History of the war on drugs

History Of the War on Drugs

The War on Drugs, since its establishment in 1971 by the Nixon administration, has been the biggest attempt by a nation to reduce the number of illegal narcotics circulating the United States. Smokes and Mirrors by Dan Baum depicts the history of the War on Drugs by detailing every step taken to arrive at a conclusion that a war on drugs was even necessary, to the implementation of the laws and regulations that ended up tearing a nation apart.

This war on drugs was deemed necessary when the government needed an excuse to do something more than chase white collar crime and Mafias. Their initial goal was to clean up the streets and make the people feel safe by removing what they thought was causing everything to begin with, drugs. The Nixon administration needed something that would make them look good and by tackling issues that neighborhoods thought constituted a problem, they would be seen as the rescuers. In the subsequent decades however, this declared war became one of speculation and of targeting only certain populations. It started to violate rights that were once protected by the Bill of Rights, and even started to violate privacy and confidentiality laws, all over suspicion of a small thing as possession. The numbers of people affected by this entire ordeal overshadowed those that had even slightly caused this in the first place. Dan Baum goes into great detail about the war on drug's history and its complete and utter failure.

The history of this war on drugs has only proven over and over again, the need for it to end. Nothing of great significance has been achieved except for the overpopulation of our prisons with a disproportionate number of minorities, particularly Black, residing in them. This social, cultural, and economic war has only brought on more disgrace to neighborhoods that are still torn with violence and poverty. The shady history that this war has, makes it that much more doubtful that there were ever any good intentions involved in the first place. It has been a war for power, money, and regulation by the United States' own government. It has been a way to keep the poor poorer and to make the rich even richer.