The Drug Problem part 6: ethnic profiling
There are many reasons why drugs ought to be legalised. The previous five articles in this series have set out many of them. However in addition to the general issues there is a serious issue regarding the effect on the black community.
Opponents of the so-called "war on drugs" in the United States have pointed to the catastrophic effect that drug use and criminalisation have upon the black community. Even if one just takes the statistics of those directly convicted of drugs offences, a staggering proportion of young black men are imprisoned because drugs are illegal, with consequent effect not just upon them but upon dependents, friends, relatives, neighbours. That is even before you start to consider those in prison for other offences which are indirectly linked to drugs.
I have considered in previous weeks the worsened health impact of drugs being illegal, and the consequent effect of the war on both organised crime (bolstered by drug profits) and on the amount of low-level crime (undertaken by addicts to pay for the drugs). These are consequences which apply across the population. Whilst not suggesting for a moment that the effect of the war on drugs has as catastrophic an effect on the black community in Britain as it does in the United States, there is still a significant impact.
What people do with their lives is partly governed by what they think they can realistically achieve and what they think will impress both themselves and their peers. Struggling communities will find things harder if crime appears to pay. I was informed by someone I know who has taught at inner city schools in predominantly black areas (and who is black himself) that the former pupils who are drug dealers appear to the youngsters to be like rock stars. They have the cars, they have the money, and some of their largesse is distributed to young children who deliver items for them by bicycle. This has all helped encourage a climate where aspiring to be a gangster was seen as the ultimate aim. That meant trying to persuade many students that there was any point in education was doomed to failure. Of course in any education system once you get a substantial proportion who have lost interest in learning, that has an impact upon the conditions in which the rest are trying to learn.
Nor is this impact confined to those directly involved. People's horizons and ambitions are governed by reality. If bright and ambitious and determined people think that it is pointless pursuing certain types of career they will not bother. Instead they will pursue something which they think is more realistic. At present if they can see that there is the prospect of rich pickings and status and respect by being involved in the supply of drugs, they may well gravitate towards (just as they may consider if they have any talent that they have a realistic prospect of becoming a successful footballer but may doubt that they have a realistic prospect of becoming a brain surgeon however bright they are if they do not think it is open to someone from their background). The impact of this will mean that many ambitious people are drawn into crime, whether successfully or not. Instead of becoming positive role models to the next generation, they become the wrong ones.
Indeed this is self-perpetuating. Organised crime being in charge of drugs and its profitability leads to endemic violence. Violence within the community is more likely to lead people to want to join a gang on the basis that there is safety in numbers or supposed respect. The vicious cycle goes on.
I am not suggesting that the law should be changed surely to suit the interests of one section of the community. However I believe that the vicious impact on any section of the community is an additional compelling reason for legalisation when the so-called war on drugs is one that has no realistic prospect of success in any event.