In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs. He proclaimed, “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.” Nixon attempted to fight drug abuse from both supply and demand angles.
The Drug Enforcement Agency was created in 1973. They created Operation Intercept, which pressured Mexico to regulate its marijuana growers. The U.S. government also spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to close the border. In the end, Nixon did achieve his goal of reducing the supply of Mexican marijuana in America; however, Columbia quickly took Mexico’s place as a major supplier. The amount of funding for drug eradication programs then grew from an annual average of $437 million during Carter’s presidency to $1.4 billion during Reagan’s first term.
Unfortunately, the government was so consumed with waging “war” that the funding for education, prevention, and rehabilitation decreased. People skeptical of this approach argued that drug suppliers are not responsible for addiction. By looking at it as a disease, a more appropriate plan would be to focus on treatment.
President Clinton did recognize the need for treatment, but he was unable to make significant policy changes. He encouraged community action programs and grassroots organizations to attempt to reduce the demand for drugs, earmarking $1 billion for the cause. However, only $50 million was allocated for drug education, prevention, and treatment.
George W. Bush escalation of the militarization of domestic drug enforcement. By the end of his term, there were about 40,000 SWAT raids on Americans every year, the majority of which were for nonviolent offenses, often misdemeanors.
President Obama, despite voicing his support for policy changes such as reducing the crack/powder sentencing disparity, ending the ban on federal funding for syringe access programs, and ending federal interference with state medical marijuana laws, also failed to many any real progress with reallocation of funding.
Today, President Trump seems to be returning to the more militaristic view, insisting on a wall at the Mexico border. His attorney general has also stated that no good people smoke marijuana.
Some opponents of the war on drugs claim that it has always been racially motivated. Anti-opium laws in the 1870s were directed at Chinese immigrants. The first anti-cocaine laws in the early 1900s were directed at black men in the South. Today, black communities are still subject to disproportionate drug enforcement and sentencing. There is even some evidence for this claim, as a former Nixon aide, John Ehrlichman, admitted that Nixon had two main enemies: the antiwar left and black people and that by getting the public to associate the “hippies” and blacks with drug use, he could vilify these groups who might seek to prevent him from getting elected.
At Asana Recovery, we understand that therapy and education must be at the heart of real change. If you or a loved one need help to quit drugs or alcohol, call us at (949) 438-4504 to learn about our medical detox and residential and outpatient therapy programs.
