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War on Drugs, from Shmoop

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This is what cocaine can do to a house. This is what heroin can do to a face.

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This is what marijuana can do to a car.

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Regardless of what you hear in the movies, drugs are a real problem in America,

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and an even bigger problem to solve.

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This is what happens to innocent people when drug addicts get behind the wheel of a car.

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Or use a gun to steal money for drugs.

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Or tear a family apart.

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So we can't do "nothing." Innocent people deserve more than "nothing."

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The government has been trying to figure out what's better than nothing for years.

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They've waged a three trillion dollar war.

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Richard Nixon labeled drugs as "public enemy number one"

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Nixon thought that the problem was drugs coming from Mexico.

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So he ordered all traffic at the border to be invasively searched.

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This practice violated a few civil liberties

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And created a foreign policy nightmare with our friends south of the border,

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So this approach was, more or less, a failure. Then Nixon focused on treatment for addicts,

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Unfortunately drug use continued to rise. Then the Reagans came along,

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And Nancy said the solution to drugs was -

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"Just Say No." Easy. Piece o' cake.

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For some reason, this technique didn't solve the problem...

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Ronald Reagan created a law that made prison mandatory for anyone caught selling drugs.

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The result?

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Lots of dealers in jail.

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Yet still lots of drugs on the Street.

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Have we tried everything?

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Is this a social problem?

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Are we too uptight?

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What do you think we should do?

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What if we legalize drugs and then tax them?

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Would this... "fix things?"

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Nothing.

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Doing "Nothing" is not an option.

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Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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