“an individual’s decision to use drugs is embedded in an unequal social structure, . . . that produces unequal outcomes for drug users contingent on their social status. By being poor, under-educated and of a low-status ethnic group, a person is at a greater risk for not only social marginalization, but becoming a victim of addiction. . . Many factors that plague the poor - stress of unemployment, depression, structural violence - contribute to addiction. At the same time, drug addiction contributes to both poverty and inequality, paralyzing the afflicted and rendering them unable to make positive changes or rise above their situation - less likely to be hired. ”170 6.39. Studies from the Caribbean, including analysis of patterns in the prisons, endorse this view of the impact of structural poverty on drug use. Persistent, high rates of poverty and unemployment have led to increased consumption and trafficking of illegal drugs “which provide a source of claimed ‘comfort’ for users . . . and seasonal income for many poor and marginalised in both urban and rural communities.”171 6.40. As indicated above, there are variables of race in this inequality since in the Commonwealth Caribbean, race is typically associated closely with class. The region has not collected segregated data collection as we should. However, in the US, this is well documented. The key point is that drug use, including marijuana use, is not limited to poor black youth but they are the ones who the criminal justice system confronts: “ . . . whites comprise a larger portion of the drug users in the U.S., . . . (However, out of the 5 to 1 ratio of white to black drug users, there is a 2 to 3 ratio of incrimination of white to blacks. This statistic clearly shows a racial bias in drug criminalization.”172 Similar findings have been made in Canada.173 6.41. Race and class biases are not only evident in arrests, but also play a role in sentencing. In court cases punishment for crack cocaine use and dealing (a drug associated with poor, black users) far outweighs punishments for identical crimes involving crack’s high-end counterpart, powdered cocaine (associated with wealthy, white users). This inequality in law enforcement creates a “dual frustration” among disadvantaged populations living with drug problems and dealing with the harsh penalties of criminalization.174 In 2010 arrest rates for ‘blacks’ were four times as high as ‘whites’ in the United States175. 6.42. Consequently, in a law program that is centred on public health and social justice imperatives, in order to break the cycle of drug addiction, the root causes need to be addressed. Treatment needs to be readily available for all socio-economic backgrounds and the stereotypical profiling of an addict needs to be erased from the public mind-set. Rather than a punitive, counterproductive regime, “we need a multilayered approach: we need better treatment, more harm-reduction programs, selective decriminalization, more creative adolescent prevention efforts and much more…”176 The prohibition paradigm and the
‘War on drugs’ have succeeded only in making the inequities between the advantaged and the vulnerable greater. It has deepened the chasms in the law, legal policy and enforcement, frustrating important justice objectives.
( Baer, H., Singer, M., and Susser, I. Medical Anthropology and the World System. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003, 131 -). Wendy Singh, ‘Drugs and the Prison System – Impact of Legislative Changes on the Prison Crises in the Commonwealth Caribbean region’, in A. Klein, M. Day, A. Harriott (eds) Caribbean Drugs, Zed Books Ltd., 18 Jul 2013, Chapter 4. 172 Husak, Douglas. Legalize This! The case for decriminalizing drugs. New York, NY: Verso, 2002.: 135). Estimates from the Bureau of Justice Statistics show that young black men are more likely to go to prison than to attend college. 173 Wortley S, Owusu‐Bempah A (2012). Race, ethnicity, crime and criminal justice in Canada. In Kalunta‐ Crumpton (ed.), Race, Ethnicity, Crime and Criminal Justice in the Americas. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 174 (Husak 2002: 136) There are, however, strides being made to rectify the racial bias at work in the legal system. Recently, a Supreme Court ruling overturned a U.S. appeals court ruling that judges could not hand down lesser punishments on the basis that they disagreed with the wide disparities for crack and powder cocaine sentences. Nevertheless, these laws remain in place, contributing to the inequalities in drug use and the criminal justice system.” 175 Scherf (2015). Persons of African descent, and to a lesser degree persons of Latin American descent, from disadvantaged communities are more likely to be arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned for marijuana possession offences. Golub et al (2007); Evans (2013); Caulkins et al (2014) and Scherf (2015) 176Inequality and Drug Use’, Mary Kate McNamara, Emily Schirack, Dana Sherry & Amy Vereecke https://neuroanthropology.net/2008/05/06/inequality-anddrug-use/. 170 171
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