War-on-Drugs doctrine preferred punishment over treatment by design

Evidence

The War on Drugs’ philosophy was codified into federal law. First, Congress enacted the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which made money laundering a federal offense, allowed the deportation of “alien” drug traffickers, prohibited interstate commerce in drug paraphernalia, and established the death penalty for certain drug offenses. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1060 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

It is within this context that it makes sense to consider the decriminalization of drug use as a significant component of a larger strategy to simultaneously oppose structures of racism within the criminal justice system and further the abolitionist agenda of decarceration. Thus, with respect to the project of challenging the roleplayedby the so-called War on Drugs in bringing huge numbers of people of color into the prison system, proposals to decriminalize drug use should be linked to the development of a constellation of free, community-based programs accessible to all people who wish to tackle their drug problems. — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 287 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Drug policy targets elastic versus inelastic demand rather than drug types — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 1353; Drug courts replace adversarial advocacy with team collaboration on treatment. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1962; The 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act codified punitive drug-war philosophy into law — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1060 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• The 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act codified punitive drug-war philosophy into law #exemplifies (0.95) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1060
• Drug decriminalization advances decarceration when paired with free treatment #complicates (0.80) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 287