The "war on drugs" has been an ongoing part of our history as Americans for a number of years, and certainly since the 1980s, when the drug cocaine was brought to our attention and then widely and quickly distributed
amongst our communities. Opinions and arguments in favor of the federal cocaine laws are numerous, as are the reactions against such laws. In the spirit of Americans faced with a problem large enough to be dubbed a "war," we have managed to find someone to blame for the problems we have created by using and selling cocaine. Who do we target with these laws? African Americans.
People like Michael Coyle, a research associate with The Sentencing Project, say that African Americans are disproportionately targeted with these federal laws, while Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy argues that no such discrimination exists. While my views of race discrimination are usually more pronounced toward the positive, in this case, I am not convinced that these federal cocaine laws discriminate against blacks to the extent that merits the problem to be called a "war." As with other issues, like the "war" on terror, or the "war" on crime, it seems that with this issue the idea is the same: to get people interested and convinced that a giant problem exists, when in reality the answers are not as clear-cut as the implications point out.
Kevin A. Sabet says that to argue that these federal laws openly discriminate against African Americans doesn't add up, arguing that, because it is a federal law, its basis only applies when someone is "apprehended and prosecuted by federal authorities" (Sabet 183). Those cases are very rare-in fact, from 2002 to 2005, there were only a grand total of 68 people federally-prosecuted. 68? That doesn't seem to merit an overhaul on the cocaine laws, regardless of what race those 68 people were.
People like Michael Coyle, a research associate with The Sentencing Project, say that African Americans are disproportionately targeted with these federal laws, while Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy argues that no such discrimination exists. While my views of race discrimination are usually more pronounced toward the positive, in this case, I am not convinced that these federal cocaine laws discriminate against blacks to the extent that merits the problem to be called a "war." As with other issues, like the "war" on terror, or the "war" on crime, it seems that with this issue the idea is the same: to get people interested and convinced that a giant problem exists, when in reality the answers are not as clear-cut as the implications point out.
Kevin A. Sabet says that to argue that these federal laws openly discriminate against African Americans doesn't add up, arguing that, because it is a federal law, its basis only applies when someone is "apprehended and prosecuted by federal authorities" (Sabet 183). Those cases are very rare-in fact, from 2002 to 2005, there were only a grand total of 68 people federally-prosecuted. 68? That doesn't seem to merit an overhaul on the cocaine laws, regardless of what race those 68 people were.
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