The War on Drugs Turns 50 — Developments in the Law and Resources

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5 min readJun 28, 2021

On June 17, 1971 President Richard Nixon held a press conference formally giving his Remarks About an Intensified Program for Drug Abuse Prevention and Control saying, “America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.” His War on Drugs was declared.

The purpose of the remarks was to announce the appointment of Dr. Jerome H. Jaffe as Special Consultant to the President for Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, America’s first drug czar. The action followed the enactment of the federal Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 which, among other things, established the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, better known as the Shafer Commission, and the federal controlled substance schedules.

Nixon’s war included allocating funds for drug treatment and rehabilitation nationwide as well as creating the new Drug Enforcement Administration, consolidating the federal government’s drug control activities under one agency. While there is debate as to whether Nixon’s war was truly motivated by public health concern or racist and ideological concerns, there is no doubt that as subsequent presidential administrations reshaped drug policy the War on Drugs became a driver of the mass incarceration of Black Americans.

As the United States grapples with the legacy of the War on Drugs, there are new court cases, policies, and laws that appear to be taking the country and Washington State, in particular, in new directions.

In its first report, the Shafer Commission recommended decriminalizing marijuana possession. The recommendation was disregarded by the Nixon Administration.

Drug Possession

In response to the Washington State Supreme Court’s February ruling in State v. Blake, holding Washington’s drug possession statute unconstitutional, the Washington State legislature amended the statute to penalize “knowingly” possessing a controlled substance and reduced the crime from a felony to a misdemeanor. The changes to the statute expire in 2023. The legislation also provides for studying and implementing measures for treating substance abuse in the community, with the aim of moving the state’s drug policy from criminalization to a drug abuse treatment approach.

If Washington manages to successfully decriminalize drug possession, it will come on the heels of a momentous 2020 vote in Oregon to decriminalize personal possession of drugs. At the federal level, Representatives Cori Bush and Bonnie Watson Coleman have introduced a bill decriminalizing drugs for personal use. Of the War on Drugs Bush stated, “The economic stability of our carceral state depends on this misguided and racist policy, and we are here to say, no more, it’s time that we end this destruction.”

Expansion of Naloxone and Psychedelics Use

Since 2015 it has been legal in Washington for anyone to possess opioid overdose reversal medication such as Naloxone. Since then the laws have been expanded in 2019 and again in 2021. Beginning January 1, 2022 hospitals and behavioral health agencies must prescribe opioid overdose reversal medication to patients who present with symptoms of opioid use disorder.

On the psychedelic substance front, Oregon again is forging a path forward. Plant based substances such as psilocybin have shown promise in treating many disorders such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse disorder. In 2020 Oregon voters approved Measure 109 which legalizes and regulates the manufacture, sale, and use of psilocybin products for people over age 21 beginning in 2023. There have been local initiatives in Washington to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, and Washington State just last month submitted an amicus curiae brief supporting a Seattle physician’s suit to compel the Drug Enforcement Administration to allow psilocybin therapy for terminally ill patients under Washington’s “right-to-try” laws.

Social Equity in Cannabis

The Washington State Legislature found in 2020 that “additional efforts are necessary to reduce barriers to entry to the cannabis industry for individuals and communities most adversely impacted by the enforcement of cannabis-related laws.” In response they created the Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force to make recommendations to the State Liquor and Cannabis Board regarding priority issuance and reissuance of existing marijuana retail licenses to participants in a future social equity program. The legislation was expanded in 2021 and the task force report is due December 9, 2022. Information about Washington’s social equity in cannabis efforts can be found at the Governor’s Interagency Council on Health Disparities website.

Following is a resource list for further research on the War on Drugs, drug reform, and emerging issues:

War on Drugs

Shafer Commission Report on Marijuana and Drugs, Issued 40 Years Ago Today, Was Ahead of its Time, Huffpost

Race, Mass Incarceration, and the Disastrous War on Drugs, Brennan Center for Justice

A Brief History of the Drug War, Drug Policy Alliance

Timeline: America’s War on Drugs, NPR (2007)

The War On Drugs: 50 Years Later, NPR Special Series (2021)

The war on drugs, explained, Vox

The War on Drugs, ACLU

Schaffer Library of Drug Policy

Government Documents on Drug Policy, Purdue University Libraries

Blake Decision