Making War on the War on Drugs

By Lakshmi Chaudhry, AlterNet. Posted September 16, 2002.

Deborah Small is director of public policy for the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), the nation's leading organization working to broaden the public debate on drug policy by promoting realistic alternatives to the war on drugs.

Small is organizing the upcoming conference, "Breaking the Chains: People of Color and the War on Drugs" to be held in late September in Los Angeles. The conference is expected to bring together hundreds of community organizers, religious leaders, youth and elected officials to address the destructive impact of the drug war on communities of color.

Small talked with AlterNet about the drug war as one of the leading sources of racial inequities in America and what Americans can do to address the problem.

ALTERNET: Why is there so little awareness of the connection between race and the war on drugs?

DEBORAH SMALL: Because very few people talk about it. The targets of drug law enforcement; the resources available to assist those with substance abuse problems; the sanctions applied to people convicted of drug crimes; the demonization of drugs and drug users are all issues that have racial and class overtones that are rarely acknowledged, much less discussed. Additionally, those individuals and communities that have been most affected by the war on drugs have been reluctant to talk about problems related to the war on drugs, in part because of the stigma and shame attached to any involvement in drug activity.

As a nation we need to come to grips with the fact that there are two criminal justice systems in America: one for white Americans and one for everyone else. Our nation's drug policies are a leading source of racial inequities in our country and we need to start addressing this problem.

Is it also because the problem of drugs is defined mainly as a white issue in mainstream media -- i.e. the danger of nice white suburban kids getting hooked?

It depends what the purpose of the media message is. If the goal is to justify government anti-drug propaganda - for example, the ads which aired during Super bowl Sunday that attempted to link drug users to the war on terrorism -- or to support mandatory drug testing in schools, then the reason given is the need to protect kids from drugs. However, if the goal of the media message is to justify increased police presence in communities of color, or policies that impose severe penalties for minor drug offenses, then the reason given is that drug users and sellers are a scourge on such communities and need to be punished.

What biases about drugs, people of color etc are in operation here?

Generally, the bias is class-based with racial overtones. Poor people with drug problems are presumed to be criminals and are treated harshly by the criminal justice system. Affluent people with drug problems are deemed in need of help and are expected to seek treatment with the goal of getting well. Additionally, there is a presumption that drug use is endemic in poor communities of color -- therefore not an anomaly and not an issue demanding serious attention.

The war on drugs has filled our jails and prisons with the poor and the young -- who are disproportionately African-American, Latino, and Native American. In some states like New York and California, more African-American and Latino men are sent to prison each year than graduate from the state's colleges and universities. That's a sad commentary about our societal priorities.

So what are the main areas within this encompassing challenge that need to be urgently addressed?

Police use of racial profiling is now well documented. Blacks and Latinos are far more likely than other Americans to be stopped and searched by police on streets and highways throughout the United States. The same is true of Native Americans in many parts of the country. Prosecutorial decisions are also racially skewed.

So are sentencing practices, with blacks and Latinos often sentenced to longer prison terms and afforded fewer alternatives to incarceration. In New York, conviction for the sale of two ounces or more of a narcotic drug or cocaine requires a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years to life. As a result of this draconian law, New York has experienced a dramatic increase in the number of persons serving long sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. Not surprisingly, more than 94 percent of state inmates serving time for drug offenses are African-American or Latino. Under federal mandatory minimum laws, the harshest criminal penalties are applied to drugs such as "crack" cocaine (a drug used predominantly by poor persons of color), where the overwhelming majority of people arrested and convicted are black.

As a result, African-Americans and Latinos are losing their right to vote. So many people are disenfranchised that it has affected the outcome of national elections. This has an impact on entire communities and dilutes their ability to have adequate political representation and participate in government. It also makes a mockery of our claim of promoting democracy abroad when we deny basic political rights to so many citizens.

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