Preview

The Anti-Drug Abuse Act Of 1986

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
153 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act Of 1986
One of the contributing factors of why blacks are more than likely to be sentenced a harsher sentence than whites is because of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 by President Ronald Regan on October 27, 1986. The act mandated a minimum five year sentence without a possibility of parole if the offender was in possession of five or more grams of crack and if in possession of five hundred grams of powder cocaine. Many supporters of the act argued that that crack offenders needed harsher sentences because the drug was highly addictive and is more associated with violent crimes (United States Sentencing Commission, 2010). This act was extremely troublesome for African Americans because eighty-five percent of crack offenders are African American while
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Drugs Act 1970 Research Paper
    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Drugs Act 1970 Research Paper

    Humans have for centuries tried to alter their state of consciousness using various ways. These ways include dancing, chanting, holding their breath, and various plants or drugs. Drugs were not a concern of the people or of the government until the Chinese railroad workers were smoking opium in the United States. This began to raise concern and led to laws being passed to regulate drugs. However, those laws were replaced with a stricter version called the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. This act called for more enforcement of drugs in the United States. Within this act was the controlled substance act which allowed the government to not only control drugs but also allowed them to be classified. While this…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Summary: The Uniform Controlled Substances Act
    • 137 Words
    • 1 Page

    Summary: The Uniform Controlled Substances Act

    The Uniform Controlled Substances Act was drafted by the United States Department of Justice in 1969. The Uniform Controlled Substances Act brings together a number of laws regulating the manufacture and distribution of any narcotics. All controlled substances are placed in five different schedules, based on medicinal values, harmfulness and potential for abuse or addiction. Narcotics can be refer to as opium and have semi-synthetic substitutes such as; heroin, oxycontin, vicodin, codeine, morphine and fentanyl. Narcotics “opioids” medical uses are prescribed by doctors to treat pain, suppress cough, cure diarrhea and help as a sleep aid. Other manufacture and distribution drugs are stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, anabolic steroids…

    • 137 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Summarize The Toxic Substance Control Act Of 1976
    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Summarize The Toxic Substance Control Act Of 1976

    Summarize the toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. Are there currently any similar federal and/or state laws in effect? Please include in your answer.…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Summary Of Nixon's War On Drugs
    • 1367 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Summary Of Nixon's War On Drugs

    Sirin writes that her article “investigates presidential progress in addressing racial injustices and disparities within the context of the war on drugs” and argues that the possibility for racial justice depends on a progressive president choosing its pursuit as a personal agenda. Sirin examines the drug policies of presidents from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama, and when discussing President Reagan, she gives him responsibility for the “punitive policies that disproportionately affected certain racial/ethnic groups” found in the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. She underscores his advocacy for federal mandatory minimum sentences, which created “the notorious 100 to 1 provision” under which five grams of crack cocaine carried the same prison sentence, five years, as 500 grams of powder cocaine. After explaining that crack cocaine users were typically poor and black, she notes that the resulting racial disparity in sentencing stayed in place until President Obama’s Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. Sirin clarifies that a progressive president will struggle without the legislature, judiciary, or public opinion, but she still holds that “most importantly, the president in office should have a progressive agenda to begin with in order to initiate and work towards key structural changes and policy reforms.” For this reason, according to her estimation, the president defines drug…

    • 1367 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Summary Of The New Jim Crow
    • 173 Words
    • 1 Page

    Summary Of The New Jim Crow

    Before reading the preface my view of “tough on crime” drug polices was that if drug offenders are charged for a drug crime it is considered a misdemeanor. I thought when offenders are release from prison they were mandatory to attend rehabilitation program to receive appropriate drug treatments. However, the “tough on crime” polices resulted in the large increase of federal and state prison for mass incarceration of black American in the war on drugs. My perspective on drug enforcement changed due to reading the preface of “The New Jim Crow”. I did not realize that drug war in ghetto communities was not because of where the violent offenders are located or people uses drugs. The drug war was focused was the increase of drug arrests on black…

    • 173 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Pure Food And Drug Act Of 1906
    • 105 Words
    • 1 Page

    Pure Food And Drug Act Of 1906

    The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 were both widely accredited to a book called 'The Jungle' that was written by the Progressive author Upton Sinclair. Upton Sinclair revealed the unhygienic and unsanitary methods used by the food industry and a scandal emerged about the quality and purity of food sold to the U.S. public. The Jungle was published in 1906 and became an international best seller. Upton Sinclair exposed Chicago's meatpacking industry telling lurid tales of diseased meat, of dead rats and the poison that killed them being thrown into the processing vats to make…

