American Drug War

        Throughout history, Americans have fought to keep our great Nation safe from enemies. Countless of men and women have lost their lives for the freedom of our country. Today, America is struggling to fight a different type of war, a war without an end in sight and enemy. It is the War on Drugs. Although drugs has been in the United States for quite some time, the 1st attempt to fighting against the war on drugs was in 1914 when the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was passed. With this federal law, all production, importation, and distribution of opium and coca products would be taxed and regulated.  This would also restrict the sale of heroine and cocaine^[1]. In 1971 President Nixon declared the war on drugs on nation television, calling drugs its “public enemy number one”. United States Law Enforcements used different measures to prevent the usage of drugs in the U.S. An example would be the creation of the Drug Schedule. This categorized each drug from 1 (being worst) to 5 (least severe). Different penalties were established for the possession of drugs as well as trafficking.

        Drugs have not always been an issue. To those who were doing drugs, they were simply looked down upon. It was not until the 1960s when recreational drug use became fashionable among young, white middle class Americans. The usage of drugs increased rapidly across the United States, which then began the effort in stopping the war on drugs. In 1973 President Nixon organized an army that would help to fight the war. This army was called the Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A).  It was created to concentrate enforcement efforts against major drug trafficking organizations. Before the D.E.A was created, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I) was in charge of dealing with the drug war, while at the same time they were dealing with other crime offenders. This made it difficult to put an end to the war, which was why the D.E.A was created.  

        In 1982 while law enforcement were on the move to try to stop the drug war, Nancy Reagan unintentionally began the “Just say No” Campaign. This all started when a young schoolgirl asked Mrs. Reagan what should she do if approached by someone offering drugs, which then led to her response “Just say no”. This slogan and her involvement on the war on drugs became essential to the administration’s antidrug message^[2]. Since then, schools around the country have initiated programs that are designed to discourage alcohol and drug use among youth. Most programs are targeting older elementary school children and a few that addressed adolescents.

        During the late 1970s cocaine began to flourish throughout the United States. It was a top choice for middle class Americans, Latinos preferred Marijuana, and African Americans preferred heroine^[3]. During this time because cocaine was coming into the United States rapidly prices fell about 80% making it affordable for everyone. Because of this, drug dealers converted white powder cocaine into crack (little white rocks). Being broken into “rocks”, crack would be sold in smaller quantities at bigger profits. This was cheaper, easy to use, and simple to produce, plus it gave dealers a high profit. African Americans became its prime user. Since crack and cocaine was beginning to get out of hand, the Reagan administration and congress passed the “Antidrug Act of 1986”.  According to “History of the War on Drugs” this established a 100:1 ratio for mandatory minimums associated with cocaine. But this did not stop the dealers, instead gangs became to compete with one another and violence increased because gangs would now be selling 2 types of cocaine, power to the middle class and crack to the lower class.

        In 1970s because of its lack for strong law and order, Colombia became a prime smuggling ground for marijuana. As the cocaine market flourished, Colombia’s geographical location proved to be its biggest asset making it the country to dominate the global cocaine trade. Quickly to grab control of the cocaine trade, Pablo Escobar became the Colombian drug Lord who controlled over 80% of the cocaine that was shipped to the United States. Each day 15 tons of cocaine was smuggled into the United States, netting the Cartels as much as $420 millions a week. But as most drug lords, Pablo was caught and killed in 1993. Some say Pablo was a “Robin hood” like character because he would use his own money to expand social programs for the poor.

        Since 1980 prison incarceration in state and federal prison has sky rocketed from 330,000 to about 1.6 million today^[4]. Most of which is a result of drug trafficking. Prison rates in America goes as follows: 37% white, 21% Hispanic, and 42% black. Statistic shows the lifetime likelihood of imprisonment for Men in general are 1 in 9 chance, for White men: 1 in 17, Hispanic men: 1 in 6 and black men: 1 in 3. For women in general it is 1 in 56, for White women it’s 1 in 111, for Hispanic women 1 in 45, and for black women it is 1 in 18.  Not only does this include adults, but also black and Hispanic high school students who are living in poor neighborhoods. Reasons for dropouts are because of bad schools, terrible family support and mainly because of high profits from drug trade. When one drug trafficker is caught and locked up, it gives the rest of the drug trafficker’s motivation to sell their drugs and raise their prices. But once you are arrested, the government has the right to seize the following items: Money, which was earned from the sale of drugs, any item (such as house, car, boat) that was purchased with the money that came from the sale of drugs, or any tools or equipment that was used for the intent to sale drugs. Drug dealers are more worried about losing their money than the time they’re going to do in prison.

        In “Social Problems: Continuity and Change” Steven Barkan discuss the biological, sociological and psychological explanations regarding the effects drug users encounter. According to Barkan, the biological explanation for drug users behavior, mood, perception and other qualities involve how the brain and neurotransmitters are affected because of the drugs. (An example is given)^[5] In a study using alcohol, identical twins, rather than fraternal twins are most likely to both have an alcoholic problem or not have a problem. An assumption is made stating that those people who are vulnerable to the effects of the drug are more likely to become physiologically and/or psychologically addicted to a specific drug. ^[6] Through Psychological explanations drug users are assumed to have personality traits^[7] that predispose them to use drugs rather than non-drug users. Having personality defects, when a drug user to exposed to a drug, once they’re addicted their personality issues begin to multiply. Other psychological explanations on drug users behavior come from two positive reinforcements, indirect and direct. Indirect reinforcements include using drugs with other people and enjoying it as a social activity. Direct reinforcements are when drug themselves give off a pleasurable feeling. As stated in the article Sociological explanations come from the “social environment-social structure, social bonds to family and school, social interactions, and cultures”. ^[8] When individuals surround themselves with others who are under the influence whether it be alcohol or drugs are more likely to fall under peer pressure and begin to use the drugs as well to try to fit into the social structure. Those adolescents whom have weaker bonds with their family and school tend to use drugs of various types rather than those adolescents who have stronger relationships with their family and school.