Nixon's Racist Drug War

Because the drug war, and racism.

https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/32247/did-ehrli...

The value was explained back in the Nixon era, and it was a BAD value:" “You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” Ehrlichman said. “We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. D

"...but historically things are more complicated. Racism played a much bigger role in drug prohibition...."Here is the quote from John Ehrlichman, counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixonhttps://harpers.org/archive/2016/04/legalize-it-all/> At the time, I was writing a book ab

One of Nixon's advisors:> “You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” Ehrlichman said. “We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? O

One thing that wasn't mention by the article is that drug prohibition is (at least partly) based on racist beliefs[0], here is a famous quote from Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (an early predecessor of the DEA):> There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual rel

AFAIK the drug laws the US deals with today primarily stem from the “Drug War” which was politically motivated to target Nixon’s “enemies” (blacks and anti-war activists):> Americans have been criminalizing psychoactive substances since San Francisco’s anti-opium law of 1875, but it was Ehrlichman’s boss, Richard Nixon, who declared the first “War on Drugs” in 1971 and set the country on the wildly punitive and counterproductive path it still pursues.> [Ehrlichman, Nixon’s advisor fo

Yep, seems like it was Nixon:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_drugs

That sounds reasonable but is naive and does not take into account how corrupt people are. John Ehrlichman, White House counsel to President Nixon said:"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 black. But by getting the public to associate hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily"[1]So taking int

This whole clusterfuck is thanks to Reagans (Nancy and Reagan).Prior to the 80's "War On Drugs", it was only an offence to MAKE drugs. In Prohibition, only those who made alcohol were violating the law. You could still possess and drink it. That's why Speakeasys were a thing.Fast-forward to the Drug war. And now, even a single pill is enough for a felony. Sure makes sorting out "undesirables" easier. And Harry Anslinger back in the late 30's put a fine po