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Thursday, July 22, 2021

US War on Drugs Wreaks Havoc Among Hispanics

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Alton Lucas never thought about gardening

As a teenager, Lucas thought that basketball or music would allow him to travel the world. In the late 1980s he was the right hand of his best friend, Youtha Anthony Fowler, known as DJ Nabs in the hip hop environment.

Lucas, however, discovered the drugs and the business that represented their sale in the middle of the "war on drugs." Crack addict and drug dealer, he faced decades of imprisonment at a time when drug use and the violence that wreaked havoc in large cities and in poor communities of African-Americans and Latin Americans were not considered a public health issue, as is the case today with opioids.

By chance, Lucas benefited from something that few received in the midst of the crack epidemic: Treatment of his addiction, an early release and the opportunity to start again.

"To be honest, I started with this gardening thing because nobody wanted to give me work because I was in jail," Lucas said. His company Sunflower Landscaping received help from Inmates to Entrepreneurs, a national non-profit organization that offers advice and education to people with criminal records who want to start a business.

Lucas was trapped in a system that sets lifelong restrictions on most people who go to prison for drug-related crimes, without thinking about their rehabilitation. They are denied employment and have little access to education and commercial loans, housing, the possession of their children, voting and possessing weapons.

It is a system that was born when Lucas was practically a baby.

50 years ago, the Richard Nixon administration declared war on drugs, without much success. Today, the United States faces an epidemic of opioid use and it is not clear if there was any winner in that battle. What there is no doubt about is that there were losers: Numbers of African Americans and Latin Americans, their families and their communities.

A basic aspect of that war was the imposition of very harsh prison sentences. That policy gave way to an increase in the prison industrial complex where millions of people, mostly minorities, were locked up who lost all hope of making the American dream a reality.

A review by the Associated Press of federal and state data indicates that, between 1975 and 2019, the prison population in the United States rose from 240,593 people to 1.430 billion. The most serious crime of one in five inmates was linked to drugs.

Racial disparity reveals the uneven impact of this war. Following the approval of harsher punishments for crimes related to crack and other drugs, the incarceration rate of African Americans increased from 600 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1970 to 1,808 per 100,000 in 2000. In the same period, the incarceration rate of Hispanics rose from 208 per 100,000 people to 615. Among whites, the increase was from 103 to 242.

Gilberto González, a retired Drug Control Administration special agent who dealt with drug trafficking in the United States, Mexico and South America, said he will never forget the day he was acclaimed by residents of a mostly Hispanic neighborhood of Los Angeles when he took drug dealers handcuffed.

"I understood the reality that the people of these neighborhoods live, their impotence, because they fear what the traffickers who control the streets, who control the neighborhood, can do with them and their children," said González, 64, who spoke of his experiences in a recently published book, "Narco Leyenda."

"We realized that, in addition to dismantling the trafficking organizations, we had to clean up the communities, help the defenseless people," he said.

The heavy-handed policy, however, has had serious consequences for people who reformed themselves. Lucas wonders what would have become of him and his family if he did not have that criminal record.

Despite his willingness and after being clean for almost 30 years, Lucas, 54, cannot pass criminal background checks every time he seeks employment. His wife says that his past prevents him from doing things as simple as accompanying his children on school trips.

"It's like a life sentence," Lucas said.

The heavy-handed policies were mostly accepted because they coincided with an increase in homicides and other violent crimes throughout the country. They were supported even by the African-American clergy and the Black Legislative Bloc.

These policies were not accompanied by programs for the prevention and treatment of addicts.

Crack consumption rose markedly between 1985 and 1989, to decline in the early 1990s, according to a Harvard study.

The sale and consumption of drugs was concentrated in cities, especially those with large communities of African-Americans and Latin Americans.

Rolandn Fryer, author of the Harvard study and professor of economics, said that the impact of the crack epidemic on a generation of black families has not yet been properly documented. He added that during this time the distrust of minorities in government institutions increased.

"People ask why blacks don't trust (public) institutions," said Fryer, who is African-American. "They don't trust because they saw how we treat the opioid epidemic, as a public health issue. But with crack, they said 'lock them up and throw away the key; what is needed is harsher sentences.'"

Lucas spent four and a half years in prison for robbing several small businesses. He says he never carried a gun. Since his crimes were considered nonviolent, he was able to avail himself of a treatment of his addiction in prison, which facilitated his release early.

Once his freedom was regained, his old friend Fowler paid out of pocket all Lucas' fines and fees, which was thus able to recover his right to vote.

Not everyone has their luck. Generally, a drug conviction, combined with some violent crime, carries much longer penalties. And at the height of the war on drugs, all the members of a gang were judged together, and they were all to blame for a homicide, no matter who pulled the trigger.

These cases generated sentences to life imprisonment, without the possibility of parole, a punishment that disproportionately affected African-American and Latin American prisoners.

