Richard Nixon's Drug Crisis In The United States

My home state of Minnesota is currently dealing with what Richard Nixon states was “public enemy number one”, and this is a drug crisis, in particular an opioid crisis that has taken the lives of 395 Minnesotans just in 2016. What is the current government doing to help solve this problem? They declared it a national public health crisis but other than that they have pushed for stricter drug control like Nixon did back during his presidency. Nixon started the war on drugs to help him win his presidential campaign and it has been something that has had negative effects to Americans ever since. The War On Drugs has been a failure to the American people through its adverse effect on African American communities, its establishment of unjust mandatory

The drug trade is sometimes the only company or business to work for in extremely impoverished communities and the U.S government is punishing people for working for the only business in their area, and their only way to acquire a stable income. If drugs like marijuana were not so relentlessly hunted by the local police and DEA, the U.S could see a lot of people in these communities turn their illegal drug hustles into legitimate businesses leading to less violence in these communities and less people falling victim to a system meant to protect them like Dennis. Michelle Alexander further proves the disproportionate effect the War on Drugs has had on black communities when she compares numbers between pre-slavery America and the current America she sees when she looks around. Michelle has a Law degree from Stanford and has served for several years as director of the Racial Justice Project. She proves her prowess and knowledge in the subject of racial disparity in the United states when she states “More African American men are in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before

It has called for the establishment of “unjustly harsh” mandatory minimum sentencing laws, and it has done the exact opposite of its original intended purpose. It has not helped the American people it has crippled them, it has crippled our economy, and it has been straining our police departments with dealing with nonviolent drug crimes. The War on Drugs has been a failure to the American people for its effect on Blacks, its creation of unjust sentencing laws, and its inability to achieve what it was meant