Relationship Between Police Corruption And The War On Drugs

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Drug addiction has been a massive rising issue looming over the United States for the better half of a century. As the number of Americans using illegal drugs increases, the number of illegal drugs entering the United States increases as well, thus causing the war on drugs. The drug war essentially is a campaign of prohibition that aims to reduce illegal drug trade. Today, the war on drugs has influenced police officers and other law enforcement personnel’s to become corrupt. The articles “Police Corruption is Fueled by the War on Drugs” by Joseph D. McNamara and “In Drug Fight in Texas Border, Some Officers Play Both Sides” by Manny Fernandez, for The New York Times, explore the relationship between police corruption and the war on drugs. McNamara’s article better represents the impact that the current war on drugs has on the American police considering the fact he better illustrates each point he presents. …show more content…

Last year there were roughly about 1.4 million drug related arrests, most being simple possession charges. McNamara poses the question of how can police arrest 1.4 million people for a crime with no victims to press charges or someone providing evidence to aid in the arrests. Since there are no witnesses or victims, there is no need for anyone to disclose information about these crimes with the police. In Fernandez’s article, he states “Some of the very officers sworn to combat the drug trade have been illicitly earning cash by helping vehicles transporting marijuana and cocaine avoid detection from law enforcement agents.” These officers acts as personal escorts for drug transporters transporting drugs over the United States and Mexico border in southern

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