The Racist And Failed War On Drugs Has To End

The court system has a racial bias, and this is impossible to ignore. Tanya McDowell was a homeless black mom who got 5 years in prison for lying about which school district her son lived in. Felicity Huffmann and Lori Loughlin got 14- and 60-day sentences respetively, and Lori Loughlin is reportedly serving hers at a "resort prison" with pilates and music lessons, for paying large sums of cash to enroll their children in private universities.

Nowhere is this racial bias more obvious than the failed "War on Drugs." Richard Nixon, admitted an advisor, started the crusade to indirectly target minorities and anti-war protestors and silence their open opposition to his administration. This political move has lasted for decades and will likely have century-long repercussions.

Despite having just 5% of the population, the U.S. has over 25% of the world prison population, 500% the global average. Despite white people comprising much of the U.S. population, blacks and Latinos make up equal amounts of state drug prisoners. And, most telling, while state prisoners are roughly equal by race, federal drug prisoners and overwhelmingly black and Latino, meaning that harsher sentences tend to be given out to people of color.

Over 1.5 million drug arrests were made in 2016, of which 80%, or 1.2 million, were for simple possession. It is estimated that more than half of arrests for drugs are made for marijuana, which is becoming legal across much of the country as it is less harmful than alcohol.

It is also costly: arrests, aid to countries, and incarceration cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars per annum.

The solution is simple: Legalize marijuana and offer rehabilitation and community service to small drug offenders rather than institutionalizing them.