Talk:War on drugs

removed "globalize" and "POV title" tags

Hello fellow editors, I removed these two tags. I removed the "globalize" tag because this article is about the United States' war on drugs. I also removed "POV title" because of the closed requested move on the talk-page. Neither of these were clean-up tags that I felt applied to the page, nor were they justified as issues based on talk-page consensus. Elliot321 (talk | contribs) 05:35, 23 January 2021 (UTC)

Just delete it

"Citizens[specify] did not reach a consensus on dealing with the long-term effects of hard drug usage until towards the end of the 19th century.[citation needed] " vagur uncited stuff does not need to be kept. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.56.208.175 (talk) 00:18, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

Article series?

Hello, I've found navigating pages relating to drug use, illicit drug use, history of the war on drugs, history of recreational drug use, history of national policies towards drugs, economic impact of drug use etc to be very difficult. I believe these topics, as closely aligned as they are, are candidates for creating a series. I also believe this will improve the quality of the articles once they become more accessible. Please let me know what you think. Adamopoulos (talk) 18:27, 17 April 2021 (UTC)

American

please change ((American)) to ((United States|American)) 2601:541:4580:8500:BC31:F061:DABE:837D (talk) 16:34, 4 May 2021 (UTC)

 Done ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 16:50, 4 May 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 16 June 2021 — 21st Century portion of History section

I'd like to add substantive changes to the 21st Century portion of the History section. I will paste my proposed edits below (along with corresponding sources).

ADD: In the early 21st Century, the War on Drugs began being referred to as: “The New Jim Crow.” This mentality was further popularized by lawyer and civil rights advocate Michelle Alexander, who wrote “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” in 2010.

At the turn of the century, incarceration rates in the United States disproportionately consisted of African-American men, according to an article from the [Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)]. In 2001: “The number of black men in prison (792,000) [had] already equaled the number of men enslaved in 1820. With the current momentum of the drug war fueling an ever expanding prison-industrial complex, if current trends continue, only 15 years remain before the United States incarcerates as many African-American men as were forced into chattel bondage at slavery's peak, in 1860.”

ADJUST THIS PARAGRAPH: add description to beginning of paragraph and omit last sentence due to irrelevance An international group, comprised of former Heads of State and Government, called the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a report on June 2, 2011, stating that "The global war on drugs has failed."[61] The commission was made up of 22 self-appointed members including a number of prominent international politicians and writers. Former U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin also released the first ever National Prevention Strategy.[62]

ADD: According to historian Elizabeth Hinton, President Reagan was a strong proponent of criminalizing drug users during his presidency in the 1980s. She writes: “Reagan led Congress in criminalizing drug users, especially African American drug users, by concentrating and stiffening penalties for the possession of the crystalline rock form of cocaine, known as “crack,” rather than the crystallized methamphetamine that White House officials recognized was as much of a problem among low-income white Americans.”

Though Reagan was a Republican, support for his crime legislation was bipartisan. According to Hinton, Democrats supported his legislation as they had since the Johnson administration.

During his time in office, President Obama implemented a “tough but smart” approach to the War on Drugs. While he claimed that his methodology differed from those of previous presidents, in reality, his practices were very similar. He promoted a universal drug issue, but his binary “tough but smart” solution maintained the mentality of criminalizing drug offenders.

Obama opposed terminology such as “War on Drugs,” but did not take significant steps toward legalization or decriminalization. Rather, drug reform of the Obama era revolved around seeking treatment.

After the paragraph ending with "supporting people to live a life free of addiction."[65]" ADD:

A 2013 ACLU report declared the anti-marijuana crusade a “war on people of color.” The report found: “African Americans 3.73 times more likely than whites to be apprehended despite nearly identical usage rates, and marijuana violations accounting for more than half of drug arrests nationwide during the previous decade.”

In a manner of speaking, Obama’s “tough but smart” binary approach to the War on Drugs stunted its own progress. On one hand, nonwhite drug offenders received less excessive criminal sanctions, but on the other, by examining criminals as strictly violent or nonviolent, mass incarceration persisted.

After the short paragraph "In March 2016 the International Narcotics Control Board stated that the International Drug Control treaties do not mandate a "war on drugs".[66]" ADD:

According to 2020 articles from the ACLU and the New York Times, Republicans and Democrats agree that the time has come to end the War on Drugs. While on the presidential campaign trail, Joe Biden claimed that he would take the necessary steps to alleviate the war on drugs and end the opioid crisis.

