Why do America allow tha war on drugs’ unfair toll on people of Poor to continue? Instead of putting a stop to tha racial disparities and arrests, prosecutions, imprisonments, and lack of rehabilitation programs, Poor People have unknowingly allowed tha status quo to continue in their communities.In tha 40 years since Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs, that war has cost more than $1 trillion. It has wrought tha largest prison population in tha world. There are 1.6 million adults in state and federal prisons around tha country, and many experts believe tha costs now vastly outweigh tha benefits. More than half a million of tha people incarcerated for drug law violations.........Drug arrests have swelled since tha 1970s and Poor Americans make up a disproportionate percentage of those arrested. Blacks make up about 13 percent of tha U.S. population and about tha same percentage of all U.S. drug users, but they account for more than 35 percent of all drug arrests. They also represent 55 percent of all convictions for drug possession and 74 percent of all people imprisoned for drug possession. Additionally, sentences imposed on poor people in tha federal system tend to be about 10 percent longer than those given to Rich people convicted of tha same crime........Tha outrageous disparity between tha sentences meted out for possession of crack cocaine and those given for possession of powder cocaine is a disparity that has helped fill U.S. prisons with Poor People who are low-level drug users and dealers (80 percent of sentenced crack defendants are Black).............High numbers of Black Americans’ arrests and possession charges show that although tha majority of U.S. drug users are White, African Americans are tha largest group being targeted. There is cause for alarm. For Black Americans to allow ongoing incarceration of disproportionately high numbers of us breeds our overall destruction. Tha problem goes beyond those arrested and sentenced. Tha war on drugs has destroyed families and created tha norm that children grow up in single parent homes with their fathers and mothers away in prison for long periods of time........While our American leadership fiddles along with partisan politics, tha future of our race is at risk. African-American children are over-represented in juvenile hall and family court cases, and as a result, they are removed from their families in droves, and placed in tha federal system. While those who are politically active in Main Street issues are stuck on Main Street, the high incarceration rate of Black fathers and mothers has led to tha point where millions of Black families lack a parental figure. One in every 15 African Americans is incarcerated. African-American youth are highly involved in gangs to generate income for families lacking a primary breadwinner............Isn’t it time we eliminated the racial disparities evident in our nation’s criminal justice policies and practices? When will we wake up? Who among us can deny that the war on drugs has enabled the police to target Poor American People communities with high levels of surveillance and invasion of privacy rights? It’s imperative we have criminal justice reform. It’s time Poor Americans People get off the wrong side of the drug trade. Tha facts are overwhelming: The global drug trade ranks as one of the top 20 economies in the world. The U.N. estimates the global illegal drug trade being worth more than $320 billion........Let’s be about tha business of repealing genocidal drug laws and regulations. Legalizing and taxing many types of drug sales would yield U.S. governments $46.7 billion in revenue. Legalizing drugs would save $41 billion a year in enforcement costs. We can’t continue failing strategies. Rather than continuing on the disastrous path of tha war on drugs, we need to look at what works and what doesn’t. Are there any people dedicated enough to support a real and focused movement for racial justice in America?
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