President Nixon War On Drugs Essay

The American foreign policy on war on drugs is an important matter that came about in June of 1971 by President Richard Nixon. He increased the presence and the size of the federal drug control agencies. He also pushed for mandatory sentencing and no-knock warrants for the war on drugs. This is also when President Nixon put marijuana in schedule one, which is the most restrictive category for drugs. There were many things that led up to the why President Nixon put the American foreign policy for the war on drugs in place. The history of this problem started in the late 1960’s when recreational drug use was on the rise with the middle class in America. From 1968-1969 the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs was founded, studies linked crime

The Customs Department performed a three minute inspection to every vehicle that was crossing the border. In 1970, both NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) and the Narcotics Treatment Administration were founded. NORML lobbies for decriminalization of marijuana. The Narcotics Treatment Administration was funded by the Nixon administration to help Dr. Robert DuPont broaden his methadone project in Washington D.C.. The last straw for President Nixon was in May of 1971 when Soldiers in Vietnam developed heroin addictions. There was a report about the growing heroin epidemic of the U.S. servicemen in Vietnam. In June of 1971, President Nixon officially declared war on drugs. President Nixon named drug abuse as “public enemy number one in the United States”. From 1972-1974 was the end of the President Nixon’s time in office. This is also when the office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement was founded, the U.S. and French Connection broke up, The Drug Enforcement Administration was established, and President Nixon resigned. The Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement was established to join federal and

border and to keep drugs from being sold so much on the streets. By getting cooperation from the Mexican government, the U.S. and Mexican border patrols teamed up to help keep drugs from getting through. This would minimize the drugs spreading across the U.S.. By keeping the drugs off the streets, it will keep people from buying and reselling the drugs to other people. If those drugs ever got in the wrong hands, it could do a lot of harm to people that do not know anything about drugs or even kids that get into a secret stash a family member had hidden. Another big goal for this program was to take care of the soldiers that were coming home from Vietnam addicted to drugs. They created treatments purposely for the soldiers that were coming home addicted to heroin. These treatments would assist the soldiers that were going through withdrawal. Some of the people that were involved with the upcoming of President Nixon’s “War on Drugs” campaign were mostly part of his cabinet. John Ehrlichman served as President Richard Nixon’s domestic policy chief; he helped get the campaign underway. Spiro T. Agnew was President Nixon’s Vice President from 1969-1973 and he supported the President’s decision to start a war on