The War On Drugs: The Reagan Administration

For many years, drugs have been the center of crime and the criminal justice system in the United States. Due to this widespread epidemic, President Richard Nixon declared the “War on Drugs” in 1971 with a campaign that promoted the prohibition of illicit substances and implemented policies to discourage the overall production, distribution, and consumption. The War on Drugs and the U.S. drug policy has experienced the most significant and complex challenges between criminal law and the values of today’s society. With implemented drug polices becoming much harsher over the years in order to reduce the overall misuse and abuse of drugs and a expanded federal budget, it has sparked a nation wide debate whether or not they have created more harm than good. When looking at the negative consequences of these policies not only has billions of dollars gone to waste, but the United States has also seen public health issues, mass incarceration, and violent drug related crime within the black market in which feeds our global demands and economy. With this failed approach for drug prohibition, there continues to be an increase in the overall production of illicit substances, high rate of violence, and an unfavorable impact to our nation.

President Nixon first declared the “war on drugs” on June of 1971. This came after heavy drug use during the 1960s. New York in particular, had a rise in heroin use. After Nixon’s declaration, states began decriminalizing the possession and distribution of marijuana and other drugs. Many small drug offences led to a mandatory fifteen years to life. This Drug War has led to an increase of incarceration rates since. One of the earliest laws that followed Nixon’s announcement were the Rockefeller Drug Laws that to not only failed to deter crime but also lead to other problems in the criminal justice system. With the Rockefeller Drug Laws came heavy racial disparity of those incarcerated for drug related crimes. Although the Obama Administration has begun reforms, the new President Elect Trump’s views may bring all the efforts back down.

In the beginning of the documentary, The House I Live In, President Nixon gives a speech declaring, “America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive” In 1971, this speech made Preside Nixon the first president to ever declare a “war on drugs” in America. He fought by battling, both the supply and demand for drugs. Karst J. Besteman (1989) describes this “war” as a “strong initiative against drug dealers and expansion of drug treatment facilities” (p. 290). The beginning of Nixon’s “war” was focused on providing treatment and rehabilitation, after the creation of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in 1973, the focal point of the

As the variables above are added up it, quickly becomes apparent that the “war on drugs,” during the mid 1980s-early 2000s had a negative impact on American life. With all the money spent and lives ruined, the United States came no closer to solving drug issues it had faced in the years prior. Citizens took the biggest brunt of this “war” with the fact that not only did they have to forcibly financially support the “war on drugs,” but in some cases, they had their civil liberties encroached upon or even completely violated. It could be argued that retrospectively looking at the “war on drugs” makes criticizing our country and the officials in charge easy, but when you actually look at the statistics and events surrounding this time period criticism

On June 17th 1971, President Richard Nixon stood in front of congress and announced his widely criticized War on Drugs. The President claimed that drugs were the “Public Enemy Number One” among Americans. Fast-forward to 1986, Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. This act placed mandatory minimum sentences on minor drug infractions. The war on drugs not only incarcerated a very high number of Blacks, but also tore families apart in an effort to clean up neighborhoods which still affect many African American families almost a half-century later.

Ultimately, the war on drugs grew because of the influence the first lady had on this movement. During Regan’s acceptance speech he mentioned things such as giving the state more power and tax cuts, but he did not mention a war on drugs. It wasn’t until the first lady traveled on behalf of her husband that drug problem was brought up. “The Reagan administration pressured foreign governments to act against producers and traffickers of opiates, cocaine, marijuana, and other illicit drugs” (Brands, 232). After the declaration of war on drugs statistics showed that Americans were using drugs more than when the Nancy Reagan anti drug campaign began. “Victories in the war on drugs were elusive” (Brands, 232) but states and the federal government

In the year 1971, President Richard Nixon was convinced that America’s number one enemy was drug abuse. As a result, in that year he declared war on drugs, there was a punishment for not only supplying drugs but purchasing them as well. Nixon believed America would be a more effective and prosperous country if it were completely drug free. The war on drugs was really a convenient cover for the undeclared war on race. There were several consequences and negative effects for African Americans due to the “war”, more extensive drug regulations, over-policing, driving while black, drug sweeps, and finally no warrants when searching and seizing. More than half of the people in

