American Drug War The Last White Hope - 1245 Words

American Drug War Essay Cultural Awareness CRIM103 21 Apr 2013 Danielle Walters / Ivy Tech Community College James Reed Synopsis I chose to watch a documentary called American Drug War: The Last White Hope, and do a little research on the war on drugs. The documentary I chose was very interesting. I learned several things about the war on drugs, as well as operations that have been swept under the rug. This documentary also provided some chilling statistics on deaths due to legal and illegal drugs. There were several different conspiracy theories about the government being involved in illegal drug trafficking as well. In 1971 President Nixon declared an all-out war on drugs, now over a million non-violent drug offenders live behind bars. The war on drugs has been the longest, most costly, and destructive war in the US history as of today (Booth , 2007). The war on drugs focuses on the poor people, and not the bankers that launder the money. In 1973 Nixon created the DEA, which stands for Drug Enforcement Agency. The DEA is a federal agency responsible for enforcing laws and regulations governing narcotics, and controlled substances. Their job is to immobilize drug trafficking organizations. When Nixon declared the war on drugs in 1971, the federal budget was 101 million dollars, going into the year 2000; the federal budget allegation was 20 billion dollars. Half of what we spend in the court systems and prison is drug related (Booth , 2007).Show MoreRelatedShould We Be Mandatory Sentence Reduction?870 Words   |  4 Pagestough on crime indicator when it comes to drugs. We have criminalized Amer icans for possessing drugs in the war and drugs while in the more egalitarian Europe society simple possession is not even a crime. This translates to America in terms of a potential reduction in sentence, tests, processing, and incarceration costs for all those people arrested and convicted in the war on drugs and which has acted in practice to disproportionately penalize African-Americans. Research does call for high judgesRead MoreHow Did Jews Become White Folks?933 Words   |  4 Pagesthere has been individuals in society that have been discriminated against based on their religion, culture, race, and sexual orientation. The article â€Å"How Did Jews Become White Folks?† by Karen B. Brodkin highlighted the struggles that European immigrants, Jews, and African American faced in the United States pre and post World War two. Brodkin focused in on the idea of â€Å"whiteness† in America, and how the word has evolved overtime to include a variety of ethnicities. Since its creation America hasRead MoreHow Did Jews Become White Folks?917 Words   |  4 PagesSince the beginning of time, individuals have been discriminated against based on their religion, culture, race, and sexual orientation. The article â€Å"How Did Jews Become White Folks?† by Karen B. Brodkin highlighted the struggles that European immigrants, Jews, and African Americans faced in the United States pre and post World War II. In her article Brodkin focused on the idea of â€Å"whiteness† in America, and how the word has evolved over time to include a variety of ethnicities. Since its inceptionRead MoreThe Forgotten Civil War : A War On Minority Communities Essay1731 Words   |  7 Pages The Forgotten Civil War There is a war going on. It is a war that has targeted, jailed, and killed millions of Americans. To see its profound impact, one does not even need to leave our nation s borders. It is a civil war, that Consists of the U.S. Government, versus our country s minority communities. It has spanned multiple generations and numerous presidential administrations. Declared by President Richard M. Nixon in June, 1971, the war on drugs has been one lost at great cost. In thisRead MoreThe Harrison Narcotic Act Of 1914881 Words   |  4 PagesThe history of drug use dates back for thousands of years with diverse purposes throughout humanity. According to Levinthal (2012), the drug-taking behavior gained federal awareness in the early 1900s, due to the lack of drug control regulations. Moreover, Levinthal (2012) mentions four major drug control laws which were established, including: (1) The Harrison Narcotic Act 1914, (2) The Marijuana Tax Act 1937, (3) The Boggs Act 1951, and (4) The Controlle d Substance Act 1970. The drug control lawsRead MoreThe War on Drugs is a War on the Poor Essay1265 Words   |  6 Pages  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The â€Å"War on Drugs has been so terribly ineffective that it leads one to question its true motives. Even a dog can eventually learn from an electric fence, so why not the United States government? Is the goal really to curtail drug use, or is it to segregate society and vilify the disadvantaged? A combination of mandatory minimum sentencing and other unjust laws has led to an enormous rise in U.S. prison populations. Thanks to these laws, 60 percent of the federal prison population consistedRead MoreEssay on Propaganda, Stereotypes, and the War on Drugs1371 Words   |  6 PagesPropaganda, Stereotypes, and the War on Drugs The West has constantly been fighting the use of illegal drugs for decades by Propaganda. Propaganda ‘is a form of manipulative communication designed to elicit some predetermined response’ (Inge, 1981, 322). Governments have been using many propagandistic methods to reduce the consumption of illegal drugs such as marginalization or creating stereotypes. By creating a certain stereotype for the drug users and dealers, governments believe that peopleRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration Essay1401 Words   |  6 Pagesshe is African-American civil rights attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and is also an Associate Professor at the University of Stanford Law School. From a critical standpoint, Alexander seems very qualified to write on the topic, being part of the marginalized group and also being an expert in the legal field of which the topic covers, enhances her ethos to where one could consider her an expert in mass incarceration topics, as they relate to African-Americans. Overall, the introductionRead MoreHuman Trafficking Is The Exchange Of Human Beings Worldwide953 Words   |  4 Pagestrafficking has been taking place since the United States was granted freedom from Britian. Everyone from the African Americans, children, women, and grown men have been victims of this color-blind crime. No one is quite sure how many African slaves were forced into America but the number is estimated to be between 92,000 and 291,126 between the U.S.’s birth of a nation and the Civil War (Ingersoll, 2005). Any historical record of Africans before the mid-eighteenth century was virtually non-existentRead Moreâ€Å"Ghetto Gospel† By Hugely Worshiped, King Of Rap, 2Pac1300 Words   |  6 Pageshis album â€Å"Loyal to the game.† The song features the wonderful Elton John, and was produced by the also extremely well respected rapper by the name of Eminem. The official music video was released to YouTube on the 5th of July, 2011 and follows the last day of a man’s life highlighting the decisions that he makes. The music video for â€Å"Ghetto Gospel† is a chronological breakdown of the day a father, a boyfriend, a son is shot down out in the streets. The video takes place in the middle of the