Nixon Advisor Admitted Real Reason for "War on Drugs"

[jbluhm86]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/nixon-aide-war-drugs-tool-target-black-people-article-1.2573832

 

Top adviser to Richard Nixon admitted that ‘War on Drugs’ was policy tool to go after anti-war protesters and ‘black people’

 

The “War on Drugs” was actually a political tool to crush leftist protesters and black people, a former Nixon White House adviser admitted in a decades-old interview published Tuesday.

 

John Ehrlichman, who served as President Richard Nixon’s domestic policy chief, laid bare the sinister use of his boss’ controversial policy in a 1994 interview with journalist Dan Baum that the writer revisited in a new article for Harper’s magazine.

 

“You want to know what this was really all about,” Ehrlichman, who died in 1999, said in the interview after Baum asked him about Nixon’s harsh anti-drug policies.

 

“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying,” Ehrlichman continued.

 

“We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

 

Ehrlichman served 18 months in prison after being convicted of conspiracy and perjury for his role in the Watergate scandal that toppled his boss.

 

The Rev. Al Sharpton said Ehrlichman’s comments proved what black people had believed for decades.

 

“This is a frightening confirmation of what many of us have been saying for years. That this was a real attempt by government to demonize and criminalize a race of people,” Sharpton told the Daily News. “And when we would raise the questions over that targeting, we were accused of all kind of things, from harboring criminality to being un-American and trying to politicize a legitimate concern.”

 

In 1971, Nixon labeled drug abuse “Public Enemy No. 1” and signed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, putting into place several new laws that cracked down on drug users. He also created the Drug Enforcement Administration.

 

By 1973, about 300,000 people were being arrested every year under the law — the majority of whom were African-American.

 

The drug war was continued in various forms by every President since, including President Ronald Reagan, whose wife Nancy called for people to “Just say no.”

 

Ehrlichman’s 22-year-old comments resurfaced Tuesday after Baum wrote about them in a cover story for the April issue of Harper’s, titled “Legalize It All,” in which he argues in favor of legalizing hard drugs.

 

The original 1994 interview with Ehrlichman was part of Baum’s research for his 1997 book, “Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure,” in which Baum laid bare decades of unsuccessful drug policy.

 

But the quotes never appeared in the book.

 

Baum said Tuesday he excluded the jaw-dropping quotes because they “didn’t fit.”

 

“There are no authorial interviews in (‘Smoke and Mirrors’) at all; it’s written to put the reader in the room as events transpire,” Baum told The Huffington Post via email. “Therefore, the quote didn’t fit. It did change all the reporting I did for the book, though, and changed the way I worked thereafter.”

 

The shocking interview with Ehrlichman later surfaced in a 2012 compendium of “wild, poignant, life-changing stories” from various writers titled “The Moment,” but the quotes received little media attention.

 

Many politicos have surmised that Ehrlichman, who would die five years later, made the stark revelations because he was angry Nixon never pardoned him of his Watergate-related offenses.

 

Sharpton said the damage done by the war on drugs’ cruel policies doomed generations of black people.

 

“Think of all the lives and families that were ruined and absolutely devastated only because they were caught in a racial net from the highest end reaches of government.”

[Legacy Fan]

Excellent timing. ?

[jbluhm86]

Excellent timing. ?

I thought the same thing too, initially. 20 years is a long time, so perhaps I should have titled it "allegedly admitted". And the authors of the article certainly could've done better than choosing that stooge Sharpton to include in the interview.

 

But...

 

Knowing old "Tricky Dick" and how shady as fuck he was while in office, I can't "not" put it past him to pull some shit like that. So I'd wager it is highly plausible at best, and a coin toss at worse, for this being true.

[Legacy Fan]

Definitely plausible. Nixon was garbage.

[Westside Steve]

They picked Sharpton because he actually does have credibility amongst the morons the story wishes to impress.

 

But it was a pretty good strategy I guess if it's true that Negroes and leftist protesters, who apparently don't know any better, are more susceptible to dope.

 

 

WSS

[jbluhm86]

They picked Sharpton because he actually does have credibility amongst the morons the story wishes to impress.

 

But it was a pretty good strategy I guess if it's true that Negroes and leftist protesters, who apparently don't know any better, are more susceptible to dope.

 

 

WSS

Idk Steve, you lived through the late 60s and early 70s when anti war protesters and African Americans were considered problems by the government. Do you that Nixon could've instituted the War on Drugs to try to eliminate that problem?

[Westside Steve]

Idk Steve, you lived through the late 60s and early 70s when anti war protesters and African Americans were considered problems by the government. Do you that Nixon could've instituted the War on Drugs to try to eliminate that problem?

I did Sir. Live through that era I mean. We hated Nixon like the Mongoose hates the cobra. Of course we were kids, white Suburban arrogant kids, and it was hip.

And we showed up once in awhile for protests because it was kind of a social event. Basically we hate the war because we were the age to be drafted. No offense to Die Hard but fuck a bunch of the army. That was our beef. But yes we smoked weed and took acid. The Beatles did, the Intelligentsia did, the hip and the artistic did. It was cool.

 

And if someone had an agenda to bust a lot of those people enthralled by that movement I guess the War on Drugs would target them more than it would the teamsters. So yes, I can see that being one plank of the agenda.

