Carter Administration, James

Background

Drug policy developments in the prior two administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford had a direct impact on Carter's efforts. President Nixon is credited with first using the term War on Drugs in 1969 to signify that drug [Page 126]abuse would now be public enemy number one. Although Nixon coined the phrase, it was President Ronald Reagan who popularized it during his administration as he made the war a priority for the government's use of federal resources. Nixon signed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, which continued prohibitions against drugs that were first established in the Harrison Act of 1914.

During his administration, Nixon selected a panel called the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse to investigate the potential harm of marijuana. The panel determined that marijuana was not a dangerous drug and recommended that it be decriminalized. It was also during his administration that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was formed to enforce drug laws and regulations; it replaced the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

In 1975 President Ford established the Domestic Council Drug Abuse Task Force, which issued a report on drug abuse in the United States. The report did not view either marijuana or cocaine as a cause of major problems facing America. According to the report, heroin held this distinction. The report recommended that enforcement and investigations be lessened for marijuana and cocaine in order to focus on heroin.

When Carter assumed the presidency, heroin was considered the major drug problem and threat to the American society. During his administration, cocaine use was also rising in comparison to the previous decade, and marijuana was in widespread use, peaking in the late 1970s. In his 1977 speech to Congress on drug abuse, President Carter outlined the current situation and proposed plans of action in the following areas: international cooperation, law enforcement, marijuana, drug treatment, drug research, and administrative action. As he spoke of discouraging drug abuse, President Carter also included discouraging the excessive use of alcohol and tobacco.

The United States had a drug problem, but the drugs were not primarily manufactured in the country. Heroin, especially, was manufactured abroad and illegally imported into the country. Carter entered into diplomatic discussions and agreements with Mexico regarding the illegal production of opium in that country. As a result of this diplomatic relationship, the purity of heroin lessened to the lowest rates in recent history. Also Turkey, once the sole provider of heroin, had stopped being a supplier. Carter's diplomacy also extended to Colombia, where he planned for a focused effort on the trafficking between the two countries. Carter recommended more emphasis on international drug trafficking through the DEA, which was present internationally.

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