The War on Drugs

What is the opposite of addiction

-connection

when did the war on drugs begin

-Prohibition across the last century 

-Most commonly recognized starting with President Richard Nixon’s 1971 War on Drugs when he declared drug abuse to be the number 1 enemy

what are the 3 ways Johan Hari challenged the notion that drugs have chemical hooks that cause addiction

1. people are given diamorphine, but do not become addicted

2. vietnam 20% of troops used heroin and 95% came out not addicted

3. the rat park studies—> when put in an enriched environment, they didn’t want the drug infused water

According to Hari, citing Bruce Alexander, what is addiction most likely about (if not a chemical)

-addiction is an adaptation to your environment

-it is about bonds and connections

Hari discusses the explanation forward by Peter Cohen from the Netherlands about addiction. What does it call addiction instead?

-”bonding”

-humans are born with the innate need for belongingness and connection and when this is not met, one will look for other ways to achieve this sense of bonding

What have been the efforts made by our government to carry out the war on drugs

-we punish them, shame them, and give them criminal records that make it very hard to recover and integrate yourself back into the real world

-increase enforcement funding

what have been the successes of the war on drugs

-portugal

what have been the unintended consequences of the war on drugs

-disconnection

-have created a society where live more like in isolation than we do in rat park

who are the 6 main winners of the war on drugs

1. mexican drug cartels (get 6 million dollars a year)

2. Banks (help cartels launder their money from drug sales, they need to put their money somewhere)

3. weapon manufacturers and dealers (70% of weapons recovered by mexican police came from the U.S.)

4. police force and private security contractors (received billions in funding and equipment from initiatives between U.S. and Mexico)

5. private prisons in the U.S. (profit from incarcerating mass numbers of people for drug offenses)

6. Large corporations (benefit from economic reforms passed under the guise of the drug war)

who are the 3 main losers from the war on drugs

1. the general public (particularly in mexico where thousands have been killed b/c of the violent nature of drug trafficking)

2. the 43 missing students talked about from Guerrero who were taken and killed by cartels

3. public safety in mexico (confusion between which authorities they can trust as the cartels have integrated themselves so deep between the government and police systems)

which group of people have been over-represented since the 1970s in terms of arrests in the war on drugs

-african americans with 2 times as many arrests as caucasians

what group is more likely to be arrested even though they do not commit as many crimes as other groups

-african americans are 5 times more likely to be arrested when caucasians commit more crimes

what are the incarceration rates in the U.S. compared to other countries

-U.S. has the highest incarceration rate

what is the estimated cost of the war on drugs over the past 40 years

-about $1 trillion

name 3 groups that are drawn parallels in terms of being scapegoated (singled out) through drug laws and criminalization

1. chinese immigrants on the west coast: anti-opium laws were passed not due to opium, but b/c smoking was linked with Chinese immigrants as they were seen as a threat to jobs. thus, criminalizing opium was a way to target the Chinese

2. mexicans in the 1930s: hemp was rebranded as meaning marijuana since weed use was associated with Mexican immigrants who were seen as competition for jobs. anti-marijuana laws were a way to target Mexican

3. blacks migrating from the rural south: policies were used to segregate neighborhoods that created impoverished areas. this set the stage for drug trade to occur here. eventually, as the war on drugs continued, crack cocaine was harder penalized versus powder cocaine resulting in disproportionate punishment

how are the 3 groups similar to each other

-they all are examples of how the war on drugs targeted marginalized immigrants or minority groups

-drug laws were used to control and criminalize these groups as they were seen as a threat to the economy, particularly among jobs

what are the 4 pillars of social policy toward addiction

1. prevention

2. Harm Reduction 

3. Treatment 

4. Enforcement (gets the most financial support)

what is the 5 step chain of destruction

1. identification

2. ostracism

3. confiscation

4. concentration

5. annihilation

explain the 5 step chain of destruction

1. identification: when a group is identified and labeled as the cause of societal problems. their lives are dehumanized as worthless or evil —> source of societal ills

2. ostracism: the group is isolated, marginalized and physically separated from others, often forced into ghettos. laws and policies make it harder for them to stay on a better path —> ostracization through policies that marginalize them

3. confiscation: the group loses basic rights and liberties. laws are changed to allow their property to be easily seized by authorities —> take away property through civil asset forfeiture

4. concentration: people within the group are rounded up and concentrated into facilities like prisons or camps where they are exploited. lose fundamental rights like voting —> put into prisons, thus losing rights

5. annihilation: involves indirect annihilation by withholding essentials like food/medicine, preventing births, or direct killing/extermination of the groups members —> lack of treatment and high incarceration rates

who is the war on drugs really a war on

-racial and ethnic minority groups, particularly blacks

-overall ordinary people