Christian Fabian

Soc 220/302
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Due April 9, 2012
Christian Fabian
Soc 220/302
FirstFinal Draft
Due May April 109, 2012
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Disparities in Drug Policy and Drug Law Enforcement Among Blacks and Whites in
the U.S.
Several tactics used to combatThe war on drugs in America, particularly those in
the drug law enforcement department, in America are controversial in that they have the
potential to target certain individualsis surrounded by debate. This effort to reduce drug
availability and usage in the United States is known as the war on drugs, a term coined
by president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. On the one hand, While it may serves as a plan
to rid the streets of crime and other illegal activities, but on the other it is also said to
creates an obstacleobstacles that prevents certain minorities, namely African Americans,
from progressing in this country. Disparities in drug policy and drug law enforcement
among several ethnicBlacks groups of the United States generate problems, which affects

Comment [PA1]: Nice job tying in the title.

this group the minorities as much as itwell as affects the rest of the population. These
problems range from incarceration disproportions, unfair drug testing, and drug laws that
are seemingly directed at African Americans. In terms of the general population, average
costs to Americans for enforcing drug laws are on a rise, and their privacy rights at stake.
Existing drug policies are now well over 30 years old with very few marks to show
theyve changed. For many over thirty years calls for reform have been made, but the
contentious nature of the debate has continued to obstruct them.

Background: Beginnings of Modern Drug Policies

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Christian Fabian
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Given that African American adults are four times as likely as whites and nearly
2.5 times as likely as Hispanics to be under correctional control one must wonder why
how such disproportions occur (citationWarren 2009:5). Of course, its not easy to get a
clear answer, but a careful analysis of the origins of the war on drug lawss leadss us in
the right direction. Not surprisingly the eEarly drug laws policies contained explicit racial
bias, specifically against African Americans, Chinese, and Mexicans (Grim 2011). The
narcotic scare after the American Civil Wars, on top of racial motives to suppress the
opium-smoking Chinese railroad workers in California, resulted in a country with a need
to regulate those drugs. Feelings toward opiates quickly turned bitter in 1912, which led
the United States to join the Hague Opium Convention in an effort to control the
production and distribution of opium. Shortly after, in 1914, the United States drafted its
own law, the Harrison Narcotic Act, in order to stop the sales of opium and cocaine, as
Comment [PA2]: Im loving the historical background.

well as to block access to heroin and opium. The racially motivated fear this time was
that African Americans were believed to commit crimes while high on cocaine. Yet
another example of racial prejudice took place in 1937 when the Marijuana Tax Act was
passed marijuana use was common among Mexicans in the Southwest and banning it
clearly put a target on their backs (Cooper 2000:606).
Its worth noting the biased early stages of thise war on drugs because it set the
stage for what was to come in later years. Its also equally important to examine the
changes in drug policy between the Nixon and Clinton administrations. First, there was a
clear shift from favoring rehabilitation to incarceration as sentences. By 1995 only a third
of the federal budget to combat drugs was going towards the treatment of offenders and
prevention programs, compared to the Ford (1974-77) and Carter (1977-81)

Christian Fabian
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administrations who dedicated nearly half of the federal drug budget to prevention and
treatment (Cooper 2000:608). Second, an immense increase in federal budget had to be
made in order to accommodate all the people that were going to jail as a result of harsher
drug laws, like such as the 1973 Rockefeller mandatory-sentencing laws, which made
selling small amounts of heroin or cocaine a Class B felony and brought 15 year to life
with no possibility of parole. . Additionally, according to the National Institute on Drug
Abuse (1998), the average cost attributed to increased drug law enforcement, extra health
care, and lost wages to American society steadily climbed from $44.1 billion in 1985 to
$109.8 in 1995. Lastly, tight regulation of marijuana indirectly led to a fierce crack
cocaine market in the United States (Cooper 2000:609). The latter effect is especially
significant when discussing racial bias in drug law enforcement the next section will
come back to this idea..

