In recent years, a growing number of Americans have been waking up to the failure of the War on Drugs.
Officially initiated by President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, the War on Drugs did not protect the country from substance use and perversely caused greater harm to health and welfare of many, specifically people and communities of color who have borne the brunt of its carceral effects.
This realization has led to a rising movement aimed at ending the War on Drugs and approaching the use of substances like cannabis, opioids, and injectable drugs with compassion rather than stigma or violence. At the same time, however, anti-drug warriors have been ramping up the campaign to ban, prohibit, and criminalize the use of another substance—recreational nicotine—with little pushback. Unless drug war reformers take swift action, nicotine will become the new front in the War on Drugs, perpetuating the injustices they are so desperately trying to correct.
As I argued in a video presentation for the upcoming Global Forum on Nicotine, all of the substances that eventually became part of the War on Drugs followed a similar evolution in how they were perceived by the media, the public, and ultimately treated by authorities.
Michelle Minton – Competitive Enterprise Institute – 2021-06-14.
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