NCJ Number
136349
Journal
Social Justice Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1991) Pages: 147-165
Date Published
1991
Length
19 pages
Annotation
The War on Drugs has been ineffective in stopping the use, manufacture, or trafficking of drugs both in the United States and in foreign countries and has created many other problems, but it has been successful in diverting attention from the dangers of legal drugs and in diverting public attention from fundamental social problems.
Abstract
In addition, the War on Drugs has focused mainly on lower-class and minority drug use and trafficking, thereby legitimating the virtual abandonment of minority and marginalized segments of the population and supporting the view that these social groups make up an enemy class that deserves marginality and impoverishment. Finally, the War has been used to give legitimacy to a massive expansion of governmental power and control. Some people recognize these problems. However, most wrongly assume that society is failing to communicate ethics to children and do not realize that society is actually communicating the wrong ethics. These values are characterized by opportunism, greed, and corruption and have been institutionalized at the upper levels of the social system. Because the War on Drugs diverts attention from reality, it is unlikely to be abandoned soon. Notes and 49 references