Reagan War On Drugs Essay

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Reagans ‘War on Drugs” focused on stopping not only the use of drugs but the sales of drugs using harsh laws, like mandatory minimum sentences, three-strikes laws, that as previously mentioned had an intense focus and adverse effect on poor, disenfranchised black and brown men from urban neighborhoods. Thus, Republican Presidents Regan, Bush Senior and Bush Junior and Democrat Bill Clintons “war on drugs” policies and efforts tripled the U.S. prison populations that over the past that reflect substantive racial disparities. Therefore, “Racial Profiling’ though 300 years old became a huge problem during the “War on Drugs. As when carried forward from President Richard Nixon’s’ original 1971 declaration, that under subsequent presidencies, saw the number of people incarcerated in U.S. prison rise from 300,000 to 3 million, mostly …show more content…

Survey Data also shows it is unlikely that drug use and offenses, or the majority of drug dealers are black. Most data show African Americans are a small minority of drug users (6). Also, Police arrests for small amounts of drugs or drug paraphernalia found on People of color, during stop-n-frisk and pat downs are most likely the reason for racial disparities within the criminal justice system, jail, and prisons, more than a disproportionate amount of drug offending by blacks. (6). Which is a highly egregious irony as “drug possession is a crime every drug user commits” and most data shows drug users in the U.S. are white, yet many white drug users are not arbitrarily racially profiled, stopped and frisked at the same rate as blacks and other minorities. Also, white drug users may be given a warning by police to get help for their addiction problem if their perceived drug use is out of