The War on Drugs
A 10-12 page paper on “THE WAR ON DRUGS.”
The main question of the essay which the majority of the full essay will focus on –
How did the War on Drugs specifically target African Americans, and to what extent did this impact its failure?
10 Topic Sentences
And evidence below every topic sentence
With a bibliography
A little backround knowledge –
In the 1960s drugs became a clear threat to the public, as they started to sweep the nation, specifically focusing on the United States, for my topic. In June 1971, President Nixon officially declared a war on drugs. A war against the narcotics that were killing the youth of the United States, and incarating those with narcotics. John Ehrlichman, admitted: You want to know what this was really all about. The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. The War on Drugs led to a grand increase in incarcerations, specifically targeting black people. The presidency of Ronald Reagan marked the start of a long period of skyrocketing rates of incarceration. The number of people behind bars for nonviolent drug law offenses increased from 50,000 in 1980 to over 400,000 by 1997. Nancy Reagan, began a highly-publicized anti-drug campaign, with the slogan “Just Say No.” The War on Drugs was said to be a failure from its start, yet all warnings were ignored, and the trauma caused by the act, kept onwards.
***The War on Drugs led to a grand increase in incarcerations, specifically targeting black people. The number of people behind bars for nonviolent drug law offenses increased from 50,000 in 1980 to over 400,000 by 1997. John Ehrlichman, admitted: You want to know what this was really all about. The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. Blacks protested the cruelty and targeting towards them, and the backlash against The War on Drugs, is said to be a small part of the reason it was bound to reach failure from its start.
