Drugs and Society Discussion Post Responses

There have been long term effects on children who grew up with incarcerated parents due to drug offense. Going into their emotional and mental health through adolescence can be the most important stage for their own development. Some children have gone through abandonment, depression, and anxiety that results in attachment issues. They can even have trouble forming stable relationships in their later life. These circumstances can cause children to act out on their emotional behavior as they struggle with self-control. Their lifestyle can be deeply connected towards their trauma and the lack parental support. Making it challenging to larger conditions rather than their own actions. Even their educational performance can be affected due to a financial strain in their environment. Leading to limited resources and a possibility of continuing the family cycle. These challenges can follow into their adulthood that shapes their behavioral struggles.

Vanessa Mejia:

The policies launched under Richard Nixon in the early 1970s created a clear shift in how the U.S. handled drug use: it became a criminal issue instead of a public health one. This meant more policing, more arrests, and much harsher sentences. The result was a massive rise in the prison population starting in the 1970s, with drug offenses becoming a major driver. These policies built a system where incarceration was used on a large scale to manage social problems, rather than addressing their underlying causes like poverty, addiction, or lack of access to healthcare. Instead of reducing drug use in a meaningful way, the War on Drugs created long-term structural consequences: expanded policing power, harsher sentencing laws, and a prison system that grew rapidly and unevenly across different groups in society.