The War On Drugs Criminalizes Youth Research Paper

Aside from this, according to an online document entitled “The War on Drugs Criminalizes Youth”, the drug war is often defended as a necessary policy to protect the nation’s young people. However in many countries, just like in the United States, the youth caught in the “crossfire of the ‘war on drugs’ are frequently prosecuted, incarcerated and denied access to educational opportunities.” In the United States, according to the said document, the “war on drugs, rather than protecting youth, has resulted in the institutionalized criminalization of Black, Latino and Native American young people.” In the Philippines, according to Rappler, the drug war has transformed the youth into victims of illegitimate and illegal police operations, citing the gruesome fate that befell Kian delos Santos. According to the global research-project “Count the Costs of the War on Drugs: Harming, Not
According to the document, “in 2010 it was estimated that as many as 50,000 children had lost one or more parents in this violence – a figure that is certain to have increased significantly in subsequent years.” The end result of this is tragic: “being separated from a parent in this way can precipitate a range of emotional, psychological and social problems for children, many of whom will already be growing up in families struggling with poverty, discrimination and limited educational and employment