United States
Slavery to Imprisonment
War on Drugs
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In 1971, President Nixon declared a national war on drugs and stated that drug abuse was public enemy number one. It was on this day that the Unite States launched a drug initiative that led to great racial disparities within the prison system that continues today. A year after Nixon declaration of war, he created the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement, or ODALE, to take charge of the nation’s new initiative to crack down on drug offenders.
Although Nixon claimed that the war on drugs was implemented to combat the nation’s drug problem, this is not the case. In fact, in 1994 John Ehrlichman, President Nixon’s domestic policy advisor, stated that the war on drugs began with racial motives to criminalize both anti-war protestors and the black community. These racial motives were exemplified in the vast number of arrests for drug use and possession that came from black communities despite research that has shown that white people use drugs at the same rate, if not more, than black people.
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The war on drugs took off, and soon many new laws and acts were passed to make the arrest and conviction of drug users much easier. In 1984 the Comprehensive Crime Control and Safe Streets Act was passed which removed parole for inmates and ultimately lead to an increase in older inmates. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 followed and set a mandatory minimum sentence for drug offenders relating to crack and powder cocaine. This act also introduced to 100-to-1 ratio of crack to powder cocaine sentences. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act was extended in 1988 to include a broad definition of conspiracy to the act. Due to laws and acts such as these, the federal prison system was soon filled and overflowing with people convicted of nonviolent and low-level drug crimes.
However, the most intense act that was passed was the Violent Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1994. This act included many unjust changes that were implemented into the federal prison system. These changes include an extension of the federal death penalty, trying 13-year-olds as adults, and increasing the number of police officers patrolling the streets. This act led to a dramatic increase of racial profiling.
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Since the implementation of these laws and acts, people of color have been excessively arrested and incarcerated for the possession and use of drugs. Those facing drug charges can get anywhere from 10 years in prison to a life sentence. However, even if those incarcerated are released, the drug offenses and felonies stay with them throughout their lives. In fact, 1 out of every 8 black men are disenfranchised and unable to vote because of the felonies on their record.
Watch this short clip of President Nixon discussing money as it related to the war on drugs.
Video of President Nixon discussing the funding of the war on drugs. History Hermann, Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed), via Youtube.com