
Nixon advisor: We created the war on drugs to “criminalize” black people and - ncorbinii
http://qz.com/645990/nixon-advisor-we-created-the-war-on-drugs-to-criminalize-black-people-and-the-anti-war-left/
======
aab0
Previously and better:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11330587](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11330587)

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nilstycho
I was skeptical of this quote, because for some reason Dan Baum sat on it for
twenty years instead of publishing it in his book on the subject. _Huffington
Post_ , however, asked him about that:

Baum explained to The Huffington Post why he didn’t include the quote in his
1996 book, _Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure_.

“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 said in an
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 quote does, however, appear in the 2012 book _The Moment_ , a collection
of “life-changing stories” from writers and artists.

([http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nixon-drug-war-
racist_us...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nixon-drug-war-
racist_us_56f16a0ae4b03a640a6bbda1))

~~~
hackuser
Thanks; that's helpful though not entirely convincing. Has anyone asked John
Ehrlichman (the person quoted) about it?

~~~
basseq
Ehrlichman died in 1999, so there's no independent verification here.

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titzer
I have trouble taking this at face value. A second hand anecdote from Baum who
recalls an in-person interview with Ehrlichman, 20 years after the fact, that
already 20 years ago.

Keep in mind that Ehrlichman served jail time for his role in Watergate. That
doesn't make him all that trustworthy, and it's not unreasonable to think that
even being in the inner circle he hated and blamed Nixon. Ever seen a criminal
come out of jail and sing the praises of their compatriots? Failing that, why
in the heck would he just admit this? What's his motivation?

This story is already passing into legend. It's probably a total fabrication.
Ehrlichman has been dead since 1999, btw, so who knows what he really said.

~~~
kaonashi
Well, one test would be to look at how the law has been applied since it was
instituted. Has the law been used to target mostly leftists and minorities?

~~~
phd514
The subsequent application of the law has no bearing on the veracity of the
quote as the people who have and are applying the law are in no way bound by
anything that Ehrlichman may or may not have said.

~~~
kaonashi
The actions of the executive branch of government were at least somewhat bound
by what Nixon might or might not have instructed them.

------
massemphasis
They're basically talking about social engineering. AFAIK, they used the CIA
to funnel in cocaine, etc... to minority neighborhoods, then applied social
engineering, adverts, and glorified drug abuse. Then the police and FBI went
and killed them or jailed them. When they say "black", they effectively mean
anyone they consider "non-white". They did it to all the minorities in various
forms.

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hackuser
Many questions:

Other countries also made these drugs illegal. Was it around the same time? It
seems unlikely they also had Nixon's motives, but then why did they do it? Did
the U.S. establish the trend? Pressure others? Or perhaps Nixon saw the trend
already happening and was opportunistic about it? Would it have happened
eventually if not for Nixon?

However, if drugs are illegal in most countries, why would the U.S.
incarcaration rate be higher (which I think is due to drug crimes, but I'm not
sure)? Higher rates of drug use? Higher rates of incarcaration for the drug
users?

I'm not trying to shoot down the story. First, I now understand why the drug
war can be seen as a war on poor and minorities: The vices of the poor are
criminalized; the vices of the rich (prescription drugs, pot on college
campuses, etc.) are treated with a wink, shrug, or empathy. Second, I used to
doubt these slightly conspiratorial political stories on their face, but then
I've heard and read people talking about how these things are planned and
implemented, such as using "school busing" as a dog whistle for racists. Lee
Atwater, leading GOP (operative?), in 1981:

 _You start out in 1954 by saying, "N-ger, n-ger, n-ger." By 1968 you can't
say "n-ger"-that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced
busing, states' rights, and all that stuff, and you're getting so abstract.
Now, you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking
about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt
worse than whites. ... "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even
the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "N-ger, n-ger."_

[http://www.thenation.com/article/exclusive-lee-atwaters-
infa...](http://www.thenation.com/article/exclusive-lee-atwaters-
infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy/)

~~~
Retric
The US did pressure plenty of countries to make drugs illegal / more illegal.

