Sociology

Assignment Outline

I chose to do my paper on ‘Illicit Drug Use in the 1980s’. I will discuss why the current problem facing many Americans today due to opium addiction is predicated on the historical discrimination experienced by drug addicts from minority communities which goes back as far as the 1980s. I will specifically address the following:

A. Illicit drug use in the 1980s:

The 1980s saw an increase in the addiction of crack cocaine especially among African American communities that has been largely attributed to racial discrimination and poverty among the people of color (Dunlap, Golub, & Johnson, 2006). This period to further disenfranchisement of the people of color, compared to white Americans who were flourishing, as families were torn apart and children wallowed deeper into poverty due to rampant unemployment, poor healthcare, and also absentee parents who had been arrested, convicted, and incarcerated by the State.

B. Government intervention in the 1980s

The rampant drug problem of the period caused the United States government to react aggressively in dealing with the problem by initiating what subsists even today in the name of ‘war on drugs’ (Fellner, 2009). While the war on drugs has not yet been won, what has become apparent is that measures which were initiated in the 1980s were ineffective and have thus contributed to the current crisis facing even the white Americans today. For instance, the government passed laws decriminalizing the possession, use, and sale of drugs which saw a disproportionate rise in the number of African Americans who were arrested, taken to court, convicted, and imprisoned. While those affected by drug addiction were ignored, families were broken while their welfare further deteriorated.

C. The current problem of drug addiction affecting the majority of white Americans.

The current drug problem facing Americans today is not different from the scourge that swept across African American neighborhoods in the 1980s. However, while that time the most affected people were minority communities, the majority of those affected by heroin addiction are white Americans (American Addiction Centers, 2017).

D. Government reaction to the current problem of drug addiction juxtaposed with its reaction in the 1980s when the most affected were from minority communities.

Faced by the rising cases of deaths by the majority of white Americans due to drug- related overdose, the government has reacted differently compared to how it reacted barely thirty years ago. The government has established a commission whose mandate is to study the drug problem and come up with viable solutions to the problem (Lopez, 2017). While this is commendable, the paper nevertheless points out that if the Government’s 1980s approach had not been so lax and discriminatory, maybe we would not have the current drug crisis in America today.

Sources

American Addiction Centers. (2017, December). Race and Addiction. Brentwood, Tennessee , United States.

Dunlap, E., Golub, A., & Johnson, B. D. (2006). The Severely-Distressed African American Family in the Crack Era: Empowerment is not Enough. Journal of Socology and Social Welfare , 33 (1), 115-139.

Fellner, J. (2009, June 19). Race, Drugs, and Law Enforcement in the United States. Stanford Law and Policy Review .

Lopez, G. (2017, April 4). When Drug Epidemic's Victims are White. United States.