The popularization of the term, War on Drugs, stemmed from a press conference in which Nixon named drug abuse as “public enemy number one in the United States.” During this conference geared towards Congress, Nixon vowed that the majority of funding would go towards the “prevention of new addicts and the rehabilitation of those who are addicted.” (Schlosser, 1994) However, two years prior to the declaration, Nixon had formally declared that the United States drug epidemic would be cured with eradication, interdiction, and incarceration. In late 1975, the Domestic Council Drug Abuse Task Force released a report that states the “priority in Federal efforts in both supply and demand reduction be directed toward those drugs which inherently pose a greater risk to the individual and to society.” Although Marijuana is named a “low priority drug,” to this day it still remains classified as a Schedule 1 substance. On May 13th, …show more content…
The Mexican Drug War is an ongoing war between the Mexican Government and an array of drug trafficking business entities. Since the intervention with the Mexican military began in 2006, the national government’s goal has been to eliminate drug related violence. They have also claimed a primary focus on demolishing top drug cartels, rather than the prevention of drug trafficking. The Mexican Government decided to leave the duty of drug traffic prevention up to the United States government, which has since become an ongoing conflict between the two countries. Mexican drug cartels dominate the illicit wholesale drug market, a nearly $50 billion business. In fact, less than a decade ago, 90% of all Cocaine and Marijuana that was entering the United States came from Mexico. (Clark, 2015) Since the rise of cartels, many key leaders have been arrested, but in result led to an increase in drug violence as they fight for control of the United States trafficking