Nixon Administration, Richard

Richard Nixon assumed the office of president under less than ideal circumstances. With particular regard to drug use trends, the news could have scarcely been more grim. Regardless of the source, virtually all indicators showed dramatic increases in the number of Americans using illicit narcotics. Even so, there was tremendous disagreement among the various expert constituencies as to the extent and nature of the problem. Moreover, the specter of illegal drug use and related crime was far from the most pressing concern weighing upon the American psyche.

In a May 1969 White House survey, only 3 percent of respondents identified drug use as one of the most important problems facing the nation. Apart from the war in Vietnam and foreign relations, Americans appeared more concerned about matters of race relations, inflation, student unrest, and crime. However, the Nixon administration repeatedly brought drug policy to the fore of its domestic policy agenda. On July 14, 1969, in his Special Message to Congress on Control of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, Nixon declared a national “War on Drugs.” In this message, he outlined a plan that would dominate thought on the matter for the next year and a half.

One of the first issues the Nixon administration had to reconcile was with regard to marijuana. It was clear to many academics and policy experts that the public consensus on the danger posed by marijuana and the draconian punishments ushered in by the Boggs Act of 1951 were increasingly out of synch. Even while clinging to certainties of the threat posed by heroin, the public had become less sure about the inherent evils of marijuana. This was the policy and public relations duality in which the early Nixon administration found itself.

Given deep public division on the topic, Nixon, owing to his conservative base, recognized the exploitable link between drugs (of whatever arguable danger) and mounting public fears of violent crime. This is not to suggest Nixon-era drug policy was wholly a cynical exercise to manipulate the public to political ends. Rather, many in the administration recognized an inextricable link between issues of public health and crime. To effectively deal with one, afforded an opportunity to resolve the other. That said, the persistently oppositional forces of public health versus law enforcement bureaucracies often overshadowed any progress that might have been made. In this, the Nixon administration would witness bureaucratic reorganization and realignment that had been decades in the making.

[Page 592]The Nixon administration tact with regard to drug policy was first evidenced by presidential candidate Nixon who said in 1968, “Narcotics are the curse of American youth.” Nixon outlined a five-pronged approach to deal with the growing problem. The first of these would build on the Johnsonera agreements with Turkey to suppress opium poppy cultivation. In this, Nixon hoped to curb the inflow of illicit narcotics from foreign nations. He recommended a tripling of the number of U.S. Customs agents. He championed the development of new anti-smuggling technologies. He promised new emphasis and support for the Narcotic Rehabilitation Act of 1966. Last, he promised that a conference of state and local law enforcement officials would be convened by his attorney general.

...