experience. Doctors give prescriptions for opioids to treat pain knowing that it is addictive. Eventually these patients get used to living off of pain pills and never go off of them, oftentimes beginning to abuse them. This drug abuse enabled by the doctor can lead to a possible overdose and death of the patient. The healthcare system can also lead to death since drugs are illegal there is little legal intervention and help that one can get via hospital since the drugs are taken illegally. Our healthcare system was designed to profit off of its sales and not care about how it affects the patient.

One last category of studies done on the drug war of America is how marijuana has come full circle. “The American political system resolved this dilemma by reducing penalties for marijuana possession” and "Many world leaders have asked for the decriminalization of production, distribution, and consumption of drugs” (Lassiter, 2015, 133) (Block and Futerman, 2021, 2). There have been multiple benefits found to be the result of using marijuana as a natural remedy for all kinds of diagnosis. The state and federal laws for marijuana are different and have created some turmoil in the nation. Ultimately it has been found that the decriminalization of marijuana consumption and production would help to solve many of our drug related issues. Marijuana is one of the leading drugs right now in America and is used by a very majority of people. Our incarceration rates will go down as well as turmoil between certain groups of people with a divider being eliminated.

America has a lot of issues and a lot of areas that could be studied to then later be addressed and fixed if we could come together and work together. These studies have shown that what we originally thought would help to combat drug abuse have not and what hasn't has. We should continue to study the effects on the different drugs that have to our body as well as the environments around us and how that could affect our drug intake.

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