Going hand in hand with the mass incarceration of African-Americans is current their disenfranchisement. According to Michelle Alexander, this new Jim Crow has “disenfranchised [more] today than in 1870, the year the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified prohibiting laws that explicitly deny the rights to vote on the basis of race” (Alexander, 2011, p. 180). All but three states have some type of law prohibiting prisoners or even individuals who served their full sentences from voting in elections (Chung, 2015) so with African Americans being the largest group imprisoned, it also makes them the largest group that is disenfranchised. This is one of the major collateral damages that many believe make the drug war not worth fighting anymore. Another,
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Although this may lead to higher consumption, it would finally allow drug production, manufacture, sale, and purity to be controlled by the United States. Countries, such as the Netherlands, have tested out legalization and have seen success in their countries in controlling the drug problem. By taking marijuana off the streets and selling it in normal stores, the Dutch government found that it removes the “mystique often attached to acts of rebellion and nonconformity that many young people engage in as part of the maturing process” (Lyman, 2013, p. 394) and saw a large drop in drug usage in young people. Although drug crime is still taking place in the Netherlands, it is able to be controlled since it is not between cartels/drug gangs and is done by individuals who can be controlled and tracked down. The United States could be different, though, since “gangsters were largely driven out of the alcohol market after the end of prohibition” (Becker & Murphy, 2013) where legalization drastically decreased crime rates. So far, the current legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington has actually increased drug usage. However, it is uncertain if all the users are residents in those states or junkies traveling to the state to take advantage of their legalization. Legalization throughout all fifty-states, though, could still decrease drug usage or even allow it to
Although this may lead to higher consumption, it would finally allow drug production, manufacture, sale, and purity to be controlled by the United States. Countries, such as the Netherlands, have tested out legalization and have seen success in their countries in controlling the drug problem. By taking marijuana off the streets and selling it in normal stores, the Dutch government found that it removes the “mystique often attached to acts of rebellion and nonconformity that many young people engage in as part of the maturing process” (Lyman, 2013, p. 394) and saw a large drop in drug usage in young people. Although drug crime is still taking place in the Netherlands, it is able to be controlled since it is not between cartels/drug gangs and is done by individuals who can be controlled and tracked down. The United States could be different, though, since “gangsters were largely driven out of the alcohol market after the end of prohibition” (Becker & Murphy, 2013) where legalization drastically decreased crime rates. So far, the current legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington has actually increased drug usage. However, it is uncertain if all the users are residents in those states or junkies traveling to the state to take advantage of their legalization. Legalization throughout all fifty-states, though, could still decrease drug usage or even allow it to