The Drug War

The Drug War

“You have to face the fact that the whole problem is really
the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this all while not appearing to.”
- Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States. Statement recorded in 1969 in the diary of his Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldemann.


While my readers may find this chapter the least useful for their immediate future, it’s probably the most noteworthy for our long-term success with managing the many drug related dangers we face in America and nations under similar law. It was impossible for me to ingratiate myself into education and harm reduction at the level I now find myself without becoming fully engrossed in this industry’s policy reform movement.
I could start by paraphrasing from an article in the magazine, The Economist from early 2009. It discussed how our society’s leaders have not yet admitted defeat. How until the late 1990’s, it seems they actually believed it was possible to achieve a “drug-free world.” Now, they argue more that they have helped to stabilize the drug market, but often with such illegality, accurate statistics are hard to ascertain.
But this is a total farce…
The truth is that this so called “Drug War” has not been a war against drugs at all, but rather a war against people; specifically, a war against certain demographics in society, most often poor minorities. As in my opening quote, the war on drugs is the device the government used to mask its attack on primarily African Americans. The notion that this is the true agenda that initiated and propelled the longest running war in human history, is to me, more horrifying than all the adverse effects of the legal, medical and educational standards on drugs held by the U.S. today.
“If our own government was responsible for the deaths of almost 100,000 people… would you really want to know?” – Stephen Rea playing Inspector Finch in the film, V for Vendetta.
The following is a brief history review: compliments primarily of the Drug Policy Alliance Network, found at www.drugpolicy.org. If you are at all concerned about issues discussed in this chapter, this non-profit network is one to which I recommend you donate time, money or resources.
1870’s to 1920’s, in the United States, the typical Opiate or Cocaine addicts were middle aged, rural, middle-upper class, white women. Despite 250,000 addicts in a population of 76 million, society perceived the situation as simply a health problem.
Late 1800’s, Native American Indians in Mid-western U.S. organized a new religion revolving around the use of the Peyote Cactus. Churches and government agencies were against this psychedelic movement of course, and claimed that while on Peyote, men were killing people and women were ripping their clothes off. Not dissimilar to exaggerated myths today about users of PCP, heroin, LSD, weed, etc.
In 1909 the state of California prohibited the smoking of Opium to discourage Chinese immigration to the West. The Chinese were immigrating and providing competitive, cheap labor. This would make it harder for white people to find work.
“I don't see no Americans. I see trespassers, Irish harps. Do a job for a nickel what a nigger does for a dime and a white man used to get a quarter for.” - Bill the Butcher played by Daniel Day-Lewis in Martin Scorsese’s film, Gangs of New York.
A good example of natives fearing foreign influence and immigration. And a great actor and good movie. Do realize that America as we know it was founded and built by immigrants. Our government instilled fear in its people with stories of white women becoming stoned whores in Opium Dens.
In 1910 the Federal Government wanted to control drugs. They needed to lie to achieve this because very little crime was actually associated with drug users. To convince Southern members of Congress to support the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914, they were told myths about how the use of cocaine was causing African – American males to uncontrollably rape white women.
In the 1920’s and 30’s marijuana grew popular amidst the American Jazz scene, in which black and white people were happily smoking and getting high together. Again, feeding off of racism, the government propaganda suggested that this type of integration was an example of the degradation induced by weed.
The Marijuana Tax Act was passed in 1937 during the Great Depression. This was, in part, accomplished by convincing white people that the Mexicans who were taking their jobs were also violently attacking white people while high on weed.
In the early 1960’s, along with a flood of psychedelics, the popularity of marijuana returned amongst college students who questioned the government. Weed was also popular with urban blacks in this time period that were growing very upset about the slow implementation of the Civil Rights Legislation. Nixon later targeted both of these groups and successfully managed to create the stereotype of the poor youth and minorities as being dangerous drug users.
There are countless rumors regarding the CIA’s supplying the Bloods and Cripps of 1980’s Los Angeles with Cocaine and Guns in order to finance the Contras in Nicaragua. In this case not only is our government buying drugs to finance a war, but also using poor black kids to sell the drugs and kill each other off. But that’s a separate story.
