CrossPosted With Persmission From NewsOne
http://newsone.blackplanet.com/...
Drugs are a serious problem in America but unfortunately so is the war on drugs. Drugs mess up peoples' lives but not as much as the war on drugs. The war on drugs has become a war on minorities in the states and has caused dozens of wars in the Third World.
Drugs are a serious problem in America but unfortunately so is the war on drugs. Drugs mess up peoples' lives but not as much as the war on drugs. The war on drugs has become a war on minorities in the states and has caused dozens of wars in the Third World.
The war on drugs is war in which blacks and Hispanics are scapegoated for America's problem. By arresting minorities, it makes it look like America is fighting its drug problems while whites in the suburbs are free to use and abuse drugs without police interference.
Despite the fact that studies show that blacks and whites use drugs at the same rate, blacks are incarcerated for drugs at a rate 6 times that of whites 4.2% to .7 percents.
In fact while use for drugs associated with African Americans, crack and marijuana is down. There is a major meth epidemic going in in rural America and prescription pills are being abused by both upper-class and lower class whites. This problem has gone virtually ignored as drug addiction has become a silent killer in many white communities.
One of the biggest problems with the war on drugs is the guns and violence involved. By criminalizing drugs, the US puts the distribution and manufacturing of drugs in the hands of violent, competing criminals. Gangs like the bloods and the crips all get their guns from the US manufacturers which are used for countless killings here. Many of these guns are bought by gun runners who buy or 'steal' guns from Virginia and then sell them up and down the east coast. Most guns used in drug related gun violence are illegally sold, but there has been no action by the US government to crack down on illegal sales of guns. Legal or illegal, the money still gets into the hands of gun manufacturers.
Gun laws not only fuel the drug war at home but also the drug war in Mexico. Recently on 60 Minutes, Mexican officials complained that most of the guns used in Mexico's drug wars were bought in the USA.
A lot of time drug dealing is isolated to the black and Latino communities so blacks or forced to deal with the violence that is fueled by the suburban addictions. Topher Grace gave an excellent(message) speech to Michael Douglass in Traffic about this problem.
The Mexican drug wars are also caused by American need for drugs, as the cartels fight over who gets to service American addictions, leaving thousands of Mexicans dead, injured or kidnapped. The high level of money that American drug addiction brings into the United States makes it impossible for the government not to be corrupted. When the only Third World billionaire is a drug dealer, it is obvious that drugs have become a major industry for the third world.
America's drug addiction and drug laws have also created narco-states in Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Guyana, which serve as ports for cocaine between South America and the US. All of these countries have a great amount of drug related violence also facilitated by American weapons.
A lot of time drug dealing in the US is isolated to the black and Latino communities so minorities or forced to deal with the violence that is fueled by the suburban addictions. The Mexican drug wars are also caused by American need for drugs as the cartels fight over who gets to service American addictions, leaving thousands of Mexicans dead, injured or kidnapped. The high level of money that American drug addiction brings into Mexico makes it impossible for the government not to be corrupted.
For years American drug addiction, drug laws and weapons have fueled the wars in Colombia which have resulted in thousands of deaths and on on-going civil war.
European heroin addiction has helped fund the Taliban as well as other Afghani and Pakistani warlords and the violence they have been causing in the middle east. European addiction to cocaine has turned African countries like Guinea into narco-states.
America's problem is not availability of drugs. Cocaine is cheap and plentiful in Colombia yet they do not have an addiction problem like ours. Heroin is cheap and plentiful in Afghanistan yet they don't have a heroin problem. The American problem is the desire for drugs. Drugs have become entrenched in American culture.
The correct way to solve these problems is through education and treatment. Incarceration only fuels the drug war. Addicts have no problem finding drugs in jail and drug dealers come out of jail stronger and smarter criminals with better connections for gun and drugs. The Mexican mafia, which controls a good deal of drugs on the west coast has most of their leadership in jail and their progress has been helped and not hindered by their centralized leadership.
Most anti drug commercials are very corny, the only one I like is the anti drug commercials. These commercials show teenagers who present any activity or sport as their anti drugs. If more young Americans were given anti-drugs, America's drug addiction would not be as severe. Also it is long time for America to legalize marijuana and use those resources for other reasons. This would cut off a significant portion of the drug war and lessen the amount of gang violence and incarcerated people.
In order for America to stop the violence it is causing at home and abroad, it must drastically change its drug policies and national and international gun laws. Why are so many guns made in the US used in drug wars here and abroad? Shouldn't the gun makers bare some responsibility for the carnage caused by their product? No third world country manufactures guns, so shouldn't there be some kind of investigation into how so many arms.
By criminalizing drugs, America is putting control of an extremely lucrative business in the hands of criminals. Given thrid world and inner city poverty, competition for these lucrative resources and the easy access to American guns, American drug laws and addiction often leads to small scale civil wars in the third world and gang violence at home.