From Vol. 90, Ed. 08 May 2, 2024
The War on Drugs has been a never-ending cycle of people being fearful of the use of drugs in suburban areas. Matt Lassiter spoke at WCU on April 19 about his book “The Suburban Crisis.”
Lassiter is a professor at the University of Michigan and an author. He is also a co-director of the Carceral State Project, a project that researches the history of incarceration, criminalization and confinement.
“The Suburban Crisis” is split into three phases, talking about the spread of the War on Drugs in each decade from the 1950s-1970s.
Drugs were considered a huge problem during this period leading to a series of laws being passed classifying and
criminalizing several different drugs.
“We hear a lot about the red and blue divide, but in drug policy, most laws are passed almost unanimously,” Lassiter said.
Drugs were always looked at as a threat to kids in suburban areas.
“The suburbs were always looked at as a place you go because the kids will be safe and you will avoid the crime of the city,” Lassiter said.
One of the most feared drugs in the suburban areas was marijuana. Marijuana was looked at as a gateway drug and the one that was used most often, making it a symbol.
“For the 1950s, marijuana is a symbolic drug. It’s not what it actually does, it’s about what it represents and means,” Lassiter said.
With drugs becoming rampant, suburban areas began to lose its clean reputation as a haven for kids. The usage of marijuana by high schoolers began to grow and suburban families and politicians began to blame it on drug dealers, also known as pushers.
Media created an image of pushers forcing people to get addicted to drugs and forcing them to buy their drugs.
“The idea in the 1950s was the pushers got people addicted to marijuana to then get them addicted to heroin, and then they’ll have customers for life,” Lassiter said.
Many began to stereotype urban African American and Mexican males as pushers, which worsened discrimination within those communities. Meanwhile, white Americans who were addicted to drugs were seen as victims.
Anti-drug laws and policies had minimum sentencing of drastic proportions for drug dealers.
Under the Boggs Act of 1951 first-time offenders got 2-5 years, second-time offenders got 5-10 years and third-time offenders got 10-15 years.
In 1954, a California law was passed that sentenced life without parole to anyone who sold narcotics to minors. However, suburban residents who became addicts went to rehabilitation centers.
In the 1960s, the rise of the free love movement also known as the hippie movement created more widespread fear of marijuana.
“The idea was that marijuana was turning young white youth into dropouts and lazy people who are getting off the career track,” Lassiter said.
As years have passed, liberal policies have changed from strict drug laws to decriminalization of drugs and legalization of marijuana.
