Are Blacks Helped by the Drug War? (From Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Crime and Criminology, Fifth Edition, P 162-187, 1998, Richard C. Monk, ed. -- See NCJ-183062)

• NCJ Number: 183072
• Author(s): James A. Inciardi; Thomas Szasz
• Editor(s): Richard C. Monk
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 26 pages
• Sale Source: Dushkin/McGraw Hill Publishing Group, Inc
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The impact of the drug war on blacks is assessed, particularly in the context of drug legalization and the functions of criminal justice and medical establishments.

Abstract

The director of the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies at the University of Delaware rejects all arguments supporting drug legalization and insists that blacks and others would be hurt by it. He presents arguments that concern public health issues, drug use to pursue pleasure and escape, the dangers of crack cocaine, and the connection between drugs and crime. In an opposing view, a psychiatrist maintains that the drug war harms almost all people, especially blacks, and that its main focus is to increase the power of criminal justice and medical establishments. He believes that drug prohibition has fueled the fires of racial division and antagonism and that drug law enforcement victimizes blacks disproportionately compared to whites. In addition, he discusses the Black Muslim position that existing drug laws are racist.