Final Prep

Controlled Substances Act

1970 · Legal foundation of US gov. fight against drugs to this day. Signed by Nixon · Controlled substance: substance that is included in one of the 5 federally determined schedules · Act included mechanism for adjusting things (moving drugs up and down), highly political process · Significant: o Many countries in the Americas classified drugs in similar ways which had an effect on drug trafficking and drug enforcement

1906 PFDA

Pure Food and Drugs Act - First US attempt to label and control marijuana, not the first attempt to prohibit it (that would come later) · Random testing, bit safer to take legal drugs · Producers were required by law to name any one of 10 substances that were considered addictive and dangerous o Alcohol, morphine, cannabis

1937 Marijuana Tax Act

· Actually prohibits marijuana · Imposed a tax on the sale and possession of cannabis, also known as marijuana. The law effectively criminalized the use and distribution of cannabis by making it too expensive for most people to obtain. · Eventually ruled unconstitutional: Supreme Court decided in Leary v. United States that the law violated the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Harry J. Anslinger

· Harry J. Anslinger was the Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics from 1930-1962. · Besides Nixon, he was the most important figure in anti-drug legislation in US. Under his reign, bureau became more and more powerful. · He was anti-marijuana and was behind the marijuana panic o Panic he fed into (anti-black, anti-Mexican) was the idea that marijuana spurs people to violence o Racist marketing: cannabis used to be the word used to describe the drug until the panic kicked off to associate it with Mexicans o Led the narrative that marijuana made black people forget their place in society · He influenced media portrayal, as well as law enforcement. · Themes: o Discrimination, criminalization and stigmatization of drugs

Operation Intercept

· Operation Intercept was a drug program implemented by the U.S. in 1969 under President Nixon. · The U.S. unilaterally sealed the U.S.-Mexico border and searched everyone coming across; they were primarily searching for marijuana · Disrupted trade and created traffic jams, public opinion was negative · The program was abandoned after a few months and is regarded as a failure because barely any drugs were found and it harmed diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and Mexico · Themes: cooperation, international relations, U.S. impact

Operation Just Cause

· Operation Just Cause was a U.S. military operation in Panama that took place from December 1989 to January 1990. The goal was to remove the dictator Noriega. · 1988 Senate report called Panama a "narcokleptocracy" o State so engulfed in drug trafficking that that is what it exists for · U.S. stated objectives: o Safeguard lives of U.S. citizens in the Panama Zone o Defend democracy and human rights o Combat drug trafficking o Protect the integrity of the Torrijos Carter Treaties · Significance: o Expanded executive privilege by invading a country without Congressional authority. o Drug War began blending with other military and foreign policy objectives. · Themes: o International relations, sovereignty, politics

Prohibition

· Period in U.S. 1920's when drinking alcohol AND the transportation of alcohol is prohibited. Precursor to the War on Drugs · It was an amendment to the Constitution not just a law that could be overturned. · The idea and goal was if we get rid of this drug, we can rid ourselves of all our other problems · Created a lucrative market for Mexican drug traffickers · Themes: o Interconnectedness of politics between nations, criminalization of drugs

Plan Colombia

· Plan Colombia was a U.S. aid program signed into law in 2000 and lasted 16 years before turning into Peace Colombia through an agreement with FARC in 2017. It was a bilateral plan between the U.S. and Colombia. · U.S. provided economic and military aid, and helped strengthen democratic institutions in the country in order to combat the drug trafficking problems. · Two fronts in the fight: o Drug cartels o Left-wing insurgent groups · FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) o Guerilla group responsible for a lot of violence, kidnapping, extortion · ELN (National Liberation Army) o Guerilla group · Significance: o Weakened FARC o No longer threat of state collapsing o Violence and trafficking shifted to Mexico

Richard Nixon

· President Nixon declared the war on drugs in 1971. Famously quoted "America's public enemy #1 is drug abuse" · Congressional funding for a domestic and international offensive. Created the DEA. · Signed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 o Created drug schedule o Controlled Substances Act · How do you wage a war on drugs? Subjective. Who are the enemies? · Significance: o Never laid out an exit strategy o Ramped up law enforcement, disproportionally affected minority communities. o Way more focused on punishment than preventative and health treatments o Operation Intercept · Themes: o Criminalization, law enforcement,

Ronald Reagan

· Reagan made the war on drugs a key priority for his administration and the federal government frames drugs as a national security threat, "running up a battle flag" · Took the war on drugs abroad, not just talking about it, but monetarily, leveraging economic aid to countries helping/hurting U.S. efforts · 1985, crack epidemic started making national headlines · 1986 - signed law giving pentagon a permanent role in drug war o Changing something that was, arguably a metaphor, into an actual war · Reagan put goals on the war on drugs, US policy became: create a drug free America by 1995

Summer of Love

· Summer 1967 in San Fran · Marked the beginning of a new era of drug experimentation and drug culture in the United States, which challenged traditional notions of drug use and led to increased public and political attention to the issue. · Strongly associated with being against war, political right started seeing drugs as a means of social breakdown · Nixon government responds to growing drug use

Kingpin Strategy

· The Kingpin strategy is a strategy created by the U.S. government to target the leaders of drug trafficking organizations Military would be an important part of the fight against drugs · George HW Bush in 1986 announces of king pin strategy (Clinton massively expanded) · It was expanded and implemented by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in the 1990s, Robert Bonner was the head of the DEA at this time. · The strategy of removing the kingpin was that it would disrupt the operations of the drug traffickers and reduce the flow of drugs (similar to taking out leaders of terrorists organizations) · It was initially implemented in Colombia during the Clinton administration, where in 1993 kingpin Pablo Escobar was killed · Themes: o Drug prohibition, international relations