Chapter 23

The War on Drugs

How a policy designed to criminalize dissent became the longest and most expensive domestic war in American history.

Veritas Worldwide · March 2026 · 1971–Present

The "War on Drugs," launched by President Richard Nixon in 1971, was never primarily about public health. A top Nixon aide later admitted it was a political weapon designed to target the antiwar left and Black communities.

WHY THIS MATTERS The War on Drugs has shaped modern America. It has fueled mass incarceration, disproportionately devastating minority communities. It has militarized policing, eroded civil liberties, and wasted trillions of taxpayer dollars, all while failing to curb drug use. Understanding its origins as a political tool, not a public health campaign, is essential to dismantling its destructive legacy and building a more just and effective approach to drug policy. n 1994, the late John Ehrlichman, a top domestic policy advisor to President Richard Nixon, gave a stunningly candid interview to the journalist Dan Baum. Reflecting on the genesis of the administration's "War on Drugs," Ehrlichman admitted what many had long suspected: it was a fraud. "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people," Ehrlichman stated. "We knew we couldn't make it illegal to