Len Bias was supposed to be the next Celtics Legend when he was drafted in 1986. Two days after he was drafted, he died of a cocaine overdose. His death led to widespread fear, leading to law changes that lead to many low-level drug offenders, mostly young and black, going to jail. Termed the Len Bias case, at least in the book, this was another dark period in the drug war. Check out this article on it:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/30-years-after-basketball-star-len-bias-death-its-drug-n593731
Increasing the punishment for drug offenses has proven to be an ineffective way to combat drug crisis. Yet, Donald Trump has recently said publically that we should start to consider the death penalty for dealers. Why is there still this disconnect? What needs to happen to change this mindset, or will it never change? Thoughts?
Honestly, it blows my mind at this point that we handle Street drugs and addicts the way we do. Multiple other countries have had success focusing on helping addicts instead of harsher penalties and putting money into drug enforcement. I don’t have a problem with penalties for dealers, but it has been proven that drug trafficking goes down significantly when the focus of government shifts from the War on Drugs to the Support/Rehabilitation of Addicts
ReplyDeleteThe politicians in the U.S need some type of reality check. It's pathetic that they do not take examples of other countries into consideration. I hope Trump's advisers are giving him multiple courses of action to consider.
DeleteI also thought the article related to the 13th documentary we watched in class. Len Bias, as a Black male, was assumed to have overdosed on crack, which was given ridiculous mandatory minimums by the Nixon administration, solely because it was a drug whose addicts were typically Black. Before the facts even came out about it, because Len Bias was Black, his death was used to justify a large push against crack, even though he actually died of a powdered cocaine overdose. This also highlights the racism imbedded in the legislature for the War on Drugs
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is disconnect, and I think part of this is a generational issue. Many politicians today grew up during the beginning of the war on drugs and continue to front this view on drugs. Overtime, I would hope, politicians are replaced with more open thinking ones in terms of drug treatment.
ReplyDeleteThe death penalty is never the right solution. I think it's better to ask "why do we have this problem" as opposed to pushing law enforcement to combat this issue.
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