Modern society is often faced with many problems related to both potent drugs and drugs themselves. However, a more dire problem is the emotional, irrational, and political populist regulation of drugs. As a rule, this leads to the fact that the consumption of narcotic drugs only increases, with a general decline in the quality of the consumed product. But the most socially dangerous consequence of regulation and the war on drugs is creating a myth about drug users, linking the increase in criminal activity in this area with unprotected racial or gender groups.
It can be noted that gender as a sampling criterion among drug users is not valid. As seen in a 2020 study, stricter laws against recreational marijuana use, rather than medical use, generally exacerbated the problem (Yu et al., 2020). What is most important to note in this study is that rates of use and other properties for both recreational and medical use of marijuana are the same for both men and women.
It is also important that since the middle of the last century, there has been a stereotype linking the use and production of crack cocaine, methamphetamines, and other hard drugs with poor whites and the majority of black people. Such racist rhetoric is still applicable in modern society. However, many studies, including modern ones, indicate a complete lack of connection between the production and use of hard drugs and certain racial or class groups (Dollar, 2018). Thus, the concept of relatedness between drug laws breaking racial minorities is a prejudice.
Thus, it was concluded that identifying women as the group most associated with drug regulatory violations is sexist and based on bias. Moreover, myths about societal attempts to link drug use and production to unprotected gender, racial, or class groups are driven by the political fear of hegemonic groups. Thus, the political description is an attempt to create drug stereotypes against minorities.
References
Dollar, C. B. (2018). Criminalization and drug “Wars” or medicalization and health “Epidemics”: How race, class, and neoliberal politics influence drug laws. Critical Criminology, 1–6. Web.
Yu, B., Chen, X., Chen, X., & Yan, H. (2020). Marijuana legalization and historical trends in marijuana use among US residents aged 12–25: Results from the 1979–2016 national survey on drug use and health. BMC Public Health. Published. Web.