    • 105 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Crack Cocaine Research Paper
    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Crack Cocaine Research Paper

    This law changes what was known as the 100:1 sentencing ration, which means it would take 100 grams of cocaine to receive the same punishment that someone with 1 gram of crack would receive, to an 18:1 ratio. Many saw the 100:1 ration as discriminatory. Crack is typically used by poor African Americans and Hispanics. Cocaine is typically used by white middle and upper class. I think changing the law was a good thing, but I feel a 1:1 ratio where punishment is the same for both drugs would be even…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Movie 13th Essay
    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Movie 13th Essay

    They had to come up with ways to intentionally think of unintentional ways of giving the public a bad image of the black community. They did so by giving crack cocaine a higher penalty than powder because “black people mainly used crack and the war on drugs is so apparent.” TV shows would show the public images of black people being arrested for crack and keeping the rich, white folks who did powder on the sidelines (don’t get me started, I wrote an entire paper on this issue). With a 100:1 ratio, poor people were being targeted for their drug…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Comprehensive Drug Control Act Of 1970
    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page

    Comprehensive Drug Control Act Of 1970

    “The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention Control Act of 1970 is the principal federal law regulating the manufacture, distribution, dispensing, and delivery of drugs or substances that may result in abuse or physical or psychological dependence and addiction” (Van Dusen, 2010). Certain narcotics, stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, anabolic steroids and other chemicals are regulated. According to the (DEA) drug enforcement administration the schedule I drugs is the most dangerous. Medical uses have not been accepted and the potential for abuse is excessive. An example of these drugs is heroin, LSD, and marijuana, even though in some states marijuana is a legalized. Schedule II drugs have a high potential for abuse. Example of this scheduled…

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Drug Courts Case Study
    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Drug Courts Case Study

    Early efforts to meet the nation’s growing drug problem began in the 1970s. The U.S imposed stricter penalties for drug-related crimes, but was met with…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    DrugEd2 Fall 2013
    • 2851 Words
    • 27 Pages

    DrugEd2 Fall 2013

    Although National Survey on Drug Use and Health data indicates greater prevalence of illicit drug use among white Americans, black Americans represented more than 80 percent of those arrested for…

    • 2851 Words
    • 27 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Fair Sentencing Act Pros And Cons
    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Fair Sentencing Act Pros And Cons

    The FSA replaced the controversial Anti-Drug Abuse Act (ADAA) of 1986, that was seen as a racially bias, expensive, and unfair legislation from the Reagan Administration's “War on Drugs” from the mid 1980s (). The ADAA had become an outdated law that revealed the popular consensus of congress at the time, that crack cocaine was a more dangerous drug than powder cocaine. In the years that followed, the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC), along with other agencies, conducted extensive research and concluded that there was no difference in the effects of the two drug forms, hence the sentencing disparity was unfair and not warranted (Gabbidon,Taylor 2005).…

    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What Is Indiscriminate Sentencing
    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page

    What Is Indiscriminate Sentencing

    The rationale that the author presents for reducing the sentences of drug offenders is the racist delineation correlating to the 100:1 cracked cocaine violations. The author delineates the 100:1 punishments are divisive and racially fractured. Two additional data points delineated by Harvey Gee are housing costs correlated to offenders and faulty science.…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Higher Percentage of Minority Inmates
    • 1705 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Higher Percentage of Minority Inmates

    Since the year 1980 the numbers for incarcerated minorities has been staggering but for some reason they have always been higher than the whites. According to the new Census data, “In 1980, the number of blacks living in college dorms was roughly equal to the number in prison.” Following the years after 1980, minorities began to get a higher percentage each year, and these results are shown in the most recent census. Minorities and whites got treated differently when it came to suspecting crime and giving punishments for the crime especially after the war on drugs started. Throughout the years minorities in the U.S. are receiving high incarceration rates because of the drug war that eventually failed. People only blame the drug war to the reason why minorities have a high incarceration rate but there are more possible, exceptional reasons.…

    • 1705 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Effects Of Mass Incarceration On African Americans
    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Effects Of Mass Incarceration On African Americans

    Throughout history, Mass Incarceration has heavily affected groups of African- Americans living in the United States. The War on Drugs launched the increase of the imprisonment of young black males across the country. Although, The War on drugs began over 30 years ago, it is a battle that we Americans continue to fight today. It is a battle, we have not yet conquered. With the launch of Ronald Reagan’s War on Drugs, thousands of people have been incarcerated for crimes that are not violent, but drug- related. Every year, the United States spends an excessive amount of money to lock up criminals, and often convict people who can benefit from rehabilitation and counseling as opposed to a three year sentence. It is a substantial issue in…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics