The War on Drugs

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The war on drugs began in the United States in 1971 when President Richard Nixon declared war. President Nixon increased the number of federal drug control agencies, increased mandatory sentences for drug offenders, and utilized no-knock warrants in attempt to get the problem under control. It has been over forty years since President Nixon declared a war on drugs. Did America win the war on drugs? Is it time to legalize illicit drugs in this country? What are other countries doing in reference to drugs? The author will examine the history of the war on drugs in this country, how other countries deal with drugs, list the positive and negative aspect of legalizing illicit drugs, and offer his opinion as to whether drugs should be decriminalized or not.

History
The recognition that there was a drug problem in the United States goes back to the 1800’s when the first anti-drug laws were established. These drug laws were established in part because of the specific ethnic groups that were associated with particular drugs, the Chinese opium, the Blacks cocaine, and the Mexicans marijuana. “The first anti-opium laws in the1870s were directed at Chinese immigrants. The first anti-cocaine laws, in the south in the 1900s, were directed at black men. The anti-marijuana laws, in the Midwest and the southwest in the 1910s and 20s, were directed at Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans” (www.drugpolicy.org).
The so called “war on drugs” was declared in 1971 by President Richard Nixon. President Nixon significantly increased the manpower of several federal drug control agencies, as well as their presence on the front line. President Nixon used tactics such as mandatory sentencing for drug offenders, and no-knock w...

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...h year needs to stop.

Works Cited

Bolton, G. (2012, October 16). Drug legalization in latin america: Could it be the answer?
Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.coha.org/drug-legalization in-latin-america-could-ti-be-the-answer. Giambra, J. (2006, May11). Drug law don’t work; it’s time to try legalizing them.
Buffalo News.
Kapp, C. (2003). Swiss debate whether to legalize cannabis. The Lancet, 362(9388), 970.
Kopala, M. (2007). Reefer madness. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 177(8), 988.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2014, January). Drug facts: Marijuana.
Retrieved from http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana.
We are the Drug Policy Alliance. (2014, February). A brief history of the drug war.
Retrieved from http://www.drugpolicy.org/new-solutions-drug-policy/brief-history-
drug-war.

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