The war on drugs during the 1980s to present has become a center of attention for the American governments’ foreign and domestic policy. Though the idea to clean up Americas streets sounds convincing, the truth is, it’s not. Hence, the War on Drugs is seen as a situation of the war within our government and institutionalizing the streets of America, in other words, the separation against certain groups to possess a certain radical objective. Although most are unaware, race and the declaration to the War on Drugs has played a vital role in marginalizing the communities as a target. In return those, mostly of African American decent, are expose tot the institutions and police control within neighborhoods. In addition, the Drug War has been a

The War on Drugs is a term that is commonly applied to the campaign of prohibition of drugs. The goal of this campaign is to reduce the illegal drug trade across America. This term “ War on Drugs” was used during Nixon’s campaign in which he declared War on Drugs during a press conference in 1971. Following this declaration many organizations were created to stop the spread of drugs, like the DEA and Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement. Note that Nixon’s approach to this problem was to fund treatment rather than law enforcement. After Nixon’s retirement from office, most of the funding went from going into treatment to the law enforcement. Which militarized the police force giving the officer’s military weapons and gear. With this, the sentencing for possessing drugs was changed as well, resulting incarcerations rates to increase overtime. The increase of incarceration rates started to create many patterns that were soon noticeable. The funding’s that go into the law enforcement has shown to greatly have an affect on the incarceration rates.

In 1971, Richard Nixon declared a war against drugs. Today, it still continues to be a huge failure, leading to mass incarceration in the U.S., corruption, violence and human rights abuses across the world. The DEA, or Drug Enforcement Administration, focuses on eliminating the supply of drugs and incarcerating drug traffickers. This strategy is inefficient because of supply and demand. If one attempts to eliminate the supply, then new ways will be found or new producers will produce due to demand. An example would be crystal meth. the U.S. government tried to stop crystal meth’s production by outlawing or regulating the sales of chemicals required to make it (“Controlled Substances Act”). In response, thousands of small-scale meth production labs popped up using unregulated chemicals. The U.S. then regulated those chemicals, which then only let the cartel, of whom have more experience and skill, to take over. With a less than 1% success rate, the DEA is still being funded around 30 billion dollars (Performance Budget). The reason most of the drugs in the U.S. are illegal are due to racist ties, this includes heroin (opium), marijuana, and cocaine. The U.S. should end the war on drugs and instead focus on the rehabilitation and discharge of drug abusers, users and dealers.

Starting in 1914 the U.S introduced the first probation acts that prohibited the consumption of Opiates and Cocaine with the Harrison Narcotics act of 1914 Later this act was amended to include marijuana. This Act was the first use of federal criminal law in the United Sates to attempt to deal with the nonmedical use of drugs (wisegeek). The war of drugs started primarily in the 1971 when Nixon declared the war on drugs. He dramatically increased the size and presence of federal drug control agencies (Drug Policy). With the first major organized drug imports from Columbia from the Black Tuna Gang based in Miami, Florida Columbia was quickly growing into a drug superpower able to feed America’s growing addictions.

Understanding how the first days of the war on drugs began helps to explain where society is now in regards to combating this global dilemma. The effects of prohibition resulted in threats to one’s health via harsher chemicals, organized crime, and demoralization. Individuals suffering from the illness of addiction are still human and should be regarded as such without shame or guilt. Understanding where stress and anger originate as well as the addiction process, can aid the clinician to enhanced understanding and effective communications with clients.

The evolution of the war on drugs, why the policies have failed the American public; how the United States can change the war on drugs; to a health crisis instead of a war on drugs.

The enactment of the relevant UN Conventions in 1961, 1971 and 1988, and since then an

To start, I wanted to familiarize myself on the history of drugs and what has already been done. To prevent how easy it is to get these drugs. An Editorial by the Britannica about the war on drugs in the past 50 years in the U.S. It goes over what has been put in place to prevent drug use and laws. It talks about all of the actions that ronald reagan did to start the war on drugs in the U.S. The War on Drugs began in June 1971 when U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon declared drug abuse to be the “public enemy number one” and increased federal funding for drug-control agencies and drug-treatment efforts. This was a huge step forward in the war against drugs, in the fact that with the funding the government created the DEA (US Drug Enforcement Administration). The DEA Job is to controlled substances laws and