What are the challenges and assets of the African Americans that have been criminalized by The War on Drugs?

The term "War in Drugs" was first popularized by President Richard Nixon in 1971. It has been speculated that Nixon wished to criminalize drugs known to be used heavily in the African American community in part because his administration was concerned over the growing influence of the Black Panther Party. The Black Panther Party was a grassroots political group that advocated equal rights and fair treatment in response to the abuse and oppression of African-Americans by police and government. One early action in Nixon's "war" was to place marijuana into the category of a Schedule One drug, a much more serious category than it had previously belonged to. Despite being relatively harmless and non-addictive, under this classification marijuana was considered equal to heroin or cocaine in terms of the criminal punishment inflicted for its possession, use, or distribution. Nixon insisted on this classification despite his appointed committee's recommendation against it.

The "drug war" was expanded in the 1980s under President Reagan; First Lady Nancy Reagan was famous for the slogan "Just Say No" as a message for avoiding drug use among America's youth. Harsh drug policies became even more prevalent, and in some cases laws governing the sale of syringes made AIDS-related infections go up due to the sharing of needles among IV drug users.

It has been documented that the African-American community has been more widely incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses than other ethnic groups in America. The reasons for this are complex and encompass a history of socioeconomic disadvantage and racist policies and practices in social agencies and law enforcement. One problem has been that drug addiction tends to be fairly high in poor rural communities, in particular African-American communities. This is tied to issues with poverty, homelessness, unemployment, poor education, and social and/or economic mobility. 

Increased understanding of these issues (perhaps driven by increased government funding given for studies done by experts in the social science fields) prompted President Bill Clinton in the late 1980s to push for treatment for drug offenders rather than incarceration.