The Issues: Impact on Black America

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Critics of the drug law enforcement and the war on drugs often use the alcohol
th

prohibition example the a result of 1919s 18 Amendment to illustrate how futile

regulation efforts can be. Despite this obvious example of failure, the United States
government insisted in having regulation policiescontinuing to enforce it. The result then
and in the war on drugs is a hyperactive, meddling force, which currently operates
domestically as well as internationally. This force can be categorized into four sectors:
dDomestic law enforcement, international drug enforcement, interdiction efforts at U.S.
borders, and treatment, prevention, and research. Of the four sectors, domestic law
enforcement, which receives forty-nine percent of the $18.5 billion federal drug budget,

Christian Fabian
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is the one that causes the disproportionate numbers in drug-related arrests (Cooper
2000:608).
Human rights organizations, such as the Human Rights Watch, and the minorities
affected, particularly the Black community, dont hesitate to protest against the injustices

Comment [PA3]: Nice interest groups

that result from racial prejudice in enforcing drug laws. John McWhorter (2011), an
associate professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley and a
contributing editor to the Manhattan Institutes City Journal, directly blames the war on
drugs for throwing a disproportionally large number of Black men in jail. According to
him, the war on drugs creates a vicious circle that tricks young Black men into seeking
illegal employment typically selling drugs because of their high prices and therefore
putting them oin a path that leads directly to jail. He goes on to argue that the impact on
poor and working-class African Americans is tremendous, stating that seeing a man and
a woman raising their children together is, of all things, an unusual sight. (p. 2).
McWhorter is not far from the truth considering that out of the 25.4 million adult drugrelated arrests between 1980 and 2007, a third of them were Black (Fellner 2009:4). Its
an even more shocking statistic when you bear in mind that the Bblack population only
accounted for approximately thirteen percent of the total U.S. population during that
period.
It goes without sayingPeople from the Black community, such as McWhorter,
would argue that those disparities in drug law enforcement dont come about randomly
and that. aAt some point in the process of arresting a Black individual, there had to have
been a slight chance of discrimination. In fact, McWhorter does support this point by
saying that the only way to comprehend the incarceration disproportions is to believe in

Comment [PA4]: Nice use of a source

Christian Fabian
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an America with a War on Drugs that forces cops to pay special attention to young black
men (p. 4). This clearly puts into question the fairness of strategies used in the war on
drugs. DDrug testing, the primary weapon used to combat drug abuse, is controversial in
that it has the potential to be racially biased, while at the same time putting the general
publics privacy at stake (Koch 1998:1009). Hair testing, for instance, is four times more
likely to find a drug user than urinalysis, but can be racially biased because people with
coarse black hair, such as African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics, tend to show higher
Comment [PA5]: I like this relevant illustration of your central argument

concentrations on the test than what a person with lighter hair would.
The judicial justice system is yet another potential spot for racial biasprejudice in
drug law enforcement. Kevin B. Zeese, president of Common Sense for Drug Policy, an
advocacy group in Washington, D.C., illustrates this argument by saying that, if you
look at the incarceration of drug offenders through a racial prism, youll see that the Ku
Klux Klan couldnt come up with a policy more damaging to the black community than
the drug war (Cooper 2000:612). A report on racial disparities in the justice system is in

Comment [PA6]: Great quotation

agreement with Zeese because as it point out, racial disparity in sentencing, mandatory
minimum sentencing laws are, in fact, engines of racial injustice (Weich et al.
2000:209).
As stated earlier, the crack cocaine market and racial bias in drug law

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enforcement are closely related, reason being that African Americans primarily use this
smokable form of cocaine. Another important point to make here is that critics often
concur that the crack cocaine market and racial bias in drug laws are closely related.
Specifically, laws that demand mandatory sentences, such as tThe Omnibus Anti-Drug
Abuse Act of 1988, which makes mandatory sentences for those who simply posses crack