El Mañana

29 comments:

  1. Great article Dr. Sol
    Glad Lucas changed for the better, but his past still haunts him.

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  2. Great article, Sol. I remember in 1986 the theme was evil 'black crack heads with pit bulls" now it's s like " OMG, poor people are overdosing, send help!" This is way overly simplistic but shows, perhaps? a trend towards a rehabilitative approach.
    Even in the field I worked in, it was a beat them down and punish them for their disabilities first. Now, I think many social and cj justice areas are realizing this approach doesn't work. Rehabilitation of the mentally ill, addicted, the ALREADY broken down is perhaps turning away from the hopefully former punitive approach.
    Before anyone mistakes me as a ' hugs before bullets lover', that is far from it, but whatever we have been doing doesn't work when dealing with sick people. There will always be unchangeable sociopathic scumbags, but they are never the majority. People have all sorts of semi- logical reasons to them for getting sucked up in this mental war machine. Yeah, hopefully for those that are capable of change, there are options and better approaches out there that will benefit their families and society in general. We can only sit back and watch. Like I say, there are no easy answers to societal ills and anyone who claims to have the complete cure is full of ego fuelled bs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They need to legalize all of it already but thatll never happen.
      Theres already “legal”/prescription drugs just as strong as street drugs, in the pharmacias-

      And the federal gov wont stop the gravy train. Meth sentences are already crazy as hell- if you get caught with over 50 grams and a pistol- your outta here- thats like a 30 year sentence for 50 grams?? How much does 50 grams cost if a pound is around 1000$?? It still hasnt made its way to the city i live in- i was told years ago it was because sinaloa makes way to much off coke/crack and that meth would fuck that all up

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    2. Legalize all of it? You must like the idea of some meth junkie that thinks someone is out to get him kill someone for no reason. Nah dont legalize shit. If anyone wants to get high smoke a joint. But meth fentanyl heroin crack and coke delaers need to get put away with long sentences. And instead of importing drug lords or sending long enforcement agents to other countries or especially giving other countries money and equipment and training to fight the war on drugs like mexico where corrupt officials pocket the money and inform on drug angencies to criminals the usa shld give long sentences also to smugglers cought in usa soil and traffickers in usa soil. The usa war on drugs is won or lost in the usa. Secure the southern border and all ports of entry like miami new york etc. And bust money and weapons heading south. Let other countries criminals fight their wars with chinese ak's instead of ar type rifles.

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  3. People that do drugs get into bad predictable problems.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 8:07 You from Harvard?

      Corey Feldman

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  4. White privilege, the ability to suffer whatever life throws at you without blaming another ethnic group.

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    Replies
    1. Exactly, the prison system screws everybody. Black and Latino 3x more in prison and white 2.5x more in prison. System is DESIGNED to lock up as many people as possible because it’s privatized and made to be profitable. There are companies who rely totally on being reimbursed by government for every human body they house. They get over $60,000 per year for each person, that’s why it’s perpetuated, the lobbying for this garbage is relentless. Look up CCA or the Geo group. Two of the biggest flesh peddlers in the U.S. incorporated

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  5. this is a trash article, with poor fact checking. there are 1.2 *million* people incarcerated in the US. i also saw no mentions of big pharma domestic and foreign, no mention of drug use in Mexico, generalization after generalization, with no sources cited. The crack epidemic was fueled by the drug trade and money hungry drug cartels who pioneered addiction in a lab. this was all new, no one could have been prepared for this at the time. the rate at which crime rose was completely off the charts in major cities and the government had to react. Its not like politicians had a blue print to go off of. ill take swift action and harsh penalties and accountability rather than no policing, no justice, no penalties, no investigations. we all know what that brings. this article is like a 5th graders essay on the war on drugs. of course the US needs some justice reform....but its better than no justice at all.

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  6. Why is it always blaming somebody else? Drug dealers and users DONT only commit non violent victimless crimes. I’m white and have white privilege even though I work 90 hours a week, raised as in a trailer park, and have a serious criminal record from way back. It’s my fault!!!! Mine!!!! Nobody else’s!!! I don’t have the luxury of blaming whitey or the system or my dad or this or that!! Pathetic generational Victimhood!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Why is it always blaming somebody else? Drug dealers and users DONT only commit non violent victimless crimes. I’m white and have white privilege even though I work 90 hours a week, raised as in a trailer park, and have a serious criminal record from way back. It’s my fault!!!! Mine!!!! Nobody else’s!!! I don’t have the luxury of blaming whitey or the system or my dad or this or that!! Pathetic generational Victimhood!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is the liberal site from hell. ALWAYS blaming white Americans. Its NEVER Mexicos fault

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  8. Hispanics wreak havoc on the US.

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  9. So the entire article is about a ex crack addict who was African American. Very misleading title.

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    Replies
    1. I often wonder who writes & edits the articles from being published in the beginning. Probably written by some crackhead.
      Bb only paste & publishes; no offense to the BB staff.

      Delete
  10. Headline should read- War on drugs wreaks havoc on those involved in drugs, regardless of race or ethnicity.

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  11. Typical leftist dribble where everything is about race.

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  12. This is why it's important to brag that some people like myself a Hispanic does not consume alcohol or do drugs and has hard earned money to spare.
    Fuck drugs cartels or any other dishonest business.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Damn it move away from black Americans? Im sure it's havoc for billy white shoe

    ReplyDelete
  14. OPIOID IS COLOUR BLIND
    SO BECAUSE BILLY WHITE SHOE DYIN,WHY SO MUCH CONCERN.4 MILLION IN 5 YEARS ON D i find my way out of hole🇨🇦🇨🇦🖤

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am sorry I don't read comments with all capitals.

      Delete
  15. USA has 4% of the world population
    USA has 25% of the world's PRISONS the SAME PEOPLE ALSO own PRISONS in 🇲🇽.. The newest prison in SONORA Mexico are the same owners of the ones in 🇺🇸.. Talk ABOUT legal extorsion. They get RICH by locking people up..
    The land of the FREE?..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. maybe locking people up and keeping them in jail would help MX

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    2. Private prisons are a curse on the USA

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  16. Feel very sorry for the people, drugs are horrible.

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  17. Legalize and regulate all controlled substances. If you want to consume whatever the hell rocks your socks off then by all means. It's your personal choice, life, and freedom.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes good thinking, to buy it more crimes will transpire, robberies, thefts.

      Delete

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