My first Magazine Final Draft Multimodal Project 4 | Page 7

Mathews, Reena. “The War on Drugs needs to be retired; it's time for change.” The Central Trend, thecentraltrend.com/33088/opin-
ion/the-war-on-drugs-needs-to-be-retired-its-time-for-change/.
These new laws imposed legal moralism upon Americans and instantaneously spurred the incar-
ceration rate to unprecedented highs. Throughout the decade, mandatory minimum penalties
were created alongside “an increase in the length of existing penalties- particularly for drug of-
fenses” (ussc.gov). Congress’ decision to abandon its rehabilitative model for “more certain, less
disparate, and more appropriately punitive sentences” (ussc.gov) translated to America’s prisons