Also of note it's an old drug, with a complex history.

 _In 1894, the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, commissioned by the
UK Secretary of State and the government of India, was instrumental in a
decision not to criminalize the drug in those countries (See Shamir and Hacker
(2001) in 'further readings' below.)[15] From the year 1860, different states
in the US started to implement regulations for sales of Cannabis sativa_

 _The name marijuana (Mexican Spanish marihuana, mariguana) is associated
almost exclusively with the plant 's psychoactive use. The term is now well
known in English largely due to the efforts of American drug prohibitionists
during the 1920s and 1930s._

 _The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was the first US national law making cannabis
possession illegal, with the exception of industrial or medical purposes._

------
merpnderp
It's my understanding that nearly everyone who went to jail for Watergate was
incredibly angry at Nixon for throwing them under the bus and letting them
actually do time.

If Nixon was a bigoted racist or just a really bad president, is hard to tell
from a guy with a huge ax to grind and waiting 40 years to spill the beans.

~~~
autopov
HR Haldeman wasn't incredibly angry. I knew him and his family. One anecdote
is that around 1990 Nixon was in Santa Barbara. Bob knew when Dick's motorcade
would be passing by and walked to the end of his driveway and waved to Nixon
as he passed. Time heals most wounds.

Bob did the prison time and Jo started a career to support the family. I've
read Jo's unpublished autobiography. The saga was difficult for
them—especially Peter, the youngest son—but they paid their dues and moved on.

------
Sam--------
I thought the war on drugs started in earnest in the 80's and 90's in response
to a growing crime wave. My (uneducated) belief was that it was championed by
the inner city churches in an effort to clean up their neighborhoods.

see eg: 1969. December 3. President Richard Nixon convenes a gathering of
nation‚Äôs governors to talk about drug crisis. Says that part of the solution
must be treatment and rehabilitation. ‚ÄúWhen you‚Äôre talking about thirteen
year olds and fourteen year olds and fifteen year olds, the answer is not more
penalties. The answer is information. The answer is understanding,‚Äù Nixon
says. According to CBS News, Nixon administration is considering reduced
penalties for marijuana possession, along with more education, in an effort to
convince young people to avoid ‚Äúexperimenting with still stronger drugs.‚Äù

[http://prisontime.org/2013/08/12/timeline-black-support-
for-...](http://prisontime.org/2013/08/12/timeline-black-support-for-the-war-
on-drugs/)

and

Rep. Charles Rangel, a newly-elected Democrat from New York City and a former
Federal prosecutor, urges Nixon to do more to fight drugs without waiting for
further congressional action, warning that support might soon build for drug
legalization. ‚ÄúYou do have the power and we implore you to use it as you
would if this were a national crisis and I think we‚Äôve reached that,‚Äù
Rangel insists. Before departing, the Black Caucus presented Nixon with a
manifesto of sixty priorities for the African American community. It included
the demand that ‚Äúdrug abuse and addiction be declared a major national
crisis‚Äù and a call to use ‚Äúall existing resources‚Äù to stop the
trafficking of drugs. [http://prisontime.org/2013/08/12/timeline-black-
support-for-...](http://prisontime.org/2013/08/12/timeline-black-support-for-
the-war-on-drugs/)

------
stevewillows
There's a fantastic documentary on the failed 'war on drugs' called 'The House
I Live In' from Eugene Jarecki
([http://www.thehouseilivein.org](http://www.thehouseilivein.org)).

It suggests that the criminalization of narcotics (opium, cocaine, marijuana,
etc) was set in motion purely as a way to prevent non-whites from 'stealing
jobs.'

Whether you agree with this or not, it's an interesting view. It also gets
into crack and the massive penalties that come with crack possession vs
cocaine possession.

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FussyZeus
So the War on Drugs was actually a monumental success, just not at the goal
that was advertised on the box.

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pessimizer
Nixon on Blacks and Jews:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBmFnIruDig](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBmFnIruDig)

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simplemath
I doubt that was the primary goal... more of a "happy" side effect...