The only way the war on drugs makes any sense is if you look at it with Nixon’s agenda in mind. In that capacity, and in that capacity only, this war has been an enormous success. The primary accomplishment of this endless struggle has been the creation of modern slavery in America. 72% of drug users and dealers in the U.S. are white. 13.5% of drug users and dealers are black. Police officers are assigned to patrol certain areas; typically poor, urban areas. Not rural areas in which odds are people have money and connections, making them more capable of getting police in trouble for illegal searches and methods. 37% of those arrested for drug violations are blacks. 60% of those in state prisons for drug felonies are blacks. 81% of those charged with federal drug violations are blacks. Whites serve an average of 2 years less than blacks for the same drug violations. The FBI reported that a black male born to a young couple in the U.S. today has a one in three chance of spending time in prison. During Apartheid in South Africa in 1993, 851 out of every 100,000 black people were incarcerated. During the War on Drugs in America in 2008, 6,667 out of every 100,000 black people were in prison.
And what has been the cost of this impressive implementation of racism? Vast monetary expense, organized crime, and death tolls greater than any war in human history. The U.S. spends $40 billion each year in an attempt to eliminate the supply of drugs. Our government spends more money on housing prisoners than it does on general education for the youth. It arrests 1.5 million of its citizens each year for drug offenses. One third of them actually spend time in jail. Over six thousand people in Mexico are killed each year as a result of the drug war. The estimation of the dollar value of the illegal drug trade business constantly changes depending on which agency you are asking. It is always in the hundreds of billions.
Prohibition created organized crime and helped it flourish. The only reason the drug trade is such a profitable business, in which the dealers control the market, is that it’s illegal, and thus, unregulated. It’s these profits that make drug lords able to afford to buy anything and anyone: cops, judges, politicians, governments. The Drug War makes criminals out of buyers, sellers, and users of these products, or even people like me, who just want to save lives through honest education. Locking up addicts accomplishes nothing. It only perpetuates the problem for them, their families and society as a whole. The U.S. has more people, per capita, in jail than any other country in the world. Our country’s fastest growing business is building prisons. Many of our kids are unable to get loans for school due to convictions of non-violent possession charges. Many of our citizens lose their right to vote, which of course can help sway elections in a direction that again, will only ensure the continuation of this war.
The lack of regulation, with no legal standards to be met, makes drugs more dangerous. Addicts are being forced to buy unreliable product and use in less than sanitary settings. That is how Heroin kills most of its victims. There are many reasons why users may receive the wrong dose. Can you think of a worse business in which buyers and sellers are to be held to moral standards? Prohibition has caused the purity of drugs to increase and makes them easier to access. A 12-year-old can purchase heroin with no problem whatsoever. All he or she needs is his allowance or something to barter. Yet the kid would have a very hard time buying cigarettes. Drug dealers do not ask kids for I.D. or proof of age. They don’t care, because they don’t have to be accountable. They cannot be held responsible. I’ve never heard of anyone ever suing a drug dealer. They resolve their issues violently, thus contributing to the casualties of this war. We have created a situation in which the ailments of drug addicts are being treated by dealers instead of doctors. Users are afraid to ask for help. One of the scariest notions is that the Drug War perpetuates itself. It feeds off itself, each side growing with every year it continues. There are now so many jobs that exist simply to fight this war. So much money is put into it. These cops, prison guards, DEA officers and others worry about losing their jobs if the war were to end. And drug lords get richer and richer… and terrorists profit off of all of this drug trade… and more and more of our own people die.
And what was the government’s excuse to do all this, to wreak all this havoc? Oh yes, to prevent addiction. Right? Wouldn’t it have been nice if that were actually true, and they were trying to help? If it had been true, this war would have ended years ago due to its obvious failure.
In 1914, drugs were legal and 1.3% of Americans were addicted. By 1970 the illegality of drugs made them far more potent and accessible, and still 1.3% of Americans were addicted to drugs. In 2008, drugs were still illegal and still only 1.3% of Americans were addicted.
Think it’s time we try something new?
I know most people are now warming up to the idea of legalizing marijuana on some level. But people think it sounds ridiculous when someone simply states that all drugs should be legal as well. But this is what does make the most sense if you really think about our goals.
