The Role Of Cocaine In America

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Recommended: Effects of cocaine use on society

When discussing the disparities surrounding cocaine in America we first need to understand what cocaine means. It is a drug derived from the leaves of a coca plant which gives it half of its name and the ine is an alkaloid suffix which is added on to explain what it’s made of. There are two type of cocaine they are crack cocaine and powder cocaine. We as a society know that if any individual caught with cocaine will be caught and tried, but what we do not realize is the sentencing severity concerning the possession of each type of cocaine. The possession of crack vs. powder is at a ratio of 100 to 1 which seem unreal to me especially after learning of the ideology of the last 20 years concerning people of color. If an individual is found with 10 grams of crack then their treated like they had 1 kilogram of powder cocaine. This leads to a harsher sentence for being found with crack even though crack is a more diluted form of cocaine (Scott p. 53). …show more content…

The other reason I feel that way is because powder cocaine is use mainly by white Americans like celebrities and in our society celebrities only get slaps on the wrist. Whereas African Americans especially of the lower class server longer sentences and make up 81 percent of crack related convictions even though they only make up 25 percent of user. The convictions and sentences for cocaine are longer than other convictions and sentence for robbery, sexual abuse and manslaughter. In my opinion and others the policies and convictions surrounding cocaine are inherently racist (Scott p.

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