War On Drugs Essay

650 Words2 Pages

In 1971, President Nixon sparked what would become the War on Drugs as we know it today. In his message to Congress, Nixon declared drugs to be public enemy number one in America, and announced that a new federal initiative would attempt to combat this epidemic. Nixon’s original intent for the new directive was to treat the drug problem itself, with a focus on rehabilitation for addicts and addressing root issues, such as the foreign manufacturing of problematic drugs. However, in the early 1980s, President Reagan put a new, punitive twist on federal anti-drug efforts, and this “focus on criminal punishment over treatment led to a massive increase in incarcerations for nonviolent drug offenses, from 50,000 in 1980 to 400,000 in 1997” (“War …show more content…

25). Additionally, increasing the intensity of drug policing in one area can also just shift the crime to another jurisdiction, creating even more conflict between criminal organizations (Benson et. al, p. 27). The “getting tough on crime” narrative encouraged by the War on Drugs has also contributed to the militarization of our police forces, further blurring the line between whether or not the War on Drugs is as it says, or whether it’s a war on civilians. “In the context of a war on drugs, the identification of drug users and dealers as an enemy upon whom force may be used, is not surprising. The very use of the metaphor of ‘war’, as a conceptual matter, implies the use of force” (Nunn, p. 407). The overarching effect of harsher policing as a result of the War on Drugs initiative is the further disruption of already unstable communities by incarcerating remarkably high rates of male figures. Unfortunately, this effect is most prominent in black communities. Mass incarceration has contributed heavily

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