ABSTRACT
US President Nixon is often credited with launching the ‘War on Drugs,’ but in reality, his administration’s priority was treatment rather than enforcement. When Reagan came to power, he rebalanced federal funding towards enforcement, at the same time as calling on all Americans to ‘Just Say No.’ Reagan’s first act in prosecuting a ‘war’ on drugs came in 1981, when he legislated for the military to carry out drug law enforcement; his second act came in 1986 when he signed National Security Decision Directive 221 stipulating how the military and intelligence agencies should participate in overseas counter-narcotics operations. This essay will explore the material differences between rhetoric and policy by comparing the Nixon and Reagan’s ‘War(s) on Drugs.’