 

Of course dope was a boogeyman in the fifties and sixties too so hard to say Nixon created the problem but...

 

As far as blacks I couldn't tell you. I remember the race riots and the racial animosity in the sixties, I understood their neighborhoods were dangerous, but if you wanted a prostitute or dope you had to take that risk.

 

Just for the record you can probably tell I'm shifted politically since then and no longer think dope is hip and enlightening. I don't have any real problem with it, just don't think it's cool anymore. People that get fucked up, booze or dope, for a good portion of their time seeing stupid to me.

Does that make any sense? How old are you by the way? I'm guessing mid-30s?

 

WSS

[jbluhm86]

I did Sir. Live through that era I mean. We hated Nixon like the Mongoose hates the cobra. Of course we were kids, white Suburban arrogant kids, and it was hip.

And we showed up once in awhile for protests because it was kind of a social event. Basically we hate the war because we were the age to be drafted. No offense to Die Hard but fuck a bunch of the army. That was our beef. But yes we smoked weed and took acid. The Beatles did, the Intelligentsia did, the hip and the artistic did. It was cool.

 

And if someone had an agenda to bust a lot of those people enthralled by that movement I guess the War on Drugs would target them more than it would the teamsters. So yes, I can see that being one plank of the agenda.

 

Of course dope was a boogeyman in the fifties and sixties too so hard to say Nixon created the problem but...

 

As far as blacks I couldn't tell you. I remember the race riots and the racial animosity in the sixties, I understood their neighborhoods were dangerous, but if you wanted a prostitute or dope you had to take that risk.

 

Just for the record you can probably tell I'm shifted politically since then and no longer think dope is hip and enlightening. I don't have any real problem with it, just don't think it's cool anymore. People that get fucked up, booze or dope, for a good portion of their time seeing stupid to me.

Does that make any sense? How old are you by the way? I'm guessing mid-30s?

 

WSS

 

I turn 30 this year, so that's why I asked you your opinion of those times; I figured my views of the late 60's-early 70's, almost fifty years after they happened, wouldn't be nearly as accurate as someone who actually lived through them. From what my parents described, Nixon was a real shyster bastard, and that's coming from two conservatives themselves. So the idea that the War on Drugs was (at least partially) started to stamp down on anti-war protesters and African American civil rights protesters doesn't seem too far fetched to me.

 

And I agree with you on the people who abuse alcohol, weed and some other drugs, but to me, their problems with those substances has more to with their personalities than with the actual substances. If you're naturally inclined to be a lazy fuck, then cannabis isn't going to magically make you a productive person, more than likely. And at the same time, many brilliant minds, such as Carl Sagan, Steve Jobs, etc, have publicly stated that cannabis and other psychedelics helped inspire many of their greatest ideas. But with all of the studies out there which overwhelming demonstrate how benign cannabis actually is, when compared with alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, the only reason I could logically follow is that the higher ups in government want to keep it illegal for reasons other than harm potential, and this piece on Nixon sort of adds fuel to that fire for me.

[Westside Steve]

Hey, I don't really mean to turn this into a pro or con dope thread but sure some smart and successful guys get fucked up once in awhile. I don't know if that's an endorsement or not but Eugene O'Neill Oscar Wilde Tennessee Williams I think were raging alcoholics.

 

And like I said a great deal of the anti-war protesters where young people who didn't want to get drafted and we're probably more likely to get high.

 

No idea why the Civil Rights Movement wood have more stoners than the average citizens but I wouldn't deny that.

 

WSS

[jbluhm86]

[Westside Steve]

Uh oh...

Anyway I don't see any reason why a medical professional shouldn't be allowed to prescribe with good conscience anything he sees fit. Then again I don't think medical marijuana is really a Panacea, just that people like to get fucked up.

 

And yes certain personalities like to get fucked up all the time. If that's the reason for legalization so be it. Lots of people enjoy crack, meth an oxycontin, so why deny them?

 

WSS

[jbluhm86]

Because, Steve, we have to Nerf the world, so that people can be safe from any possible negative consequences to their actions.

[Westside Steve]

Because, Steve, we have to Nerf the world, so that people can be safe from any possible negative consequences to their actions.

That's why we have Democrats.

WSS

[jbluhm86]

That's why we have Democrats.

WSS

 

Touché. But the War on Drug's was the Republican's baby, not the Dems. Ronnie and Nancy hated them some dope heads.

[Clevfan4life]

that war infuriates me to this day. Look at how Ali was demonized cause he said ain't no Vietnamese never call me no ngr. Utterly amazing how an administration could justify "breaking up those communities" over their opposition to a war against a bunch of power slopes that just didn't want to put themselves on the free market ladder of inequity shoveling their resources uphill to western interests. There's that and also some evidence that the Vatican asked us to back the Christian govt that wasn't feeling the local Buddhist population. Basically any "decent" person should have been against that war.And look at what it fucking cost us. I've worked with so many guys throughout the years from that war....none of em were bad guys but they were all slightly fucked in one way or another.

 

All these ridiculous wars and interventions throughout the years, it's my generation and later that are in the end going to deal with the ill will from many parts of the world.The generations most responsible for it though, they will be long gone.