Leech provides solid arguments to support his thesis about what the "War on Drugs" really accomplished: a new method of apartheid to circumvent the many legal decisions trying to remove racist segregation practices. It was another way to roll back many of the gains made by the Civil Rights Movement. In my opinion, it was especially aimed at militant African-Americans who provoked an almost visceral reaction of hatred and fear among many in the US ruling class. And, the "War on Drugs" had a side benefit of expanding local police forces.
Many people associate the mass imprisonment of a population with authoritarian regimes. Consequently, many Americans are surprised when they learn that the United States incarcerates more of its own citizens than any other nation. With 2.3 million prisoners, the “land of the free” has more people in prison than China, which has a population four times the size of the United States. A hugely disproportionate percentage of those incarcerated are African-Americans as Washington’s war on drugs constitutes the latest incarnation of racist policies that have existed since the country’s founding.
