War On Drugs In The 1970s

Laws were established, and plans were occurred in order to eliminate American citizens from obtaining and using drugs, additionally to stop other countries from manufacturing, transporting these drugs across borders into the United States and selling/distributing them. After countless failed attempts, it was determined by Nixon that the supply for drugs existed due to the large demand and the suppliers would find anyway to succeed. Unfortunately Nixon did not act according to this understanding. Following this, Nixon launched numerous attempts to go into Mexico and eliminate the supply side of the drug war. He quickly learned that eliminating one route used by drug traffickers only resulted in them opening another route to continue their

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

Since Nixon and Reagan started the war on drugs the United States have struggled to keep a drug policy that would actually keep people from using drugs. The war on drugs was something that change the history of this country, by making drug trafficking their main priority. This is becoming a big issue since this issue is something that many Americans do everyday. During the time in 1971, President Richard Nixon was the man that created the Drug Enforcement Agency. This was the program called the war in drugs. This was supposed to keep narcotics out within our country and our borders. During 1994, the war on drugs caused people to go to jail, especially the non violent drug users. Criminalization is overcrowding the prisons by putting people

“The War on Drugs” was declared by Richard Nixon on June 17, 1971. Nixon described substance abuse as “public enemy number one of the United States.” The Nixon administration went further on to create the Special Action for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP) and the Office of Drug Abuse Law (ODALE), in addition to other programs the Reagan administration put in place. These programs created a “super agency” known today as the Drug Enforcement Administration. These particular programs enabled the government to target those of a lower class and those who were colored. This brings several questions to the forefront, like was the DEA established to keep those of lower status, those of color incarcerated as a new form of Jim Crow? Little attention has

The war on drugs officially started in 1972 with Richard Nixon leading the charge. Nixon called drugs, “public enemy number one” because of the rising heroin addiction in Vietnam veterans. The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs revamped by Nixon was founded in 1968 under Johnson . By 1972 Nixon starts the office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement, to create a joint task force in the federal and state level, and resulted in the end of the French connection . The French connection was the Heroin drug trade that started from Turkey, were opium farmed legally to drug companies, sold underground, and ended in the streets of America, the products put on French ships were around 200 pounds . In response to the rivalry between BNDD and U.S. customs,

In the 1960’s, as drugs became signs of youthful rebellion, social upheaval and political dissent, the government halted scientific research in order to evaluate medical safety. Therefore, President Nixon declared a “war on drugs” in 1971. He increased the size of the federal drug control agencies and pushed through measures such as mandatory sentencing and no-knock warrants After his declaration other Presidents of America continued this plan thinking it was the right way.

President Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs in the 1970’s making it over forty years old(becker and murphy C.1).

When President Nixon took office in 1969 he saw it as a god given opportunity for him to take charge of the country. A rise in drug trafficking and abuse in the 60’s led Nixon to administer the Controlled Substance Act. An act that set to label the addictiveness and medical purpose of drugs by 5 Schedules. Schedule one being the most addictive with no medical purpose and schedule five being less addictive with medicinal purposes. In 1973 He created the Drug Enforcement Administration or DEA, agents who enforced drug related laws and executed the punishments. The DEA also works to stop the trafficking of and distribution of drugs.

Some people believe that Nixon's war on drugs was a huge failure and here are some reasons why. The US is not effective in eradicating the drugs.. Lastly it is focused more on putting people in prison rather than getting people help.

In the past forty years, the United States has spent over $2.5 trillion dollars funding enforcement and prevention in the fight against drug use in America (Suddath). Despite the efforts made towards cracking down on drug smugglers, growers, and suppliers, statistics show that addiction rates have remained unchanged and the number of people using illegal drugs is increasing daily (Sledge). Regardless of attempts to stem the supply of drugs, the measure and quality of drugs goes up while the price goes down (Koebler). Now with the world’s highest incarceration rates and greatest illegal drug consumption (Sledge), the United States proves that the “war on drugs” is a war that is not being won.

The United States government has been wasting millions of dollars each year on a worthless war that cannot be won. This war is explained in detail by author Art Caden in their essay “Let’s Be Blunt” about the United State war on drugs. The war on drugs began in 1971 under the order of President Richard Nixon, and it was one of the worst decisions he ever made. It has been nothing but a waste of government funding, time, and manpower that can only be described as a dismal failure and should be repealed or at the very least medical marijuana should be made legal.

Beginning in the nineteenth century, spanning to the present day, US history has witnessed a plethora of changes both socially as well as racially. These racial and social changes were the results of moral panics centered around marijuana as well as eugenics.

During the 1960’s drugs became a symbol of “youthful rebellion, social upheaval, and political dissent”, the government quickly stepped into action and by June 1971, President Nixon declared a “war on drugs”. The size and presence of federal drug control agencies and drastic measures such as mandatory sentencing and no-knock warrants. Marijuana was placed under the most restrictive category of drugs and the war on drugs was underway (A Brief History of the Drug War, Bureau of Justice Statistics).

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.

In 2009 1,663,582 people were arrested for non-violent drug charges. These people’s lives are now forever changed because of a mistake they made. This mistake is continually made every single day and Americans are being punished in extreme ways for a non violent crime. The United States needs to decimalize all drugs because the drug war is costly, causes high incarceration rates, and isn’t effective as European drug solutions.