President Richard Nixon's War On Drugs

Improved Essays
In the U.S, President Richard Nixon declared war on drugs, in 1971. This was due to the increase of demand coming from the United States and from the certain and bulk supply coming from various regions, but especially Latin America. The focus of Nixon was not only domestic drug abuse but it was also looking at the international level concerning the source of the problem and the drug trafficking industry.
His successor, Ronald Reagan, focused more on changing the US’s foreign policy to crush the problem of illegal drugs, in all its forms. This led to more than one nation rallying in order to join the cause.
If we look at the world today, we can see how ineffective the results have been throughout the world.
Nonetheless, we can consider the Colombian

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Summary Of Drug Crazy

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The very mention of drugs summons demonic images: needles, babies addicted at birth, violence. No issue generates such a visceral reaction in people like the topic of drugs. In Mike Gray’s book “Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out,” his analysis of the drug war in America explores the mass hysteria surrounding addiction that was nourished with misinformation. Based on the history Gray has compiled, coupled with modern studies, the drug war appears to be a lost cause, now and into the foreseeable future. In 1909, Dr. Hamilton Wright was appointed as the third U.S delegate to the International Opium Commission at Shanghai and became “personally responsible for shaping the international narcotics laws as we know them today.”…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    President Reagan's war on drugs was about getting the illegal drugs off the street that was causing many addictions in society. Furthermore, the illegal drugs were a huge threat to the American National Security and so President Reagan wanted to put a stop to this problem. The primary drug was crack cocaine, but the most dangerous form of crack cocaine is the powder form because it was easier for people to consume inside their bodies. Presidents before Reagan declared war on drugs also an example is Richard Nixon he stated that “America's public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse.” This decision was taken in the past before and Reagan believed that he could still make a huge impact in society and take the drugs off the street…

    • 201 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    African Americans had long battled the issue of equal protection under the law as well as equal rights and representation. It is no secret that African Americans were struggling to regain their self-worth after experiencing several hundred years of slavery. Given that times have long since progressed, one would assume we would possess the same rights as White Americans. This is not at all the case; it is almost the exact opposite. In the work “The New Jim Crow,” by Michelle Alexander, the reader is intruded to one of the most perpetual realities of our time; African Americans are being funneled, in great numbers, into the prison system.…

    • 1192 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The president’s “War on Drugs” campaign resulted in a significant decline in casual drugs abuse. Regan’s policies saw a decrease in marijuana and cocaine usage in America over his term (Hawdon 420). He was passionate about fighting drugs; therefore, increased funding for the drug war from $1.5 billion in 1981 to $2.75 billion in 1986 (Ronald Reagan). Reagan also penned many executive orders that were directed to crime and justice; his ultimate plan was to dismantle crime syndicates in America, and thus organized a crime commission to accomplish the task (Putzel). However, his speeches revealed a somewhat different world outlook.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Bully Pulpit Essay

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A bully pulpit, despite what it may sound like, has nothing to do with bullies; not in the modern sense of the word, anyways. It is a phrase coined by our twenty-sixth president, Theodore Roosevelt, describing not himself, but the white house as a metaphor. He was using an older meaning of the word bully, which meant excellent or superb, as an adjective to his position. A bully pulpit is, in his context of the phrase, describing the white house as a fantastic stage from which to promote an agenda. So the scenario we as a country are faced with, again and again, is this: we have multiple issues that need attention.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethical Perspective on Drug Prohibition The article “Another Lost War: The Costs and Consequences of Drug Prohibition” (Chambliss, 1995) stressed that few countries decriminalized drugs since it helped to decline the crime rate and incidence of drug abuse. Even though there were a mass of challenges that America needed to face with, America still prohibit drugs. As mentioned above, the Costs for the enforcement of drug prohibition policy costed a large amount of money, the incarceration rates for drugs increased dramatically, racial discrimination and injustice existed between black and white population, the wholesale corruption of government officials, the undermining of constitutional rights, and illegal drugs still creating a drug…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    However, “this wasn’t, in actuality, a war on drugs,” it was a war on black people (74). Crack hit the streets rather suddenly. It was cheaper and easier to use than cocaine and happened to be “one of the most addictive drugs in the world” (71, 72). The irony, however, is that President Reagan and the CIA were behind the explosion of crack in America. It was all a big cover-up being used to pay for America’s role in the Contra War in Nicaragua (72, 73).…

