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WEBVTT REPORTER: IT WAS NOVEMBER 1996.THE WOMAN ON THE STEP,55-YEAR-OLD CHARLOTTE AT HERHOME IN SOUTHEAST BALTIMORE.AT THE TIME SHE WAS RAISING FOUROF HER GRANDCHILDREN BECAUSETHEIR MOTHERS WERE UNABLE TOCARE FOR THEM.THAT GETS US TO LYDIA, NOW 20YEARS LATER.WHY WERE YOUR CHILDREN WITH YOURMOTHER?>> I WAS IN PRISON.REPORTER: NOW 44, LYDIA IS ANEXAMPLE OF THE IMPACT OFAMERICA'S LONG RUNNING WAR ONDRUGS.>> ACTUALLY ME AND MY SISTERWERE IN PRISON AT THE SAME TIMREPORTER: BOTH INVOLVING DRUGVIOLATIONS?>> YES.REPORTER: LYDIA WAS 18 AT HERFIRST DRUG ARREST FORPOSSESSION.AT 22, SHE WAS CONVICTED OFSELLING DRUGSHE WAS SENT TO THE WOMEN'SPRISON IN JESSUP.THUS BEGAN A CYCLE FROM WHICHSHE HAS YET TO ESCAPE.WERE YOU ABLE TO GET A JOB?BECAUSE OF YOUR RECORD?SO WHAT HAPPENED?>> I WENT AND SOLD DRUGS AGAIN.AND GOT ARRESTED AGAIN.I WAS 8 MONTHS PREGNANT.I HAD MY DAUGHTER ALIYIA INPRISON.REPORTER: LYDIA WAS TARGETED BYA POLICY THAT DATES TO THE1970'S.>> AMERICA'S PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBERONE IN THE UNITED STATES IS DRUGABUSE.REPORTER: LAUNCHED BY RICHARDNIXON, THE WAR ON DRUGS WOULDBECOME THE TOP PRIORITY OFPOLICING.IN CITIES LIKE BALTIMORE,ARRESTS OF USERS AND SELLERSSKYROCKETED.FROM THE 1980'S THROUGH THE1990'S, DRUG ARRESTS INBALTIMORE JUMPED 72%99,561 ARRESTS IN THE 80'S.171,348 IN THE 90'THEN CAME ZERO TOLERANCE.IN 2003 ALONE, THE YEAR THISVIDEO WAS SHOT, BALTIMORE POLICEMADE NEARLY 32,000 DRUG ARRESTS.PLAINCLOTHES UNITS FLOODEDNEIGHBORHOODS, TARGETING WHATPOLICE CALLED CORNER BOYS.THE OFFICER DRIVING THE CAR ONTHIS DAY, DEAN PALMERE, IS NOW ADEPUTY POLICE COMMISSIONER.>> WE START FROM GROUND LEVEL,COME OUT HERE AND GET THE CORNERBOYS.REPORTER: THROUGH THE 2000'S,DRUG ARRESTS IN BALTIMORE SHOTUP ANOTHER 58%.171,348 TO 271,513.AND NEARLY NINE OUT OF TENARRESTS ON DRUG CHARGES BALTIMORE WERE OF BLACK PEOPLE.>> WHAT HAS BEEN MOSTDETRIMENTAL TO THE BLACK FAMILYIN BALTIMORE AND MANY OTHERCITIES ACROSS THIS COUNTRY ISOUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM ASIT RELATES TO FIGHTING THE WARON DRUGS.REPORTER: NEILL FRANKLIN, AFORMER POLICE COMMANDER, NOWADVOCATES REFORM OF DRUG LAWSAND ENFORCEMENT PRIORITIES.THE HIGH RATE OF ARRESTS, HESAYS, HAS LEFT THOUSANDS OFBLACK PEOPLE IN BALTIMOREUNEMPLOYABLE.>> WE ARE KIND OF LIKE PERPLEXEDAS TO WHY WE HAVE THE VIOLENCEWE HAVE IN BALTIMORE CITY, THEHOMICIDES AND THE SHOOTINGS WHENYOU HAVE SO MANY PEOPLE OUT OFWORK, CAN'T GET WORK BECAUSE OCRIMINAL ARRESTS, LOOK IT'S THE, WAR ON THE DRUGS AND WHAT ITDOES TO SOCIETY AND BALTIMORE ISA PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHAT ISHAPPENING IN URBAN AMERICAACROSS THIS COUNTRREPORTER: IN BALTIMORE BETWEEN1980 AND 2014, THE NUMBER OFDRUG ARRESTS OF BLACK PEOPLE BYBALTIMORE POLICE, 536,00WHAT'S BEEN THE IMPACT OFGETTING CAUGHT UP IN THECRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM ON THOCHARGES AT THAT AGE?YOU WILL NEVER GET A JOYOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO LIVETHE WAY YOU WANT TO LIVEYOUR BACKGROUND IS ALWAYS GOINGTO COME BACKREPORTER: DRUGS REMAIN A BIGTARGET OF BALTIMORE POLICE.EVEN WITH DECRIMINALIZATION , MARIJUANA, EVEN THROUGH

