War on Drugs
From Drug Rehab Wiki
In June 1971 President Richard Nixon announced that the United States was declaring a "War on Drugs." The idea was to create aggressive federal policies to stop the manufacture, distribution, and illegal importation of drugs in the United States. President Nixon was willing to use military interventions, if necessary, and other nations were willing to join in the effort.
The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 was one of the first efforts by the United States in the War on Drugs. This act classified drugs into five schedules, based on their potential for abuse and medical uses. Schedule 1 drugs, such as heroin, were classified as the most dangerous and therefore carried the most severe penalties for their illegal distribution. Schedule 5 were the least dangerous and had the lightest penalties. This Act was among the first to grant the federal government more power to enforce and unify the drug laws of the United States through the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. These War on Drugs laws drastically increased the number of Americans in prison for drug offenses.
The federal government also got involved in going after international drug cartels in the Middle East, South America, and Mexico, and sometimes even used extreme means such as trying to spray herbicides on marijuana crops in other countries, and having the Armed Forces of the U.S. interdict drugs coming into the United States. The government also sponsored widespread educational programs for young people, such as the DARE program in schools and “Just Say No” campaign lead by First Lady Nancy Reagan in the 1980s.
Many people criticized the government's War on Drugs because of its cost and ineffectiveness. Critics said that the drug laws unfairly sent too many young people and members of minorities to prison, often for long terms. It was even possible to get life in prison if you had three drug offenses.
In June 2011 the United Nation's Global Commission on Drug Policy wrote, "The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and years after President Nixon launched the US government’s war on drugs, fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed."
