The U.S. War on Drugs

Created April 30, 2024 by Natalie Lizardo-Sarellano, Paul Leo

The U.S. War on Drugs


Summary of Unit

In this 6 week unit, students in the 11th grade will examine the history behind the United States' War on Drugs, tracing its origins to the early to mid-1800s. Students will track the growth in drug use by reviewing data, governmental policies and legislation in relation to the drug, as well the impact of these drugs in the community by examining personal testimonies. Lastly, students will assess the criminalization of drugs, as well as investigate how drugs use and incarceration rates in the United States are linked. At the end of 6 weeks, students will participate in a classroom debate centered around the unit's essential questions.

Although the unit was designed for 11th grade US History, the data-based exploration on the War on Drugs will happen in Algebra 2 during the statistics unit (“City of 1 Million” Activity). Because most 11th graders at Envision Academy are enrolled in both courses (US History and Algebra 2,) the data exploration in Algebra 2 will act as a supplement to the perspectives explored in US History.


Essential Questions

How has the War on Drugs impacted the lives of people living in society?

Whose responsibility is it to address the issue of drugs in society and the community?

Supporting Questions

  • What is the history of the War on Drugs in the US?

  • What role does government play in the War on Drugs?

  • What effects do drugs have on people?

  • What is the link between drug use and incarceration rates?


State Standards

Common Core Reading Standards for Literacy in History Grades 11-12

3.   Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.

8.   Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.


Common Core State Standards in Mathematics

HSS-IC.B Make inferences and justify conclusions from sample surveys, experiments, and observational studies


Summative Assessment

At the end of the unit, students will participate in a debate. Each student will be part of a small group that has constructed an argument that responds to the unit’s two overarching essential questions:

  • How has the War on Drugs impacted the lives of people living in society?

  • Whose responsibility is it to address the issue of drugs in society and the community?

Students will be assessed based on their ability to construct an argument, support their argument with a variety of evidence (statistical, testimonial, anecdotal, and expert-opinion). In addition, students are expected to analyze and defend how their evidence supports their argument.


Primary Source Texts

Drug use, incarceration, and census data:


Lesson #1- Impact of Drugs on the Community

70 minute lesson


Opening/Introduction (10 minutes)

Do Now:

Students will enter class and begin reading a 2-3 page testimony of a woman who is incarcerated because of her involvement with drugs. Students will respond to the Reflective Writing Question at the top of their classwork packet:

Whose responsibility is it to address Cecilia’s issue with drugs? Why? Explain your reasoning and cite textual evidence.


Engage in Learning Objective:

Teacher will instruct a student to read aloud the day’s learning target to the rest of the class:

I can gather testimonial evidence as I develop my argument.


Guided Instruction: Whole Class (20 minutes)

Whole Class Reading: Textual Evidence

Teacher will hand out Reading 1 to students, titled “Who’s Using and Who’s Doing Time?” (this is a reading students will use the following day in their Algebra 2 class). Teacher will frame the reading for students, explaining how data has been collected that shows the number of people using drugs and the number of people incarcerated for drug-related crimes. Teacher will emphasize that data does not always address or reflect the social-emotional impact that drugs have on the individual and the individual’s families. Teacher will lead the class through a “popcorn” reading of the article in order for students to understand the context to this day’s lesson as well as the next day’s lesson in their Algebra 2 class.


Checking For Understanding:

Teacher will pose the following questions to students:

  • What factors does this reading consider when examining the issue of drugs in the community?

  • What is/are the connection(s) between the War on Drugs and incarceration rates?

  • What is problematic about the War on Drugs?


Presentation of Graphs & Data: Statistical Evidence

Teacher shows the following data chart to students. They will examine the data in Algebra 2 class the next day, but Teacher wants to reference the racial breakdown the purposes of the current lesson on testimonies and testimonial evidence.


Percentage of population that has ever used a particular drug, by race


Marijuana

Cocaine

Crack

Heroin

Hallucinogens

Hispanic

30.8

10.7

1.8

1.2

9.5

White

46.3

17.1

3.4

1.8

17.2

Black

40.4

9.9

5.0

1.8

6.7


Checking for Understanding Questions:

Teacher instructs students to review the data chart. Students will turn to an elbow partner and respond to the following question:

  • What observation can you make from the following data table?

  • What inferences can you make from this data?

  • What does this data tell us? What does this data not tell us/leave out?


Collaborative Learning: Small Groups (40 minutes)

Directions: Testimony Evidence Stations:

Teacher gives students directions and frames each testimony.


Testimony Stages:

Teacher provides students with testimonies from people affected by the War on Drugs or drug impact on community. Suggested characters below in order to represent a diverse group of drug users. Teachers are encouraged to peruse Youtube and the internet for testimonies.


  1. Woman: Black

  2. Man: Latino

  3. LGBTQ: Adult

  4. Youth: Male

  5. Elder: Female


Reflection: Independent (7 minutes)

Whole Class discussion/debrief:

Gather whole class into a group and debrief at each station around the room. Keep track of participation points on a tracker.


Debrief lesson structure/content/exit ticket:

On the Exit Ticket section of their classwork packets, students complete the 3, 2, 1 self-assessment. Students must write down 3 things they learned, 2 things they found interesting, and 1 question they still have. Teacher will collect data to asses next day’s instruction.


Closing (3 minutes)

Homework:

Assign homework as needed


Lesson #2- “City of 1 Million” Activity

60 minute lesson


Opening/Introduction (10 minutes)

Do Now: Students engage in elementary skill-building around percentages. Questions start without context, such as, “What is 14% of 2,000?”. Final question acts as a bridge towards “City of 1,000,000” activity (“If 37.5% of the people in a town of 40,000 are African American, how many people in the town are African American?”) Students debrief the Do Now in triads and then as a whole class to ensure proficiency in percentages.

Learning target: I can use incarceration and drug use data to form an argument on the War on Drugs.

Data Exploration: Pairs (10 minutes)

Handout: Data tables & "City of 1 Million" activity

In pairs, students are given three data tables (see handout). They read over the data tables, identifying two pieces of information that are surprising and discuss why they are surprising. After 5 minutes of exploration, the class is brought together. Class engages in whole-class discussion about the data for 5 minutes. Did you expect what you saw? Why or why not?

City of 1 Million Activity: Pairs (30 minutes)

In pairs, students complete part two of the handout (see link above). To better understand the statistical data provided, students generate data for a model US city of 1 million people. By converting the percentages into numbers of people, they can more concretely grasp the racial inequality surrounding drug use and incarceration data.

Students complete the “City of 1 Million” activity in partner pairs. As they work, teacher “catches” class every 5 minutes or so to address misconceptions.

After partner pairs have successfully completed activity, whole class has discussion around the activity. Do the incarceration statistics around drug use seem fair when assessed along racial lines? Why or why not? Students must use statistical evidence from the “City of 1 Million” activity to back their claims.


Closing / Exit Ticket (10 minutes)

After the whole-class discussion, students reflect / synthesize their own thoughts on incarceration rates as related to drug use. They capture their thoughts on the “exit ticket” portion of the handout (see link above) to use in their US History class during the summative assessment (debate).


Return to top