Downvoters: this is literally true. Quote from Nixon policy chief John Erlichman, also in the sibling comment's link:
"You understand what I'm saying? 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," Ehrlichman said. "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."
Wait, it's not what he said. It's what Dan Baum said he said, 22 years after he supposedly said it, 17 years after Ehrlichman died. Since John isn't around to corroborate the story, I guess we just have to take Dan's word on it?
Yes, Erlichman is known to have lied to support his political goals. The quote in question supports that claim.
A quick wiki search finds numerous clinical marijuana and LSD trials conducted in the 50's and 60's suggesting therapeutic applications. The CSA of 1970 classifies these drugs, counter to the then growing body of evidence, as having no known medicinal use.
We know that later, the CIA bought Nicaraguan cocaine specifically to sell in American black inner cities.
We know the US peddles patently absurd, fear and lie based anti-drug propaganda to school children in the form of the DARE program.
We also know, well, everything we currently know about various psychoactive substances.
The consistent thread this weaves is a bit more convincing to me than, "this politician lied about some stuff. Maybe I can't believe anything he's said?"
"You understand what I'm saying? 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," Ehrlichman said. "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."