Drug War

The war on drugs has been going on for over four decades now.   The term ”War on Drugs” was first formally used in 1971 former president Richard Nixon to describe a new plan to enforce drug prohibition.   However the war on drugs dates back further than the Nixon era.
The first act of America's anti-drug laws was in 1875. It outlawed the smoking of opium in opium dens. This was a San Francisco ordinance. The basis on passing this law was that Chinese men had a way of luring white women to their dens and causing their "ruin", which was the association with Chinese men. Later, other Federal laws such as trafficking opium was illegal for anyone of Chinese origin. The opium laws were directed at the smoking of opium. The law didn't affect importation of the drug because opium was a common medical drug. This law was specifically targeted at the Chinese, for the smoking of opium was a Chinese custom (Head, n.d.).
Cocaine was outlawed for fears that black men would go on a sexual rampage and rape white women. In the early 1900's, newspapers referred to them as "Negro Cocaine Fiends" or "Cocainized Niggers". There is little evidence that this actually happened. The Harrison Act had started as a licensing law which required sellers to obtain a license if they were going to handle opiates or cocaine. The law contains a provision that nothing in the law would prohibit doctors from prescribing these drugs in the legitimate practice of medicine. The people who wrote the Harrison Act and Marijuana Tax Act in 1937, agreed that a prohibition on what people could put into their bodies was an unconstitutional infringement on personal liberties (Head, n.d).
Marijuana was outlawed in 1937. The reason for it being outlawed was that the plant had a violent effect on the degenerate races. The American Medical Association testified that they were opposed to the law. The law would never have passed without the endorsement from
The History on the 3
the AMA, but when the supporters...