Drug Abuse in Inner Cities Essay

Inner-city argonas suck become the primary position for minorities, and the easiest place to find illegal medicates. Evidence shows that there is a contact lens amid the increase of illegal do medicines wasting disease, and the increase of minorities lively in inward-city communities that are unemployed or collect welfare. Bruce D. Johnson states medicate Ab affair in the Inner City Impact on Hard-Drug intentionrs and the union and Illicit drug use up in the inner city expanded rapidly in the mid-sixties and has continued unabated into the 1990s (9). Johnson withal writes During the period 1960-80, the summate of persons living in communities primarily occupied by low-income (including welfare and unemployed) blacks and Hispanics about doubled (10). The two previous inverted commas provide evidence that illegal drug use and minorities living in inner city communities set out some(prenominal) change magnitude over time. Minority drug roast in the inner city result s in the organization of drug distribution systems, which nookie ride violence that negatively affect families.Drug c exclusively is a job in inner cities, and has been for a long time. During World War II pulverization workers were necessary in fix up to meet the needs of the get together States Army. Between the 1930s and 1940s, with the majority of those factories located in the North, a mammoth group of Southern Afri digest Americans migrated to the Northern states in search for jobs. The low-wage factory jobs that African Americans and other minorities occupied forced them to reside in the ghettos. match to, Drug Abuse in the Inner City Impact on Hard-Drug Users and the Community Johnson states that Prior to 1940, about 20 share of those arrested for narcotic police force were black, a figure that increased to over 50 percent by the mid-1950s (12). Johnson provides information that shows the migration of African Americanssparked minority drug call within inner-c ity communities. In the 1950s, minorities use of illegal drugs began to increase, and assume continued to into present day.The to the highest degree striking increase in the use of drugs within minority communities occurred in the 1960s and the early 1970s. During that time period, umpteen events took place that busheled drug subvert in the inner citys minority communities. Johnson writes Heroin use and addiction, particularly among minorities in the inner-city neighborhoods, exploded during the period 1965-73, (14). This name shows the highly addictive drug many minorities between the years 1965 to 1973 ab employ heroin. In the inner-city communities, those who used heroin approximately likely tried it for the first time between the ages of 15 and 21. Heroin is a highly addictive drug, and about half(prenominal) the users who try it are addicted within two years, (14). Johnson states that The heroin generation of youths who became addicted in 1965-73 is evident in the bla ck community in virtually e really(prenominal) city with a population over 100,000 (14). This quote proves that it was common for minority communities to cause a serious drug abuse riddle, and that minorities were responsible for the popularity of heroin in the inner cities.Heroin was non the exactly drug abused as the popularity of drug use continued to increase. In 1975, cocaine became very popular in within minority communities throughout the city, and remained very popular until 1984. The amount of cocaine users began to decline due to the exclude of another drug, crack. It is evident that if inner-city minority drug abuse continues to be neglected, no matter what illegal drug it is, it will gain popularity and users will abuse the illegal substance. Minorities are not only the majority of users they are also the majority of distributors. In bare-ass York, African Americans and Puerto Ricans of the inner city communities ofttimes bought kilograms from the Italians, (18). Johnson writes At the lower levels of the heroin distribution system, heroin user-dealers would generally be advanced several bags of heroin to dole out they would use some and sell enough to pay their supplier in order to re-up (18). This quote shows that the lower-level minority distributors would abuse the drugs advanced to them, by selling some and using the rest. Drugs in the inner city are in constant look at.Since drugs are in constant demand a complex system is needed to bring consistency in the process ofmaking the drugs, so they will endless(prenominal)ly be available. The drug distribution system is broken down into fin major roles the five roles are low-level distributors, sellers, dealers, traffickers, and growers. (19) Historically minorities in the inner-city communities carry huge roles in all 5 of these categories. Every level is expect to provide a certain level of mathematical product if the level of production is not met then consequences occur. not only w as heroin a problem amongst the inner-city minorities, in the 1980s, crack emerged as another very popular drug on the streets. The Drug Enforcement Administration reported that four major minority groups all chastenled crack trafficking Jamaicans controlled the east coast and Midwestern states Haitians controlled Florida and within two-hundred miles of uppercase D.C. Dominicans had control over New York and Massachusetts and Black street gangs had control over most of the West Coast and western states. (22)Bruce D. Johnson states that Newspaper reports and New York City police suggest that American blacks direct several local crack-selling groups in Brooklyn, Queens, and other boroughs(22). Johnson suggests that African Americans, who also have distributors in Detroit, upper-case letter D.C., Chicago, and Los Angeles, are the primary distributors of all the minority groups. Ethnic groups for all of the roles of distribution remain unclear, but based on evidence from many source s minority groups control most of the distribution process. The abuse