substance abuse and the war on drugs

Question

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Answer

Substance Abuse and War on Drugs

Racism undermines the war on drugs. Going by the videos, the US fostered racial discrimination under the guise of fighting substance abuse. Hence, the fight against drugs had a hidden agenda, which was limiting the potential of minority groups in order to maintain the status quo of the whites. 

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The online video published by Rikki (2013) titled “From Eugene Jarecki’s Documentary: “The house I live in”” exposes the ill motive of criminalizing drug abuse in certain states. On the other hand, the video clip by Kotuk (2013) provides information that puts into focus the importance of establishing a fair and honest motive of confronting drug addiction among forgotten veterans. The goal should be to restore their health without demeaning their capacity whatsoever. This goal can be achieved by, for example, developing rehabilitations and psychosocial support programs for all veterans. Such interventions will see them recover significantly and increase their chances of securing employment and decently reserving their heroic titles. The idea should be to enable beneficiaries of the GI program to deal with the problems of both addiction and social conflict. The focus ought to be on improving their lives holistically as humans and war veterans irrespective of their race and color. 

Meanwhile, Rikki’s (2013) video suggests that whites are afraid of losing out to other groups such as African-Americans, Mexicans, and Chinese in terms of social status. They are led by the perception that they are and should be the best in society – a fact that has compelled them to perpetuate injustices in an attempt to retain their supremacy over other minority groups. The case is no different in the war on drugs. The illegalization of hard drugs was used to oppose the growing empowerment efforts of other races that had inhabited the United States following the fall of slavery.  Since they could not be jailed for not being white, the criminalization of drug use started being used as a pretext for arresting them (Riki, 2013). Therefore, racism persistently compromises the war on drugs and leads to stereotyping and misconceptions about substance abuse in relation to minority groups in America today. 

References

Kotuk, R. (2013). GI Junkies: The Forgotten Veterans. Youtube, Online video clip. 6 September 2013. Web. Accessed on 11 September. 2016.

Riki, N. (2013). From Eugene Jarecki’s Documentary: “The house I live in”. YouTube, Online video clip. 26 January. 2013. Web. Accessed on 11 September. 2016.