End The War On Drugs - Chapter 9

Inner City Youths and the Permanent Stigma of Drug Convictions

EDITOR’S NOTE: A few years ago, I penned a first draft of a short book, “End The War On Drugs” I offer an updated version, in serial form, here on Substack, for my paid subscribers. I will publish a chapter each week.

LIMITED TIME OFFER: Click HERE for seven days of access to my paid content.

CHAPTER 1: A Catastrophic Failure
CHAPTER 2: A Brief History
CHAPTER 3: A Society Rooted in Individual Liberty
CHAPTER 4: Use vs Abuse
CHAPTER 5: Societal Cost
CHAPTER 6: Use and Addiction
CHAPTER 7: Free To Choose
CHAPTER 8: Prohibitions Create Business Opportunities

---

The street drug trade is awash in minors, some barely scratching at their second decade on the planet. The youngest, often under the age of 10 and therefore immune from adult-level prosecution, are often used as couriers of product or weapons, or as eyes or spies. Those in their early to mid teens, also generally prosecutable only as minors, also serve these roles, but sell product and arrange street deals as well. Ranking above them are older teens, and so on up the hierarchy. Organizational structures evolve in the drug trade just as in any other business endeavor.

While we want to believe (and are often told) that the kids that end up in the drug trade are coerced and exploited by criminal organizations, the fact is that money, respect, and a sense of belonging are all rewards that those kids reap for going down that path. In poor areas especially, there’s more money in that underworld than there is in “honest” jobs that are available to working-age minors, and since all but three states have a minimum working age of sixteen, the drug trade is an alluring industry for an inner-city kid that wants or needs to make money. Tack onto that the destruction of entry-level jobs by high minimum wages in many of the epicenters of illegal drug sales, and the siren-song is loud.