The War on Drugs was a campaign started in 1971 by President Richard Nixon. This proposal was supposed to help eliminated the amount of drugs on the streets, however Nixon’s true intentions was not for it to be a “War against Drugs”.
John Ehrlichman, who was the domestic policy chief for President Nixon at the time the war on drugs was declared, later stated that the war was meant to be against those who opposed Nixon’s political views and to put them in jail. This group mainly targeted black people and those opposing the Vietnam War. This War is not something that we, America, should allow to keep happening because of what the true intentions behind this war was.
The only reason they declared a war on drugs is because they could not make it illegal to be black or against the war. So instead they tried to get the public to associate hippies with weed and blacks with heroin. In fact, when Nixon declared the War on Drugs, drugs was actually being used at a decreasing rate. Therefore, the only reason Nixon declared this war was to target these different groups while still being able to say that it was for legal reasons.
Information that Ehrlichman gave supports much evidence about the incarceration rates of African Americans in America. Although African Americans are not more likely to use or sell drugs they are more likely to be arrested for them. Generally African Americans convicted of drug charges face longer sentencing times for the same crimes than Caucasian people. In a 2013 FBI Uniform Crime Report it gave statistics on the amount of drug-related arrests per 100,000 residents of each race. 332 white people were arrested for every 100,000 people while African Americans were arrested 879 times.
Many criminologist and sociologists say that both crime and incarceration rates do not depend on each other. Incarceration rates, especially for African Americans, have increased regardless of whether or not crime is increasing. So the “War on Drugs” is winning the war for the purpose it was originally meant to fulfill. If America continues this war, then they are really continuing a war that is targeting people of color.
John Ehrlichman, who was the domestic policy chief for President Nixon at the time the war on drugs was declared, later stated that the war was meant to be against those who opposed Nixon’s political views and to put them in jail. This group mainly targeted black people and those opposing the Vietnam War. This War is not something that we, America, should allow to keep happening because of what the true intentions behind this war was.
The only reason they declared a war on drugs is because they could not make it illegal to be black or against the war. So instead they tried to get the public to associate hippies with weed and blacks with heroin. In fact, when Nixon declared the War on Drugs, drugs was actually being used at a decreasing rate. Therefore, the only reason Nixon declared this war was to target these different groups while still being able to say that it was for legal reasons.
Information that Ehrlichman gave supports much evidence about the incarceration rates of African Americans in America. Although African Americans are not more likely to use or sell drugs they are more likely to be arrested for them. Generally African Americans convicted of drug charges face longer sentencing times for the same crimes than Caucasian people. In a 2013 FBI Uniform Crime Report it gave statistics on the amount of drug-related arrests per 100,000 residents of each race. 332 white people were arrested for every 100,000 people while African Americans were arrested 879 times.
Many criminologist and sociologists say that both crime and incarceration rates do not depend on each other. Incarceration rates, especially for African Americans, have increased regardless of whether or not crime is increasing. So the “War on Drugs” is winning the war for the purpose it was originally meant to fulfill. If America continues this war, then they are really continuing a war that is targeting people of color.