Although some aspects of the \u201cwar on drugs” such as the heroin-treatment program resulted in less crime, the principal result was mass incarceration of targeted groups of people. During his time in office, President Richard Nixon\u2019s war on drugs was a way to push public opinion in his favor during the unpopular Vietnam War. He used this to target the groups of people who were most adamantly against the war, Black people and hippies. This was confirmed to be true by one of Nixon\u2019s aids. Although Nixon could not say that being a hippie or a Black person was illegal, by declaring the drugs associated with these populations in the eyes of the public, cannabis, and heroin, were illegal, he was discrediting these populations. The war on drugs resulted in a disproportionate amount of the prison population filled by Black Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Nixon, President Ronald Reagan took the war on drugs further to a more physical war. As seen in the 13th, <\/em>Reagan\u2019s harsh policies against crack specifically targeted Black Americans. This was due to extreme segregation in America\u2019s cities. Inner cities were made up of a poorer, typically Black population while the rich lived in the suburbs. By having harsh policies on the cheaper crack, these inner-city populations were targeted. For comparison, there were not nearly as harsh policies on cocaine, essentially just a more expensive version of crack that was used predominantly by White people. This furthers the fact that the war on drugs was a way of pushing political agendas rather than pushing the people\u2019s best interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite this, the policies enacted by Reagan’s wife, Nancy Reagan, were much gentler and gained the support of a greater variety of people. Her \u201cJust Say No\u201d campaign attempted to educate people on the harm of drugs so they could make more informed decisions and hopefully just say no to them outright rather than targeting people and putting them in jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, Clinton\u2019s \u201ctough on crime stance\u201d that included mandatory minimums and a \u201cthree strikes you’re out rule\u201d created large amounts of malpractice in the police department. To reach minimums, police detained people for low-level crimes and drug offenses, typically driven by racial prejudices. (365)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Although some aspects of the \u201cwar on drugs” such as the heroin-treatment program resulted in less crime, the principal result was mass incarceration of targeted groups of people. During his time in office, President Richard Nixon\u2019s war on drugs was … Continue reading