Christian Fabian
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cocaine, are seen by such critics as being aimed towards clearly giving African
Americans and other minorities of color. An American Civil Rights Union report
discussing this issue arrives at a similar conclusion by observing that although there are
more white cocaine users, national drug enforcement and prosecutorial policies and
practices have resulted in inner city communities of color being targeted almost
exclusively (Vagins et al. 2006:7). a disadvantage (and a major one too considering that
possessing only 50 grams of crack cocaine can give you a mandatory-minimum sentence
of 10 years in prison).
Kevin B. Zeese, president of Common Sense for Drug Policy, an advocacy group
in Washington, D.C. shows his disapproval by saying that, if you look at the
incarceration of drug offenders through a racial prism, youll see that the Ku Klux Klan
couldnt come up with a policy more damaging to the black community than the drug
war. Additionally, several critics of the war on drugscurrent drug policy, including Peter
Kerr, a spokesman for Phoenix House, a leading nonprofit provider of substance abuse
services, , denounce the 1973 Rockefeller mandatory-sentencing laws which make
selling small amounts of heroin or cocaine a Class B felony and brings 15 year to life
with no possibility of parole as nonsensical. The reason for making this claim, he
argues, is because they dont give judges the power to, well, judge. He later adds, Aa
judge has to see whether this is a criminal whos made a fortune out of dealing drugs or a
young person whos gotten snared into an addiction and could use treatment. (Cooper
2000:612).
Thankfully, the general public is not blind to these injustices. Even the
supporters of the war on drugs admit that there are many strategies that must be re-

Comment [PA7]: Great quotation

Christian Fabian
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Due April 9, 2012
evaluated or restructured they do not want to stop the war on drugs by any means, but
they do want to take a look at alternatives to combating drug abuse. Charles Murray,
author of In Pursuit: Of Happiness and Good Government, is one such supporter, who
just wishes to take a less intrusive and much smarter approach to fighting the drug war.
He argues that the government is simply trying to meet quotas, but completely misses the
point of fighting the war on drugs in the first place. Through that argument, he
encourages the reader to redefine what he/she would consider a success, only to later
lay the responsibility on the individuals hands. According to Murray, letting individuals
choose how drug-free of an environment they want to live in will lead to a natural decline
in drug use within the communities that actually want to be drug free. He concludes his
article by saying that to win the war on drugs is not necessarily that the drug abusers
become criminals, only that they be made outcasts. In the natural course of events,
school, employees, and communities will do this (1990:25). Alternatives like this one
take care of many of the flaws in current drug law enforcement; however, these types of
ideas have yet to be implemented.
A number of critics, including McWhorter and Zeese, see drug laws as being
outright racist. For instance, the way Zeese denounces drug policy (i.e. comparing these
laws to something the Ku Klux Klan could have come up with) proves this argument.
Furthermore, these critics are mostly interested in repealing mandatory-sentencing laws
because they deem them as the source of disparities in drug law enforcement. Lastly, it
should be noted that the Black community has a variety resources, like supporters form
human rights organizations, civil rights unions, Black leaders, and substance abuse
centers, most of whom fight for equality and justice.

Christian Fabian
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Opposition to Reform Drug Law Enforcement

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On the other extreme, you have supporters of current drug laws that see no flaws
in the current system. Peter Bensinger (2011), administrator of the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration from 1976 to 1981 and director of the Illinois Department of
Corrections from 1970-1973, claims, Drugs are not as available as they were 40 years
ago, and [that] fewer people are dying of heroin overdose deaths. He also dismisses the
criticism about overpopulating prisons with individuals charged with simple drug
possession. Its important to note that he made no mention of racial disparities found in
drug law enforcement. Communications director of the White House's Office of National
Drug Control Policy, Rafael Lamaitre, also reports, "Drug use in America is half of what
it was 30 years ago, cocaine production in Colombia has dropped by almost two-thirds,
and were successfully diverting thousands of nonviolent offenders into treatment instead
of jail by supporting alternatives to incarceration" (Malcolm 2011). Obviously this claim
is in disagreement with what the critics of current drug policies are saying, but when you
consider the international resources (i.e. other governments who are in accord with U.S.
drug policy, like Columbia) and the data compiled by various government departments it
becomes hard to disprove such statements. On top of that, Lamaitre criticizes alternatives
to the war on drugs, such as decriminalization, because he believes they will fail to
uphold the safety of our communities. Again he assimilates the values Americans want
see in any policy, and emphasizes what they can lose should they choose not support the
war on drugs.

