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War On Drugs Case Study

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During the 20th century, lawmakers took the lead in the War on Drugs, attempting to prevent the near epidemic level of narcotic abuse. As the number of laws banning substances increased, the issue of ceremonial hallucinogens and narcotics arose. The Constitution of the United States, in the First Amendment, states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” One case in particular, Employment Division v. Smith, tested this amendment and the battle between independent religion and structural government powers. This paper will examine this case in its decision as an outgrowth of the war on drugs and how it tipped the scales toward government. Policy makers often discuss ideologies, …show more content…

citizens. While in office, he signed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) that regulates certain drugs and substances based upon a scale of one to five, with number one holding the “most dangerous” drugs. Furthering his need to eliminate recreational drug use, Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 1973 to control and regulate drug use and smuggling in the United …show more content…

With the most compelling example in 1994, John Ehrlichman’s interview, Nixon’s domestic policy chief, stated that the War on Drugs campaign design was to keep away Nixon’s two enemies: “The antiwar left and black people.” This led to excessive comments on Nixon’s campaign and whether racism played a major role. Ehrlichman stated that they wanted the “public to associate the hippies with marijuana and the blacks with heroin, and then criminalize both heavily” to disrupt the minority

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Hundreds of people were thrown into prison for low-level offenses. Afterwards the Nixon administrations admitted that the “war on drugs” was all about throwing black people and other minorities in jail and make people associate them with crime and drugs “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. (...) We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or

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247 Words | 1 Pages

The video that I have chosen is Jayz War on Drugs (Epic Fail). This video informs you on how the war on drugs was started by Richard Nixon in 1971. It also describes how the war on drugs had a negative effect on the African Americans rather it be their families, communities, and schools. The movie The House I live in, describes the war on drugs as black hats vs white hats basically the good guys against the bad guys. In both videos it was discussed how poor neighborhoods were the target for drug bust areas.

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737 Words | 3 Pages

Nixon is infamous for his proposal of the “War on Drugs”— a crisis that made drug abuse seem more like a political issue and less of a health problem. This “war” essentially targeted minorities for drug possession, and combined the already standing issue of economic inequality and hypersegregation to allow people of color to be incarcerated at rates much higher than white people. This documentary targets political figures, ultimately holding them accountable for the unjust prison system. While some may think that this is political bias, all this document is doing is bringing up what people are afraid to address: some of the roots of systemic racism lie not so far in our past. By targeting political figures and comparing them to how mass incarceration developed as they were in office, 13th demonstrates a clear, concise understanding of systemic racism that allows the viewer to grasp the truth behind how the people who ran this country really

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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

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1001 Words | 5 Pages

In the process, Nixon increased the federal government’s role in fighting crime, and pressed for mandatory sentencing and “no-knock warrants.” According to Alexander, “The War on Drugs proved popular among key white voters, particularly whites who remained resentful of black progress, civil rights enforcement, and affirmative action” (Alexander, 2010, p. 54). When the “War on Drugs” took place, it allowed whites to express their hostility towards the black culture and black progress, without being visible to the charge of racial discrimination (Alexander, 2010, p. 54). By declaring the War on Drugs, it was another structure that was targeting African American men. Certain drugs were associated with the black community, for instance, crack cocaine – a form of cocaine that can be smoked.

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Inside the war room, however, politicians understood the racist missions behind a firm carceral response to drug use. As Nixons’s chief domestic advisor John Ehrlichman admitted: by associating Black people with hard drugs like crack and heroin and

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In this documentary, scholars, activists and politicians analyze the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom. One issue that was discussed in this video was a “war on drugs.” War on drugs was a war on color declared by President Nixon. The drug war produced unequal outcomes across racial groups, exhibited through racial discrimination by law enforcement and disproportionate drug war misery suffered by communities of color. I thought the issue that was discussed to be quite interesting because a lot has not changed.

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Thao Tran Professor Aboulian English 1C 21 March 2017 The War on Drugs: A Rhetorical Analysis The War on Drugs, which was declared by President Nixon in 1971, efforts to control drug use and sales in inner-city neighborhoods. The government has been recently targeting poor communities of color. In 1980, the skyrocketing drug arrests reflected a surge in illegal drug activity. In The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, the author also stated that “huge cash grants were made to those law enforcement agencies that were willing to make drug-law enforcement a top priority” (73).

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Annotated Bibliography Boone, R., Jaffe, J. (2001). Reforming United States drug control policy: three suggestions. Social research 415-426. Retrieved from ProQuest data This article review is about the different drugs used that was going on in America. Musicians and minorities were the popular users of cocaine because this was the drug which was mostly used.

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Increased laws resulted in the arrest and convictions of the street addict and small time corner hustlers. It was not the scope for the War on Drugs Policy to rid America of Heroin but it was the intent to stop New York from being the main center piece of the heroin trade because New York was looked upon as America. It was the welcoming format for the Cocaine Scene that rocked the United States that were being shipped over with increasing frequency. The Nixon Administration did succeed for a short time with the War on Drug`s Policy and this success was based on the fact that the Administration viewed the situation of demand and supply as one issue and not as a separate issue. If this War on Drug`s Policy had taken a wider outlook and was based on an international level of land reform that allowed the farmers to harvest Food products for capital gain instead of producing poppy to produce heroin, the world at large, although this concept may have taken some time to develop, would have been allowed the opportunity for harmony and economic

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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

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250 Words | 1 Pages

As of 2014 “Heroin is now causing more deaths than car crashes or violent crime”. This concerning statistic was brought forth from Retro Report’s film “Heroin and the War on Drugs” published by The New York Time’s. The saddening video clip commences with the 1960’s when America’s heroin drug problem truly began to flourish. It voices Richard Nixon during his presidential campaign ad of 1968 where he stated “crimes of violence in America will double by 1972. We cannot accept that kind of future for America” and continues on by exposing the harsh drug laws implemented by Nelson Rockefeller.

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The way ideology is applied is by debates between political leaders, parties and party activist and ideologies are also used in economic and social and cultural life, for example, other people’s attitudes and beliefs that shape practices within families at work, in the media in education and also in communities. To understand the policy process, it is important to study broad ideological assumptions that strengthen the very institutions that form and deliver the policy. (Green et al.

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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.

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The War on Drugs that the government has been fighting for almost two centuries has been a failure. The War on Drugs has made criminal organizations, violence around the world, and drugs themselves worse. The War on Drugs has negatively affected the lives of millions of people around the world as it has led to massive incarceration in the United States; corruption, political destabilization, and violence in Latin America, Asia, and Africa; to systemic human rights abuses across the world. Prohibition of certain drugs has actually led to higher rate of violence and murders all around the world. Which drugs are legal and illegal is not really based on any specific scientific assessment of the relative risk of the drugs, but it has everything

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