Reagan's "War on Drugs"

    There are many United States policies which can be said to have led to the explosion of racial and economic tensions that were the 1992 Los Angeles riots.  American intervention in countries like Korea and Vietnam created new ethnic communities in U.S. cities, while redlining and other domestic policies made life difficult for inner city ethnic minorities. Chief among these policies, however, was the “War on Drugs” declared by President Nixon in 1971. Though it was initially declared and popularized by Nixon, the War on Drugs did not reach its full height until the 1980s, under the Reagan administration. The effect of Reagan’s commitment to the War on Drugs on black communities—especially in Los Angeles—cannot be understated. In 1984, Reagan signed the Sentencing Reform Act as part of the larger Comprehensive Crime Control Act, which abolished federal parole and established the United States Sentencing Commission to increase consistency in federal sentencing. Furthermore, Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act in 1986, which created 29 new mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, up from 55 mandatory minimum sentences total.    

The policies passed by the Reagan administration had wide reaching consequences throughout the United States, but nowhere could their effects be felt so painfully as in Los Angeles. This was because of the prevalence of crack cocaine in the city’s black communities, and its role in the CIA backed Contra drug trade. Crack was funneled into low income areas in Los Angeles, most often through street gangs like the Crips and Bloods, making the drug almost inescapable for the city’s young black population. Of course, the Reagan’s “War on Drugs” policies made the victims of this drug trade into criminals, creating a system that kept the black population of L.A. poor, addicted, and incarcerated. It was not until 2010, under the Obama administration, that some relief was granted through the Fair Sentencing Act, which alleviated the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. Even still, the United States has a long ways to go before the injustices of the Reagan administration are righted.

   

- Maxwell Roberts