The Racist History of the War on Drugs
The unsuccessful War on Drugs has distorted narratives since the beginning and created unjust repercussions for people of color
Racist and anti-liberal origins
On June 17, 1971 Richard Nixon officially declared the “War on Drugs.” Although the unsuccessful results illustrate how much of a failure this pursuit was, there were many underlying reasons involved in the choice to declare this drug war. Of those reasons included silencing Black civil rights activists and the anti-war counterculture hippie movement.
Over the years following this declaration, the newly established Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) worked with Nixon’s plan to create a strategy for the arrest and inditement of many completely peaceful Americans—those who used or possessed natural and synthetic drugs for recreational, medicinal, or spiritual use.
Among the most penalized—yet least dangerous—were marijuana, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, and other psychedelic substances that were rapidly contributing to 1960s American culture.
Among those criminalized were activists, humanitarians, and visionaries that had been shaping American ideals of civil rights, sustainability, and pacifism. With these groups out of sight, a more right-winged and authoritarian America gained a foothold in the evolving world.
Author and reporter Dan Baum tracked John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s council and assistant for domestic affairs, to the engineering firm in Atlanta where he worked in minority recruitment. Baum interviewed Ehrlichman and asked many questions to which he impatiently disregarded. Finally, Baum received an explanation about the motive behind the War on Drugs:
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 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.
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? Of course we did. — “Legalize It All”
The War on Drugs seeks to stop neither drugs nor addiction, but rather to target and police activists — especially those of color. By perpetuating false narratives about drug use and specific “problem” groups, the Nixon administration was able to “disrupt those communities.”
Suddenly, it was justifiable by law to strategically interfere with activists holding peaceful meetings and arrest the visionary leaders who strived for a fairer, more just America.
The Continuation of Unjust Prosecution
Despite the differences in access and use between African American minority groups and white suburban communities, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 enacted the 100-to-1 crack to powder cocaine penalty.
This meant that the repercussions for 5 grams of crack, a substance commonly found in low-income Black neighborhoods, were now considered equal to 500 grams of cocaine, a drug commonly found in high-income white communities.
In his research, Matthew D Lassiter deconstructs the false pro-white, anti-Black narrative:
The criminalization of blackness and decriminalization of whiteness remains deeply entrenched in American political culture, as does the long-standing divergence between a public health strategy in the white middle-class suburbs and a crime-control agenda in urban minority neighborhoods.
— “Impossible Criminals: The suburban Imperatives of America’s War on Drugs”
The portrayal of white drug users as innocent victims and Black drug users as dangerous criminals is undeniable. The harm and detriments this causes for people of color is apparent now more than ever.
About 6.9% of Black Americans have a substance use disorder compared to about 7.4% of the total population. Based on those figures, doesn’t it seem odd that Black people represent 44% of those incarcerated for drug crimes in the U.S.?
Racial disparities in how drug crimes are dealt with are as apparent as they were in the beginning of this war. Not only have the unjust procedures continued throughout the years but they have rarely been challenged or changed. Instead, each new administration adds onto these laws.
Activists, visionaries, and governmental administrations committed to stopping these injustices have made incremental progress, though their efforts have been recognized. In order to make the next step towards the end of systematic racism in America, the War on Drugs must come to an end.