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Critics said the toll of the country's war on drugs that criminalized drug use helps explain the continuing violence in cities like Baltimore.In November 1996, 55-year-old Charlotte was raising four of her grandchildren at her home in southeast Baltimore because their mothers were unable to care for them."I was in prison," said Lydia. "Actually, me and my sister were in prison at the same time."Now 44, Lydia is an example of the impact of America's long-running war on drugs. Both she and her sister were in prison on drug violations.Lydia was 18 at her first drug arrest for possession. At 22, she was convicted of selling drugs. She was sent to the women's prison in Jessup. Thus began a cycle from which she has yet to escape.Asked if she was able to get a job, Lydia said no. Asked if it was because of her record, she said yes."I went and sold drugs again and got arrested again. I was eight months pregnant. I had Aliyia in prison," Lydia said.Lydia was targeted by a policy that dates to the 1970s.Launched by President Richard Nixon, the war on drugs would become the top priority of police. In cities like Baltimore, arrests of users and sellers skyrocketed."America's public enemy No. 1 in the United States is drug abuse," Nixon said in June 1971.From the 1980s through the 1990s, drug arrests in Baltimore jumped 72 percent. There were 99,561 arrests in the 1980s and 171,348 in the 1990s.Then came zero tolerance. In 2003 alone, Baltimore police made nearly 32,000 drug arrests. Plainclothes units flooded neighborhoods, targeting what police called "corner boys.""We start at ground level, come out here and get the corner boys," said Dean Palmere, who was an officer at the time and is now a deputy police commissioner.Through the 2000s, drug arrests in Baltimore shot up another 58 percent, from 171,348 to 271,513.Nearly nine out of 10 arrests on drug charges in Baltimore were of black people.Neill Franklin, a former police commander, now advocates reform of drug laws and enforcement priorities."What has been most detrimental to the black family in Baltimore, and many other cities across this country, is our criminal justice system as it relates to fighting the war on drugs," Franklin said.Franklin said the high rate of arrests has left thousands of black people in Baltimore unemployable."We're kind of perplexed as to why we have the violence we have in Baltimore City, the homicides and the shootings. When you have so many people out of work (or) can't get work because of criminal arrests, look it's the war on the drugs, and what it does to society and Baltimore is a prime example of what is happening in urban America across this country," Franklin said."You will never get a job. You will never be able to live the way you want to live. Your background is always going to come back," Lydia said.In Baltimore, city police made 536,005 drug arrests of black people between 1980 and 2014.Drugs remain a big target of Baltimore police. Even with decriminalization of marijuana, through September, 21 percent of arrests made in the city this year were for drug violations, which is just slightly lower than the rate during the peak of the war on drugs.