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Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act
Congress passes the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, which, among other things, categorizes controlled substances based on their medicinal use and potential for addiction. -
Public enemy
Nixon officially declares a war on drugs. He says that it is the "public enemy" meaning that it is a big threat. -
Period: to
War on Drugs
From then to now -
DEA establishment
Nixon sets up the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States. -
Reagan signs the Anti-Drug Abuse Act
Reagan signs the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which appropriates $1.7 billion to fight the drug war. The bill also creates mandatory minimum penalties for drug offenses, which are increasingly criticized for promoting significant racial disparities in the prison population because of the differences in sentencing for crack and powder cocaine. Possession of crack, which is cheaper, results in a harsher sentence; the majority of crack users are lower income. -
Drug Czar
President George H.W. Bush creates the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and appoints William Bennett as his first "drug czar." Bennett aims to make drug abuse socially unacceptable. That same year, Forbes magazine lists Pablo Escobar — known for his "bribes or bullets" approach to doing business — as the seventh-richest man in the world. -
Aid for Plan Colombia
U.S. President Bill Clinton gives Colombia $1.3 billion in aid under Plan Colombia.It was package of mostly military aid and it made Colombia by far the biggest U.S. aid recipient outside the Middle East. Now, ten years later, Colombia often gets described as a “success” in Washington. -
ONDCP
On May 13, 2009, Gil Kerlikowske, the current Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), signaled that although it did not plan to significantly alter drug enforcement policy, the Obama administration would not use the term "War on Drugs," as he claims it is "counter-productive".[ -
New and improved version
the U.S Government published an updated version of its Drug Policy. 1) The U.S Government see the policy as a “third way” approach to drug control one that is based on the results of a huge investment in research from some of the world’s preeminent scholars on disease of substance abuse. 2) The policy does not see drug legalization as the “silver bullet” solution to drug control. 3) It is not a policy where success is measured by the number of arrests made or prisons built.