of drugs has had a huge impact on crime rate in America. Bruce states In 1960, probably less than 5 percent of the total population, and probably less than a keister of the criminal underclass, had ever used any type of illicit drug, (40). This quote shows that when drug use was not popular, crime rate was lower. As the demand for drugs increases, and different distribution groups form, competition for turf results in violence.Drug dealers are in constant competition with each other to see who can make the most money, throw the best parties, and who can be with the most beautiful women drug dealers are relentless in proving themselves. Johnson writes, Hard-drug sales have dramatically strengthened the subculture of violence. Old patterns of using violence and its threat to draw money vie crime, and to defend masculinity, have been further transformed, (27). This quote supports the base drug dealers will do anyt hing to accomplish their goals. Drug dealers regularly use violence to a prove point. With the rise of a variety of drugs in the inner-city, crimerate also began to increase in America. Drug abusers hold in to the organization of illegal drug distributors that commit violent crimes in order to satisfy their greed they also take part in activities that negatively affect themselves and their loved ones. Drugs can affect relationships, mental and physical health, and sometimes lead to very serious crimes. In fact, peer-pressure has a huge deed on decision making within a group of friends. In the article Interactive and Higher-Order Effects of Social Influences on Drug UseAlan W. Stacy writes Social influences may show not only linear or interactive effects on drug use, but in some instances may show an accelerated (concave upward) effect on behavior as social pressure to use drugs is increased. (229) This quote states that an individuals environment and the people around them can inc rease the possibility to use drugs leading us to believe that minorities in the inner-cities, living in highly-populated communities, have a greater chance to be socially influenced to drug use. A study done showed that out of a hundred opiate abusers, forty-eight never married cardinal married, one widowed, twelve divorced, and thirteen separated. (645) This study shows that abusing a drug affects marital status among drug abusers. Almost half of the opiate abusers never married, and a quarter of them married, but either separated or divorced. marital status has a huge impact on African American babyren living in inner city.Johnson writes The chance that a black child will experience poverty is almost 90 percent if he or she lives in a family headed by a single adult female under the age of thirty (10). This quote states that marital status has a huge impact on the life of African American children. Not only does drug abuse affect family situations in the inner-cities, it also affects inner-city residents health.Drug abuse is most common with minorities in inner-city communities, and poor-health is most common within these communities. Studies have been done to see if drug use relates to any specific disease. Johnson writes the studies powerfully suggest that heroin abusers constitute a substantial portion of all reported cases of the following conditions hepatitis B, endocarditis, pneumonia, and scathe from assault. (50) Johnson provides is evidence that those who abuse the drug heroin have a greater chance of being diagnosed with hepatitis B, endocarditis, pneumonia, and trauma from assault.Not only can drug abuse lead to poor-health and diseases that can be life threatening, it also canlead to drug associate homicides. Johnson states that In New York City, estimates of the proportion of homicides which were drug cerebrate have increased from about 24 percent in 1984 to about 56 percent in 1988. (51) Johnson reveals that in just four years the increa se in the use of drugs has also increased in the amount of drug related homicides.The psychopharmacological variety, homicides that occurred when an individual was heavily intoxicated by alcohol or heroin or while experiencing paranoia from a large dose of cocaine, was the most common of all homicides in New York City, which took place in twenty-five percent of homicides. (51) The abuse of illegal drugs can lead to deathly events these fatal events have affected minority families in inner cities as hard, if not harder than any other group of people. Johnson writes Between 1970 and 1985, the proportion of black children living in mother-only families increased from 30 to 51 percent. Johnson strongly shows that a little more than half of black children have grown up without a father.Ever since illegal drug use became popular in the early 1900s, minority inner-city drug abuse has continued to grow. Many things have an impact on who distributes and uses the drugs, along with where the drugs are popular drugs are very abundant in inner cities, because of social and economic issues, minorities tend to be the distributers and users of the drugs. The majority of crime and violence in inner cities can be associated with drugs. Drug abuse along with the crime and violence that come with it has sabotaged many minority inner-city relationships with friends and families. Minorities who abuse drugs in the inner cities have created a very dangerous lifestyle for themselves and those around them.Works CitedBruce D. Johnson Terry Williams, Kojo A. Dei and Harry Sanabria, Drug Abuse in the Inner City Impact on Hard-Drug Users and the Community, Crime and justice13 (1990) 9-67. JSTOR. Web. 3 November 2014.Richard R. Clayton, The Family and Federal Drug Abuse Policies. Programs Toward Making the hidden Family Visible, Family Policy (Aug., 1979) 637-647. JSTOR. Web. 3 November 2014. Stacy, W. Alan. Interactive andHigher-Order Effects of Social Influences on Drug Use. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 333 (Sep. 1992). 226-241. American Sociological Association. Web 31 October 2014.