the soviets kept vodka cheap and available everywhere, from moscow to mongolia. their reasoning was that if the populace is a bunch of drunks they are not likely to stir up any trouble or ask for their piece of the pie. so why not turn the good people in the poor barrio into druggies, this way they will kill each other, all become instant criminals, facing jail at all times, be so busy trying to get drugs that they have no time to complain about no electric, crap schools, unpaved streets, garbage everywhere. yes indeed, keep them illiterate and high, not likely to ask questions of politicians then.
in the US, i read this and the numbers are suspect, 1 out of 4, black men between the ages of 18 to 25 are in one way or another involved in the court system, either in jail or on probation/parole. this is because society has no place for them, no jobs, no future. it's like when you stick too many tomatoe plants in the ground, at the end of the growing season, you eat some, give some away, and the rest go to rot on the vine. the govt has too many young men on their hands and they don't know how to provide a future for them, unless they give up some pie. some can and do go to college and escape life in the projects but this is the exception. so for many in the projects or on jerome ave the only way to make it is selling drugs.
keep in mind that there are too types of criminals, violent and non violent. violent criminals will always be this way and need to live their lives in prison. if a guy went to jail for selling a bag of weed i have no problem with him being my next door neighbor.
i also think we deport more mexicans in a day than we deport dominicans in a year.