In 1971, President Nixon, declared a war on drugs, incredibly, forty-five years later, this war is still going on today, with this war changing dramatically life for those that are its most vulnerable, and effectively criminalizing certain choices that people make in regards to substances that they utilize in small quantities or sell in small quantities, both highly illegal as well as highly punitive in nature. This war, as in all wars, is selective in its enforcement, and thereby concentrates the bulk of its energies on particular segments of the population, which are mostly black, minority, and "trailer trash" whites, which have been virtually segregated from the general population so as to be treated with utter disdain, contempt, and ruined.
It goes without saying, that mankind, for whatever reason or reasons, has almost an innate desire in some of its members, to want to alter its consciousness. This desire can be fulfilled via religious ecstasy, particular plants that are ingested, smoked, or grinded, as well as man's ability to synthesize chemicals from the elements. Certain people have a proclivity to engage in the alteration of their consciousness, more than others, stemming from such things as abusive situations that they try to suppress and forget, hopelessness, boredom, peer pressure, stupidity, enlightenment, and the like. Not too surprisingly, there is an art to this game, in which, legal prescriptions for mood altering chemicals are considered to be fine and acceptable, whereas choices made not under the direct supervision or approval of a government-licensed physician are a violation, and are often punished severely, depending upon who you are.
It should be acknowledged that when you live in neighborhoods in which the educational system is highly inadequate, the legal independent income is nearly non-existence or pays pathetically, the infrastructure anemic or in disrepair, the positive role models and positive family structures are completely lacking, the people that live there, which are typically blacks, other minorities, and whites on the wrong side of the tracks, are going to have to find something to do within the long 24 hours of every given day. While the liquor stores, fast food joints, and overpriced convenience stores are abundant in such areas, not every individual finds enough satisfaction from the effects of alcohol, in which, opportunists recognize intuitively that man's misery and dysfunction, creates an ideal breeding ground for the distribution ofalternative mind altering substances.
Everyone that lives in these neighborhoods already knows what is happening within their neighborhood, so too, do policing as well as governmental authorities know the deal, which allows these forces to, at will, arrest and convict, pretty much whomever they so desire, whenever they so desire, in the interests of the state authorities. The people arrested, and re-arrested, than convicted, and re-convicted, have no money, and have no justice, effectively becoming perpetual wards of the state. This makes for a permanent underclass that is stamped as non-employable, indigent, and dependent upon handouts or hustling for the remainder of their days, when they aren't already incarcerated.
The question that is hardly ever asked, is where do all these drugs that are in these neighborhoods in the first place, come from; as well as, why sell or distribute drugs to poor people, when surely there is far more money to be made selling to those that actually have money, and live in far, safer neighborhoods. The answer to that question is that the real dealers and distributors of the drugs are part and parcel of the very system that oppresses the most vulnerable. After all, the poor are always amongst us, there are scores of them, so that they therefore need to be controlled so as to stop incipient uprisings from occurring, and forever keep them weak, in their place, and disenfranchised.