    • 2110 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Nixon’s war on drugs has disproportionately affected demographics in the minority and also fails to acknowledge what addiction is. Drug addiction is defined as a “chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences”(Abuse).. People often ascertain that drug addiction is a choice due to a person's voluntary initial use and therefore they should be punished, regardless of the disease, because it was their choice to use illegal substances. They also seem to stand firm that decriminalization of drugs will do little to change the underground drug market in the United States. I, on the other hand, believe it is crucial that drugs be decriminalized and regulated due to several points; first of which is that addiction is a brain disease not a crime, drug use is facilitated by negative social stigmas created by society, the war on drugs combats minorities and not drugs, and regulating drugs can help the economy and eliminate the underground drug…

    • 1715 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racism has always been an issue in the United States, and it is something that will most likely continue to be an issue. The racism that we see today, however, is not the racism that we have seen during the times of slavery or of Jim Crow, but it has its similarities. Michelle Alexander writes a very convincing book over these similarities that are still occurring. One point that she brings up quite frequently throughout the book is that for every “new” society that we encounter, there will need to be a “new” form of racism along with it. This “new” form of racism to her is the mass incarceration of African Americans.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Benefits of a Liberal Drug Approach In 1971 President Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs and four decades later the United States has spent $1 trillion (Branson). What do we have to show for it as Americans? The world’s largest prison population at 2.3 million people and more than half a million of the inmates are imprisoned due to drug violations (Branson). About 460,000 more people in jail and prison today than in 1980 all from drug related crimes (Branson).…

    • 1029 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    War On Drugs Effects

    • 1275 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The War on Drugs directly impacts the life of almost every American. The program began as a fight against drug abuse and the spread of dangerous operations including and related to drug trafficking into American cities. Each new president, for the most part, has continued the programs of their predecessors. The naissance of the government’s anti-drug program began under the presidency of Richard Nixon. He set the ball in motion by classifying marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug and by directing his government agencies to target black social activists.…

    • 1275 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    End To The War On Drugs

    • 1060 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Yet the U.S. spends billions of dollars to reach this goal. Putting an end to the War on Drugs will not only save us billions of dollars, it would solve other major issues such as, drug abuse and addiction, drug cartels, gang crime and violence, immigration, poverty, homelessness, and unemployment. In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared war on drugs. He proclaimed, “America’s public enemy number one is drug abuse. In Order to fight and defeat this enemy, it…

    • 1060 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The government should no continue the war on drugs. This was a national initiative started by President Richard Nixon in 1971 (Clegg1). Drugs trade produces about a trillion dollars a year and more 230 million people use illegal drugs (Branson1). The drugs were taxed at rates comparable to these on alcohol and tobacco (Branson3). Drug abusers filled courts, hospitals, and prisons (Tama1).…

    • 1403 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    June 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs. Today “an estimated 24.6 million Americans aged 12 or older—9.4 percent of the population—had used an illicit drug in the past month.” It has been slightly over 40 years since the war on drugs began and yet the country still finds itself in the midst of a drug epidemic. “An estimated 22.7 million Americans (8.6 percent) needed treatment for a problem related to drugs [...] but only about 2.5 million people (0.9 percent) received treatment at a specialty facility.” 14.5 billion dollars has been budgeted for 2015 to be allocated towards domestic law enforcement, interdiction, and international law enforcement.…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    America’s war on drugs has spread across the globe. This, however, is not necessarily…

    • 1405 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays