War On Drugs As A Social Problem Essay

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The problem I want to explore is how the War on Drugs has become a social problem. This is a social problem because it has created an overpopulated prison system disproportionately filled with people of color and the poor.
My assumptions are that this is true and many social activists agree with me. Per our text, conflict theory says “Far-reaching social change is needed to reduce or eliminate social inequality...” I feel that we need far-reaching social change when it comes to the war on drugs. We should be looking for alternatives to battle the drug addiction that drives illegal drug use, offer treatment instead of prison sentences.
Brief History of Drug Prohibition
Racial and ethnic prejudice have played an important role in why some drugs …show more content…

D., and Elkavich, A., 2008). But because white people make up a larger portion of the U.S. population, the number of white drug users is much greater than that of drug users of color. Data from 1998 tells us that whites made up 72 percent of all illegal drug users while African Americans made up 15 percent of illegal drug users (Moore et al., 2008). Even though the number of white drug users is so much greater, African Americans make up nearly 60 percent of the prison population (Moore et al., 2008), and according to National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), they have nearly six times the incarceration rate of whites. African American drug offenders have a 20 percent greater chance of going to prison than white drug offenders (The Sentencing Project).
Claims-makers such as social change groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA); politicians, both democrat and republican; and even President Obama define this as a social problem. According to Schmidt (2015) in April 2014, the Unites States Sentencing Commission reduced the penalties for many nonviolent crimes. This led to President Obama releasing 6,000 non-violent prisoners. More prisoners had their sentences reduced and will leave prison

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