User:Fatimamac12/War on drugs

Racial Inequities
The War on Drugs has been seen to disproportionately impact certain racial groups negatively since its beginnings in the 1970's. Despite the fact that African-Americans and White Americans are equally likely to use illicit drugs, African-Americans are between 6 and 10 times more likely to be incarcerated in relation to a drug offense. The American judicial system allows for racial profiling, disproportionate surveillance concentrated in low-income minority geographical areas and no-cause searches by police. Those that create the criminal statutes being enforced by police are also large contributors to the skewed racial effects of the War on Drugs. Canada has also seen substantial racial disparities in the War on Drugs in five of its major cities: Ottawa, Halifax, Calgary, Vancouver, and Regina. It was found that indigenous peoples and blacks make up a larger portion of those arrested for cannabis possession across the five cities when compared to other racial and ethnic groups.

Gender Inequities
Men are disproportionately negatively impacted by the War on Drugs when compared to women. It has been shown that women often receive milder sentences for drug-related offenses. It is often contended that judges may perceive them as less of a public danger and as having stronger ties to family and community than men. Women are negatively impacted by the War on Drugs, evident in counterinsurgencies within Mexican indigenous communities that limit women's mobility. The increased military presence would often lead to increased sexual violence. The negative effects of the War on Drugs on women began in the campaign's beginnings. Advertisements would associate drug use with degraded and perverted behavior, specifically by young women.