FragilE^ said:
I don't know much about the war on drugs (only that it costs way more than it helps). Can you explain "this whole mess it the consequence of the drug war" this to me? I'm genuinly curious. |
Certaintly. In the 1970's and 1980's the the federal government took it upon itself to eliminate drugs from the streets actively, for political reasons of course. Instead of taking a nurturing approach, and weaning people off these substances and their addiction (nipping demand), the government thought to heavily criminalize the sale and usage of drugs with long sentencing periods and damning records, with the endeavor of reducing supply. The effect of this is that the drug-trade is pushed further to the black-market, the supply decreases, but consequently the equillibrium price increases - making the drug trade highly profitable. Poor people in inner-cities see this as a means of employment, and because of the criminalization of drugs people who need help to wean off their addiction can't get it, without the fear of facing criminal charges. Those who are responsible for keeping their local monopolies on drug trade have no mechanism for recourse, as the legal system doesn't apply to fraud for them. Therefore they turn to violent crime to make sure contracts and region agreements are kept. The gangs take advantage of the poor kids in their areas, who probably had no real role-model or stable income stream because their parents were sent to prison for drug usage. Now lets say somebody gets out of prison for drug usage or sales, and they want to reform their life. It is very hard because very few people are going to hire somebody who has a drug felony. Because of this, the probability that this person will have to turn back to the drug trade to get money is high. Since these people are dispropotionately minorities, and the minorities inflict a disproportionate amount of violent crime (because they are in gangs, originally to make money) the police have prejudices and fear against minorities based on the statistics. That combined with the militarization of the police, and a general disdain for them because of their role in the enforcement of the drug role, ends with what we have today. Warfare between the police and minorities.