Legalize all drugs so that they can be regulated and taxed. If drugs were legal, there would be no financial motivation for a black market and the Drug War would cease to exist. With no underground trade, “hot” doses made by lazy or deceptive dealers would no longer exist. That alone would prevent most of the deaths that result from overdose. If drugs are not illegal, buyers and sellers are not breaking the law. So right away, we save the tens of billions of dollars that we would have spent on fighting crime and housing criminals. There are many good examples we can look to for how well this strategy would work. For instance, we – the U.S. prior to 1914, the Netherlands and Switzerland in present day are doing very well – drug related death and crime are much lower in these places. Next the U.S. government could decide to produce all the drugs itself. This would ensure the quality of the drugs that the public would receive. Imagine the security of a world in which all your drugs had labels and listed ingredients, like your bottle of Advil or can of soup. When was the last time you bought a bottle of Jack Daniels from a liquor store only to find that the clerk had already opened the bottle and filled half of it with Diet Pepsi? Or to find a Marlboro Red cigarette laced with PCP? This would never happen because sellers of these products have licenses that can get revoked. Imagine how much safer it would be if your dealer didn’t have a gun and his cocaine had its purity levels and contents typed on a sticker placed on the side of the bag. And he’d be accountable if the sticker read the wrong information. McDonald’s makes damn well sure that there are no fingertips in the chicken nuggets because they know it will be a million dollar law suit. The more dangerous the substance, the more secure the transaction should be, not the other way around. And yes, maybe the harder drugs would have to be prescribed by medical doctors, who just have a more exclusive license. With the money saved by ending prohibition, and the surplus in taxes made on the sale of many of the drugs, (like the enormous tax the government puts on cigarettes, which actually has helped to lower the number of cigarette smokers in America), we could open free rehabilitation clinics. At these clinics we could provide addicts with free drugs under the supervision of health counselors, helping to ensure the safest possible use. These counselors could attempt to slowly wean the users off these drugs. This would prevent spread of disease and addicts wouldn’t be forced to perform criminal acts to obtain funds to purchase the drugs. At that same clinic they could offer drug education and general education. And how about having career counselors there as well? Does this sound like a safer environment to do Heroin in than a back alley? Does this sound like a more productive learning environment for a 15-year-old than a prison? We’d then have dealers and users off the streets, out of sight from children who are walking home from school. No more dealers to recruit new users until they get arrested and replaced 10 minutes later.
For the cops and others who are worried about losing their jobs upon repeal of prohibition - let them work on criminal cases in which people are actually harming others and not just themselves. Or how about these workers get trained to work in rehabilitation centers and drug education programs? We need to eliminate the criminal factor so that we can finally treat drug use medically instead of legally. To help deal with all the non-violent offenders who were wrongfully imprisoned and would be released, we could put a portion of the fortune we save by ending prohibition towards health care, housing, jobs with livable wages, and honest drug education programs in schools. What is wrong with politicians today? Is this not happening because they cannot admit that they’ve either been lying or incompetent up to this point? Or are there just too many people in power who are completely devoid of any moral values and reap the monetary benefits of this situation? The irrational drug laws run against most of the ideals this country claims it was founded on. And in the realm of this discussion, I often find myself ashamed to continue living here amidst the injustice. As long as I’m here, all I can do is fight for what I believe is right.
And this issue, along with my initial passion to prevent drug overdose, is what I feel most strongly about. I started writing this book half way through college, before I ever grew real interest in any studies, and this remained my favorite topic. I think it’s what also prevented me from finding contentment in performing arbitrary tasks in the 9 to 5 world of jobs and partying. When life got in the way of my working in this industry, I felt that life had become pointless, that I was wasting my time here. And this is what drives me to continue my work in this field, no matter how unorthodox a form it takes at any given stage. From writing, I gradually turned to lecturing and teaching, the first portion of which I lived on the road for 11 months and essentially went back to college living. Then, I rather quickly turned to music and art, and now film, and back to writing and everything together. I’ll use any medium through which I can reach the youth before they become prisoners of one form or another.
The war on drugs is an attack on our civil liberties. It is immoral to put a human in a cage because he put something in his own body. This is no longer a war.
“Girl, you can’t even call this shit a war… Wars end.” – Carver, in the pilot episode of the HBO television show, The Wire.
The humans lost. It now resembles genocide. We must show the government how many people are pro education and rational policy reform.

For far greater detail on this issue, and the primary source of research for this chapter, read End Prohibition Now!, an award winning essay by Jack Cole, Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Jack gives an incredibly informative talk as well and he is a terrific guy. He is one of the more interesting people I met at a number of Drug Policy Conventions and Hemp Festivals across the U.S. in 2009.
While there may be more creative ways to help end the war on drugs, if you are looking to learn more and spread the word, you can refer others to sources on this topic in the “suggested works” chapter. And to directly contribute in some way, whether it’s volunteering, a donation, or anything else you can think of, the most impressive organizations I’ve had the honor to grow acquainted with are Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Drug Policy Alliance Network, International Harm Reduction Association, Students For Sensible Drug Policy and Flex Your Rights. I thank you in advance for your time.