On Dec. 4, 2020, the House of Representatives passed a major marijuana reform bill, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act (H.R. 3884; S. 2227), which decriminalizes marijuana by removing it from the list of scheduled substances. Additionally, according to the ACLU, it “expunges past convictions and arrests, and taxes marijuana to reinvest in communities targeted by the war on drugs.” The MORE Act decriminalizes marijuana, and removes it from the list of substances under the Controlled Substances Act. The MORE Act was received in the Senate in December 2020.

Over time, states in the US have approached the matter of drug liberalization at various paces. For example, as of December 2020, Oregon became the first US state to decriminalize all drugs, in an effort backed by the ACLU. The state government’s response has shifted from a criminal approach to a public health approach.

Based on ideology from modern political scientists and economic theorists, some contend the War on Drugs has persisted as a way to facilitate the deregulation of free economic markets through its methods of mass incarceration. MEL830 (talk) 17:26, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

References

@MEL830: Y Partly done. I clarified the sentence about the National Prevention Plan and did a few copyedits and added some wikilinks to related articles. Details on Reagan's administration were added in neighbouring sections. The phrasing of certain sections would need to be tweaked however I did some preliminary changes. It is rather ACLU-heavy, so some WP:NPOV edits may be needed. TGHL ↗ 🍁 04:40, 6 July 2021 (UTC)

Racial aspects and support

This article is making it look like the War on Drugs was some big plot against black America. But anyone familiar with the history of this knows that black leaders (at least) have strongly supported the drug war from day one. (Here is a good piece on this: [1]. ) Doesn't matter if we are talking Jesse Jackson, Charlie Rangle, Shirley Chisholm (who voted for Nixon's drug legislation), or whoever....opposition to this was sporadic in the black community until decades later.

That's ridiculous to say because some black politicians, and perhaps political writers, supported prohibition, that it wasn't controversial in the black community. This is show by USE of the substance in the community, rather than empty words by people with political agendas. In context, the lack of "opposition" can be explained as black politicians wanting to use the leverage of anti-drug support to gain support for black rights, including voting rights, from white politicians who are interested in keeping the status quo. -Anon

We aren't talking some black politicians.....we are talking just about all of them. I can't think of any prominent black politician that (for about the first 20 years of the drug war) said they were against the war. In fact, in many instances, they were pushing for it and stronger penalities. (Along with a lot of prominent activists.) Here is a good piece from a RS that details it: [2] There is no getting away from this despite whatever turn has been made over the last 20.Rja13ww33 (talk) 01:11, 8 August 2021 (UTC)

I also have to question this statement: "The War on Drugs has been a highly contentious issue since its inception." Almost all the info cited is very much in the last decade or so. This is PRESENTISM (big time). It wasn't until about the last decade or so that public support even for weed legalization got above one-third: [3].

Note, illegal drug dealers of all races, and even those on the periphery of the trade(small time) would ALSO be against legalization. Decriminalization puts them out of business. Also showing communities don't want, specifically, cannabis legalized, is entirely tangential to the "War on Drugs", which is very much about enforcement, not legalization. -Anon

All this may need some work.Rja13ww33 (talk) 22:51, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

No Rjal12ww33. Just because some black leaders supported this, doesn't mean it wasn't part of a racist policy. Fact is that these black leaders weren't in charge of policy, and Christian conservatives of all races also tend to be anti-cannabis. The facts are that almost exclusively "white" politicians made these laws and overwhelmingly white law enforcement officers used claims of "smelling weed" as an excuse to raid and seize and search black communities and Hispanic communities. Note Congress used the Mexican slang term "Marijuana" in drafting legislation, because white communities were familiar with the terms "cannabis" and "hemp", as generally non-psychoactive, but still medicinal products. The different name was used to get support of racists(perhaps racism of some blacks against Hispanics as well, consider that!). To deny that language wasn't aimed as racist policy is ridiculous. The idea that racist policies against Mexicans and other Hispanics wasn't also aimed at the black community is also difficult to accept.

I respect your idea that cannabis is harmful and perhaps sometimes addicting. But just because you and any black leaders who you want to namedrop stood against cannabis use, doesn't mean the INTENT of white-controlled government wasn't specifically racist. -Anon

This isn't about what I believe (and I actually favor complete drug legalization (all of them) since you are asking)....this is about what RS shows and how to improve the article in terms of accuracy.Rja13ww33 (talk) 01:11, 8 August 2021 (UTC)