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Many questions: Other countries also made these drugs illegal. Was it around the same time? It seems unlikely they also had Nixon's motives, but then why did t

Many questions: Other countries also made these drugs illegal. Was it around the same time? It seems unlikely they also had Nixon's motives, but then why did they do it? Did the U.S. establish the trend? Pressure others? Or perhaps Nixon saw the trend already happening and was opportunistic about it? Would it have happened eventually if not for Nixon? However, if drugs are illegal in most countries, why would the U.S. incarcaration rate be higher (which I think is due to drug crimes, but I'm not sure)? Higher rates of drug use? Higher rates of incarcaration for the drug users? I'm not trying to shoot down the story. First, I now understand why the drug war can be seen as a war on poor and minorities: The vices of the poor are criminalized; the vices of the rich (prescription drugs, pot on college campuses, etc.) are treated with a wink, shrug, or empathy. Second, I used to doubt these slightly conspiratorial political stories on their face, but then I've heard and read people talking about how these things are planned and implemented, such as using "school busing" as a dog whistle for racists. Lee Atwater, leading GOP (operative?), in 1981: You start out in 1954 by saying, "N-ger, n-ger, n-ger." By 1968 you can't say "n-ger"-that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states' rights, and all that stuff, and you're getting so abstract. Now, you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites. ... "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "N-ger, n-ger." http://www.thenation.com/article/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy/ http://www.thenation.com/article/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infa...

Retric 11y ago
The US did pressure plenty of countries to make drugs illegal / more illegal. Also of note it's an old drug, with a complex history. In 1894, the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, commissioned by the UK Secretary of State and the government of India, was instrumental in a decision not to criminalize the drug in those countries (See Shamir and Hacker (2001) in 'further readings' below.)[15] From the year 1860, different states in the US started to implement regulations for sales of Cannabis sativa The name marijuana (Mexican Spanish marihuana, mariguana) is associated almost exclusively with the plant's psychoactive use. The term is now well known in English largely due to the efforts of American drug prohibitionists during the 1920s and 1930s. The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was the first US national law making cannabis possession illegal, with the exception of industrial or medical purposes.
digi_owl 11y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_Drugs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_... may be of interest. Now one may wonder what cannabis is doing on the same schedule as cocaine and opium though.

Retric 11y ago

The US did pressure plenty of countries to make drugs illegal / more illegal. Also of note it's an old drug, with a complex history. In 1894, the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, commissioned by the UK Secretary of State and the government of India, was instrumental in a decision not to criminalize the drug in those countries (See Shamir and Hacker (2001) in 'further readings' below.)[15] From the year 1860, different states in the US started to implement regulations for sales of Cannabis sativa The name marijuana (Mexican Spanish marihuana, mariguana) is associated almost exclusively with the plant's psychoactive use. The term is now well known in English largely due to the efforts of American drug prohibitionists during the 1920s and 1930s. The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was the first US national law making cannabis possession illegal, with the exception of industrial or medical purposes.

digi_owl 11y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_Drugs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_... may be of interest. Now one may wonder what cannabis is doing on the same schedule as cocaine and opium though.