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The War on DrugsBlake Contreras

This picture represents how the war on drugs is no different than slavery.

Drugs have been a constant source of controversy for the past 100 years. Drugs have been debated on whether they should be legal or illegal. For the majority of history, drugs were completely legal, the fact that some are illegal is only a recent phenomena. The first anti-drug laws started in the mid to late 19th century, but they soon became more harsh and were soon spread throughout the U.S. In the 1600s, Hemp was grown in the American colonies because it was used for rope and sails for ships. If people refused to grow the crop they would be put in jail. Funny how a plant that would put someone in jail if they did not grow, is now one of the most restricted drugs in the world. In 1869, the first anti-opium laws were set, in places like San Francisco. In the 1920s, alcohol was banned, also known as Prohibition. Prohibition then led to people drinking more alcohol, created bootleggers and speakeasies and it made criminals such as Al Capone. The whole drug debate is basically whether people should have the right or not to do with their bodies as they please. Anti-marijuana laws were some of the first anti-drug laws in the United States. These laws were put in since the early 1900s. They were racially motivated, since Mexican immigrants brought the drug with them to America during the Mexican Civil War. A cult film called Reefer Madness was a propaganda film used to show people the “dangers” of marijuana, yet the whole movie was a bunch of lies. Once the 1960s came about, it was an era of counterculture, where the hippies originated and when psychedelic drug use became more mainstream. It was because of this that President Nixon called for a “War on Drugs” in 1971. This war was made to try to eradicate all drugs and drug use. Nixon also helped create the DEA, Drug Enforcement Agency. It really started to | escalate in the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan became president. His wife Nancy, started the “Just Say No” campaign to tell children all over America to not use drugs. This was when the prisons started overflowing with non violent offenders. Reagan’s campaign started putting way more people in jail than before. The number of incarcerations went from 50,000 in 1980 to 400,000 in 1997. Just like how the original anti-drugs laws were targeting certain racial groups, so were the incarcerations. Certain minorities like Blacks and Hispanics were more likely to be incarcerated than White people. A Los Angeles Police Chief by the name of Daryl Gates founded the DARE drug education program. These programs were created not by using scientific research but by using propaganda. Although drug use was a concern for about 2 to 6 percent of people, it eventually went up to 64 percent. There were also many media portrayals that made drugs seem like the biggest problem facing America, which is not true. There are people who would not want their children to be using drugs, which is understandable, but that is up to the parent(s) not the government. Teenagers are able to get their hands on cigarettes and alcohol, for which there is not much outcry, but when it comes to drugs like cannabis, there would be a huge outcry. When it comes to making drugs illegal, people can always find ways to get their hands on them. This war on drugs led to the creation of black market drug cartels such as the Medellin Cartel in Mexico and South America. Making drugs illegal will always make the criminals richer. If a drug is made illegal, that drug’s value becomes greater since it becomes a lot harder to get. People will pay a lot of money to get those drugs. This is why Pablo Escobar became so rich and popular, and same with El Chapo. This then leads to people trying to smuggle drugs across international borders, but then if they are caught with drugs, a shootout might ensue. This is why the war on drugs has killed a lot of people. These cartels would traffic cocaine into Florida which devastated cities like Miami. A certain theory has been made about a certain drug, crack cocaine and its relationship with a certain racial group, the Black community. There is a conspiracy theory that the CIA caused the crack epidemic, where crack cocaine usage surged during the 1980s. This epidemic hit many people hard, especially African-Americans. The war on drugs in many people’s eyes, was a huge failure. The U.S. government has spent about 1 trillion dollars to fight this so called “war.” In reality all this war has done has created more crime and drug use, which is ironic since that was the opposite of what was supposed to happen. Some of the drugs like cannabis, LSD, ecstasy etc, are way less harmful than tobacco and alcohol. Another subject of the war on drugs was the scheduling of drugs. Some drugs that are harmless or less harmful than other drugs like cannabis and LSD are schedule 1 which means they are the most harmful and have The War on DrugsThis picture represents the CIA’s involvement with the Contra Cartels and the Crack Epidemic

no medical use, which does not make sense since there is medical cannabis. Drugs like cocaine and meth, which are WAY more harmful than cannabis and LSD are placed in schedule 2 which is saying they are still harmful but not as much as the schedule 1 drugs, which is total baloney. Although, all this effort to stop drug use has had some benefits. At one point the percentage of teens using drugs was very low, but it soon skyrocketed again. More recently, during the Bush Administration, Bush put more money to fighting the drug war, although it lost its popularity. Bush’s Administration also saw a rise in militarization and domestic drug law enforcement. There were about 40,00 SWAT raids on American people even though they were non violent drug crimes. There have been many politicians and even presidents who have used drugs, like cannabis. Barack Obama has admitted to smoking marijuana by saying “I inhaled frequently, that was the point.”
Currently, cannabis has been legalized for recreational use in four states and even the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. In this day and age, more people are starting to realize that the war on drugs was a huge failure, just like Prohibition in the 1920s. The legalization of cannabis has been more than beneficial for those states. Drug legalization would bring less crime, less poverty, and less people in prison. Portugal was the first country ever to decriminalize all drugs; from cannabis to meth. Some people probably think that it got way worse, but it actually got way better. Also, there have been less people using drugs. Having drugs illegal is like telling a child to not have a cookie, the more they are not allowed to have, the more they want it, same with drugs. In this stage of the drug war, more people have become more enlightened and realize that drugs will always be a part of society. At this stage, the United States and most of the world are still way behind in trying fix the drug problem, but definitely soon

| in the next 20 to 30 years, drug policy will be a whole lot different. Hopefully, nothing like the war on drugs will ever happen again.

This picture represents the over use of force when it comes to drug use

This picture represents how even medical patients are considered criminals