Christian Fabian
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In terms of power and resources, the U.S. government is the obvious winner. In
fact, the war on drugs is a resource in itself according to Christina J. Johns, an associate
professor in the graduate program for Criminology at Alabama State University. Johns
(1992) says the drug policy is considered a success by the government because its very
effective at creating a diversion to bigger social problems in the United States this
includes some of the racial prejudice haunting the social structure of the country.
Additionally, she argues that the United States is using the war on drugs as a way to
legitimize its expansion of power over everyones civil liberties.
Its the opposite for Black America, who in fact lacks resources and power.

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McWhorter, believing African Americans have insufficient representation on the subject

stated that there are no national black leaders today who have this kind of influence over
a significant portion of black people, and there is simply no chance that the NAACP
would preach in a constructive fashion any time soon, if ever (2011:2). By analyzing
McWhorters statement its clear that Black America feels like its only support is coming
from outside organization, such as human rights organizations and other opponents of
current drug policies, like activists seeking to restructure incarceration policies, or those
who simply feel like drug policies are a violation of their civil liberties.
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Outlook

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The general public is not blind to these issues. Even some supporters of the war

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on drugs admit that there are many strategies that must be re-evaluated or restructured
they do not want to stop the war on drugs by any means, but they do want to take a look
at alternatives for combating drug abuse. Charles Murray, author of In Pursuit: Of

Christian Fabian
Soc 220/302
First Draft
Due April 9, 2012
Happiness and Good Government, is one such supporter, who just wishes to take a less
intrusive and smarter approach to fighting the drug war. He argues that the government is
simply trying to meet quotas and completely misses the point of fighting the war on drugs
in the first place. Through that argument, he encourages the reader to redefine what
he/she would consider a success, only to later lay the responsibility on the individuals
hands. According to Murray (1990), letting individuals choose how drug-free of an
environment they want to live in will lead to a natural decline in drug use within the
communities that actually want to be drug-free. He concludes his article by saying that
to win the war on drugs is not necessarily that the drug abusers become criminals, only
that they be made outcasts. In the natural course of events, school, employees, and
communities will do this (p. 25). Alternatives like this one take care of many of the
flaws in current drug law enforcement; however, these types of ideas have yet to be
implemented.
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Conclusions

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UndoubtedlyCurrent, current drug lapolicies w enforcement haves many some

flaws, one of thema major one being the potential to be racially biased against African
Americans. If the war on drugs keeps operating with the same set of rules, this ethnic
group stands to lose a lot, including the 50 years of progress towards equalitylife, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. What Black America needs are more resources, like leaders
who are likely to have a mass effect on the population or simply more supporters.
Unfortunately, the outlook on the issues isnt very promising for the Black community
seeing as there is limited campaign support for drug law enforcement reforms in fact, it

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Christian Fabian
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seems like most candidates consistently avoid this topic as a political hot potato.
Furthermore, changes in policy need to have a significant effect on the issues not just
minor drops in incarceration numbers for African Americans. Perhaps emphasizing that
helping Black America is means helping all of America would encourage policy makers
to finally reform drug laws. One should cherish what Franklin D. Roosevelt once said:
Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it and try another. But above all, try
something.

Annotated Bibliography
Pro:
Bensinger, Peter. 2011. "War on Drugs a Success." Chicago Sun-Times, June 10.
Johns, C. J. 1992. "Power, Ideology, and the War on Drugs: Nothing Succeeds Like
Failure." Abstract. NCJRS Abstracts:218.
Annotation: Success and failures of drug policies are used to justify the war on
drugs. Success and failure, both lead to better strategies, more resources, and
improved coordination. Media portrayal of the issue is often misleading; the results
of drug policy might not be directly evident or directly related to actual drug use.
The author believes it masks other social problems in the U.S. (i.e. it serves a
diversion for bigger problems). Also, its for everyones benefit if the war on drugs
continues, as opposed to legalizing drugs. This reference is helpful in that it has a
positive outlook in most aspects of drug policy something not easily found in
other sources I researched. This type of opinion is unique, and should help
characterize the debate. Value claims are important here.
Malcolm, Andrew. 2011. "White House says the War is Working - War on Drugs." Los
Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times - Top of the Ticket. Retrieved March 17, 2012
(http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/06/white-house-urged-by-worldleaders-to-end-the-war-on-drugs.html).
Annotation: The White House claims that the war on drugs is successful, citing
statistics which promise reduction in drug consumption, reduction in illegal dug
imports, and use of alternative sentencing, namely treatment over prison. The
article also presents data on government funding for the war on drugs (e.g. 7.9%

