In the 1980’s the introduction of Crack Cocaine which was much more addictive to the users and more profitable for the drug dealers than Powder Cocaine. The prompted the administration to create Reagans War on Drugs which was supposed to make a major difference in the use of illegal drugs. By giving a much stiffer penalty to drug dealers for possession an even a moderate amount of illegal drugs. The fear of jail time was going be a deterrent to reduce the sale and illegal drug use. A minimum five year jail sentence would be handed out to someone caught with 500 grams of powder cocaine or with five grams of crack cocaine.
One of Nixon’s aide named John Ehrlichman admitted to the real reason why the War on Drugs was introduced, he stated “You want to know what this was really about. The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m
9.1.1. Conservative beliefs regarding the need for traditional social values and a reduced role for government advanced in the U.S. politics after 1980. In the 1980s War on Drugs was when President Nixon declared a war on drugs. This meant that he was going to increase the size of drug control agencies.
The Nixon administration declared that drugs were the country's "public enemy. " These illegal drugs were implemented in poor communities where minorities reside, so mass incarceration began. Throughout the 70s and 80s, the government spent millions to crack down on drug dealers and those doing drugs. This led to many Americans being imprisoned for simply possessing a drug, specifically marijuana, heroin, and cocaine. The majority of those Americans were minority men, which caused many of their families to be torn apart.
Furthermore, several acts were enacted to regulate the use of specific drugs as well as the federal prohibition of alcohol. But in 1933, Prohibition ended, making it legal to consume alcohol again. In the 1970’s, drugs were categorized based on their “potential for abuse” (Levinthal, 2016). Unfortunately, many of the illicit drugs are manufactured outside of the United States.
Nonetheless, this is far from the truth. What the “War on Drugs” did accomplish, however, was mass incarceration, particularly of those in minority groups. One of the main pillars of the advocacy was the dangers of crack cocaine. Although pharmaceutically almost identical to powder cocaine, penalties against crack were dramatically more severe. “The 1986 bill created minimum sentencing laws with a 100:1 disparity between powder and crack cocaine, supported by untrue claims that crack is more dangerous and addictive…
During the great 1960’s drugs were heavily consumed by the people, thus the iconic view of the 1960’s was born. People weren’t necessarily addicted at first, but because the “hippies” were a group of mostly teens and young adults they were still exploring themselves. Whether it was spiritually or self realization, it still involved most often one of three common drugs for the time period. Marijuana was one of these major drugs that was used in the 1960’s. Marijuana has been used by humans for many years.
By the late 1960s, the issue of unchecked drug use had entered the forefront of the American consciousness. Major periodicals regularly published drug-related articles, drug policy gained prominence on the federal government’s agenda, and citizens across the United States watched in trepidation as drug use entered the cultural mainstream. This perceived drug crisis precipitated the Nixon Administration’s Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 (CDAPCA), which reorganized and consolidated pre-existing drug legislation into a single law. While the act was passed in response to general anxieties about drug use, it asymmetrically affected different populations based on social class. Through analysis of primary and secondary
The use of narcotics like cocaine, claimed many lives and earned widespread coverage by media and news. Following this Nancy Reagan began the “War on Drugs”, a campaign to combat pre-existing drug usage and prevent future
In 1968 drugs became a top political issue for President Richard Nixon. President Richard Nixon declared a total war on drugs, which led to new drug policies, high incarceration rates for drug related crime, high populations in prisons and large budgets to fund the war on drugs, and prisons. Although the war on drugs may have been seen as a good idea at the time, this approach does not look to have had the impact or outcome desired in the control of drugs, as 40 years later and billions spent on
The 1990’s marked the beginning of a new war on drugs. Drug abuse rates had started to increase, wider variety of drugs became more common, and more people started to use. Not a lot has changed, because drug abuse is still very common in today’s society. In the 1990s, drug usage was bad, however a lot of the drugs in today 's society were not as common. Drug abuse is not just in the big cities,the problem is all over.
“Turn on, tune in, drop out.” (Cite) Psychologist Timothy Leary made this hypnotic phrase popular during the 1960s. Having many ways of perceiving it, the majority of the people at the time viewed it as a creative slogan for taking psychedelics. These psychedelics were mind-altering drugs such as LSD, mescaline, or psilocybin mushrooms. The youth’s curiosity and desire for expanding your consciousness made the use of these drugs increasingly popular.
Presidents began running under the premise of “tough on crime” to assure American citizens that they would keep them safe from harm and danger. One of the main key points of this was drug use. Presidents, such as Nixon, would began to vilify and criminalize drug users in a way America had never
Drugs had such a big impact in society in the 1960’s because they reached out to more people than just the hippies at the time. One who was uneducated about the 1960’s would only think that the hippies use to drugs – nope! And that is the fascinating thing about it that drugs heavily influenced musician greats such as Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and other influential people such as Ken Kesey and his magic bus disciples (I like to call them that). If you were to walk down the street in the 1960’s and waved at someone that very someone would have been lost in his own Wonderland and I absolutely believe that is how heavily spread and influential drugs were back then! The 1960’s wouldn’t have been the 60’s without the
Some may not be too familiar with the war on drugs and the effects it has had on the society we live in. The war on drugs was started by the Nixon administration in the early seventies. Nixon deemed drug abuse “public enemy number one”. This was the commencement of the war on drugs, this war has lasted to this day and has been a failure. On average 26 million people use opioids.
