Demonization and Criminalization of Drug Era
Around this timeline (1930s) political leaders in charge, unofficially started the introduction of Demonization and Criminalization of Drug Era as well as xenophobia. Excuse of Scapegoat Theory of blaming another group of people of being responsible for the introduction of drugs in America. Ironically, drugs in America were present for a lot longer before the threshold of 1937. In the first article “Assassin of Youth” written by Harry J. Anslinger followed by a broadcast production movie called ”Reefer Madness”, it represented a turning point in the U.S. history which will forever change the political, socio-economic, behavioral and psychological aspect of views on drugs and drugs industrial cycles. Generally speaking, 1937-1972, our Nation had an increase in problems of illicit drugs that both reflect and contributed to national tensions that are, but not limited to the following: rapid changing/ turning points in political alignment, gentrification and capitalization of the drugs industry, reduced family and community cohesiveness and overall increased unemployment in structural and frictional economy due to the overall decrease in workforce.
This was a direct result of criminalizing the drugs, whereas those who were found to be in possession of illegal substances were thrown into local, state or federal prisons which affected their future life tremendously, because they were no longer citizens of U.S.A. but were felons who were stigmatized by the society. They had no right to express their opinion by voting on the political issues as well as have no legal access to the workforce (the idea of Ban the Box). Furthermore, economic and social marginalization as well as an overall increase in crime and more of aggressive policing, increase in a number of arrests, contributed to massive incarceration specifically linked with blacks and Latinos.
Influence Upon the Criminal Justice System
Accordingly, to the DPA (Drug Policy Alliance) Report, as reference for more than half a century, theWar on Drugs has exerted a profound impact on the structure and scale of the criminal justice system, which is the direct sequential result of action taken by President Richard Nixon in the year of 1972 of officially declaring the War on Drugs, yet his Attorney General, former staff member of his administration decades later admits the fact that War on Drugs was started out nothing but a Political Campaign Action. This guaranteed Nixon’s victory and gain of Presidential Power. Billions of dollars were wasted on War on Drugs, which indirectly meant an institutional racism caste system strategically designed to control the level of oppression towards the people of color and continue the legacy of slavery in society and Jim Crow laws. These strong ideas are presented in Michelle Alexandera’s writings of her famously known book: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010). This political movement changed the course of the history of socio-economic status for minorities in the U.S.A., such as endless disparity and inequality gap among people of color including black and latinos compared to the white population.
Racial Perspectives of the War on Drugs
First and foremost it is very essential to understand the racial perspectives of the War on Drugs. Back in the 1930s Xenophobia was the psychological factor, which resulted in the general demonization of Marijuana and the description of it as being a foreign drug, which caused insanity. The overall purpose of such action, which was accounted under the Marihuana Tax Act in 1937, was to promote the danger of drug. However, for the most part, it was only the controversial beliefs of the Yellow Press, similar to the modern day contemporary society- social media and the impacts on “Era of Fake News”. Nowadays, issue of legalizing the marijuana or any other drug or rescheduling them on Schedule II,III,IV,V becomes exculpatory high in overall understanding of which sources contain true information and provide factual evidence, as well as which sources are very moral based and their contribution in pressing on humans psychological factors and play the most important role of brainwashing nations’ brains for centuries and creating illisional propaganda in regards to the Drug Addictions in the U.S.A.
Actions of Government
For the most part, in many cases such information is directed from the officials in Congress. A great example is Jeff Session, who is constantly using the method of pathos in his overall persuasion techniques of the nation, claiming that “drugs are bad, just say NO to themâ€. This ideological belief of abstinence has been present for a whole century, yet throughout 20th century time period, there are no primary records of people being educated about this issue. Additionally, it is very essential to notice that these sources are provided by the political sector, which results in Congress Legislation passing Laws. This causes an increase of aggressive policing, imprisonment, and in general recasting of the caste system. Fewer of those sources come from the pharmaceutical and Medical Health Sector, wheres those professionals bringing out a true statistical representation. Since the health professionals are more competent in the medical and pharmaceutical field they are avoiding a sampling bias within their sources and notifying the public what are the actual numbers of the correlation among them.
Additionally, what most people fail to recognize is the overall functioning of Harm Reduction Centers, because for decades they have had been brainwashed by the actions of American Government indicating that criminalization of the drug substance in the key which will resolve all drug problems in America. As a matter of fact, three trillion dollars of the Government Expenditure were spent on the War on Drugs since its beginning. Most of this budget was funded for the Byrned Programs, WANT(Western Areas Narcotic Task), etc for the Law Enforcement Agencies, rather than towards the Drug Treatments. Harm Reduction could be defined as health policies designed to lessen the negative social and or physical and psychological consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal.
