The War on Drugs: America's Unjust War on the Underprivileged Alan RodriguezSociology 346 Since the 1970s the United States has waged an ever-expanding and seemingly never-ending war on drugs . The United States has spent trillions of dollars to rid the streets of illegal drugs, but to little avail. On the contrary, drug use is higher today than in the 1970s, when the war on drugs was officially declared by the Nixon administration. Not only has the war on drugs failed to curb drug trafficking, it has also harmed the black and Latino communities. Women and lower-class citizens have also been affected by our drug policies. The war on drugs is rooted in racist ideology and has consequently disproportionately affected lower-class communities of color. This war on drugs will continue until people decide to take action towards a better and more reasonable policy. The war on drugs has become a top priority for many police departments due to policies introduced by the Reagan administration. As a result of this renewed fervor against drug use, lower-class citizens faced Reagan's war grunt. When the war on drugs began, drug use was down and most communities didn't care, even police departments were against it. Parenti says police have argued that the War on Drugs (WOD) would divert resources from serious crimes. So the Reagan administration helped pass the Byrne program, which gave police departments millions of dollars in military equipment and training if they made WODs their priority. Departments soon began competing for money, which led to rapid militarization of the police. The war on drugs also expanded due to the Reagan administration's policy of allowing police to decriminalize drug use and instead focus on rehabilitation, as a result their rate of drug use increased decreased, crime increased decreased and HV transmission decreased. Evidence shows that rehabilitation is a better option than our current tough approach to drugs, but too many people benefit from the war on drugs for there to be any meaningful change. The biggest supporters of the war on drugs are private prisons, guards and police unions. Private prisons need bodies to fill their prisons, and the war on drugs is their main source. Prison guards benefit from this because it gives them job stability by maintaining a constant flow of prisoners. The police benefit from the aforementioned Byrne program, which helps with funding. For this reason, guard and police unions have been one of the major contributors against California's recent attempt to decriminalize marijuana.