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Christian Fabian
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increase in budget for drug prevention programs in 2010). This resource will be
helpful because it provides a factual claim made by the government, which is a big
deal since it carries a lot of credibility and power. Overall, the article provides the
politics involved in this debate, which my other sources are lacking.
Murray, Charles. 1990. "How to Win the War on Drugs." The New Republic 202(21):19.
Con:
Drug Courts Are Not the Answer: Toward a Health-Centered Approach to Drug
Use.2011. New York, NY: Drug Policy Alliance.
Bobo, Lawrence D. and Devon Johnson. 2004. "A TASTE FOR PUNISHMENT: Black
and White Americans' Views on the Death Penalty and the War on Drugs." Du
Bois Review 1(1):pp 151-180.
Cooper, Mary H. 2000. "Drug-Policy Debate, Is There Too Much Emphasis on Law
Enforcement?" The CQ Researcher 10(26):593-624.
Annotation: This journal article covers all aspects of the war on drugs. It begins
by describing the history of drug policy, then it goes on to present statistics for
drug abuse. A major issue discussed at length in this article is that of prison vs.
treatment in other words, should drug policy punish drug abusers by sending
them to prison or helping them become sober? The article also presents statistics in
funding and where all that money goes. In page 612-613 the article focuses on the
disparities found when analyzing prison and arrest data. This journal article is
useful because it fulfills the first part of my strategy read a neutral article ,which
presents the debate without having much bias. Additionally, this article provides a
vast amount of statistical data, which can be used to make argument in my paper.
Moreover, the article provides other sources for further reading.
Fellner, Jamie. 2009. Decades of Disparity Drug Arrests and Race in the United States.
New York, NY: Human Rights Watch.
Grim, Ryan. 2011. "Ron Paul: Drug War in U.S. Has Racist Origins ."The Huffington
Post. Retrieved March 11, 2012 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/27/ronpaul-drugs-drug-war_n_1170878.html).
Guerino, Paul, Paige M. Harrison and William J. Sabol. 2011. Prisoners in 2010.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
Koch, Kathy. 1998. "Drug Testing, Does it deter drug abuse?" The CQ Researcher

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Christian Fabian
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8(43):1001-1024.
Males, Mike. 2011. Misdemeanor marijuana arrests are skyrocketing and other
California marijuana enforcement disparities. San Francisco, CA: Center on
Juvenile and Criminal Justice.
McWhorter, John. 2011. "How the War on Drugs Is Destroying Black America." Cato's
Letter 9(1):1-7.
Schuessler, Jennifer. 2012. "Drug Policy as Race Policy: Best Seller Galvanizes the
Debate." New York Times, March 7, The Arts/Cultural Desk.
Annotation: Schuessler talks about Michelle Alexanders book, The New Jim
Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. In Alexanders book,
there is evidence complied to make the argument that the war on drugs has
devastated Black America. She also makes the argument that the criminal justice
system is being used to counter the gains of the civil rights movement. Other
details discussed are the effects of the war on drugs on Black individuals, such as
job discrimination, elimination from juries, and restriction on public housing and
student loans. This is a review and response to Alexanders book, which is very
helpful because its contents reflect what other people think of the debate in other
words, it gives me an idea of how others, particularly white readers, react to the
issue. This source will allow me to make factual claims, while also providing me
with point of views representative of the interest groups.

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Smith, Phillip. 2009. "Race: Black Arrested on Drug Charges in Wildly Disproportionate
Numbers, Rights Group Charges." Drug War Chronicle, March 065,, 2009.
Vagins, Deborah and Jesselyn McCurdy. 2006. Cracks in the System: Twenty Years of the
Unjust Federal Crack Cocaine Law. American Civil Liberties Union.

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Warren, Jenifer. 2009. One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections.
Washington, DC: Pew Center on the States.

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Weich, Ronald and Carlos Angulo. 2000. Justice On Trial: Racial Disparities in the
American Criminal Justice System.Warren, Jenifer. 2009. One in 31: The Long Reach of
American Corrections. Washington, DC: Pew Center on the States.

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