The Hill News

Forty years ago this week, President Richard Nixon declared that "the tide of drug abuse which has swept America in the last decade" had become a national emergency. In a statement to Congress and at a press conference, Nixon called for an "all-out offensive" against "public enemy number one" and thus launched the "war on drugs." In challenging the nation to harness its moral and material resources to address the emergency, he declared that "the final issue is not whether we will conquer drug abuse, but how soon."

Forty years later, we have the answer. We will never "conquer" drug abuse, despite spending about a trillion dollars and arresting tens of millions of Americans since 1971. In 2011 a greater variety of drugs is more available, less expensive, more potent, and more widely used than ever.

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