Dear Editor:
The Supreme Court ruled on March 26, 2002 that our Constitution does not stop the eviction of innocent lease-holders in public housing whenever their family, or guests, are involved in illegal drug activity. The head of the household could have no knowledge of the drug use; it makes no difference. The drug activity can occur three blocks from the projects; it makes no difference. One tenant who brought suit was a 75-year old disabled man whose caretaker was found with cocaine in his apartment; it makes no difference. Our Congress and our Supreme Court say he can be evicted.
This is the result of our misguided war on drugs.
I say evict George W. Bush. He should be thrown out of the White House and should have been thrown out of the Governor’s mansion in Texas. His daughter entered a rehab program because of illegal prescription drug abuse. But Congress would never dare to impose the penalties they dump on poor people on themselves and the rest of America.
The war on drugs, if that’s what it is, is a war on poor people who use drugs. All of our media outlets reinforce the stereotype that racial minorities are the overwhelming consumers of illegal drugs. But listen to the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes on Drug Abuse and others and you’ll learn that while blacks and Latinos may try drugs at an earlier age than whites, by senior year, whites surpass them in every category. White seniors are a third more likely to smoke pot in the past year, seven times more likely to snort cocaine, three times more likely to use heroin, nine times more likely to use LSD. Ecstasy? The dealers who sell that drug are mostly white, middle class males. On the other hand, our prisons are exploding with blacks and Latinos convicted of drug possession.
So guess who gets evicted if anyone in the household has a drug abuse problem? Worse yet, guess who gets evicted if any of their visitors is carrying drugs without their knowledge? Not the millions of Americans who get tax write-offs for their mortgage interest and thereby reap the benefits of a government subsidy. Not the Presidents, Governors, Mayors of our country who live in government housing that we call mansions.
It’s the poor; many of whom are disproportionately black or Latino. Suburbia is untouched. Gentrified and upscale urban areas are left alone. Must be because there’s no illegal drug use in their homes.
Juan Cartagena