My Perception of Social Justice on The War on Drugs
war on drugs cartoon
The war on drugs is a worldwide fight to reduce the activity of illegal drug cartels. This term was first used by President Richard Nixon and was further popularized by the media during his presidency. Each year the United States donates hundreds of millions of dollars to aid Colombia and other countries in order to put a stop to narcotic trafficking. This has been an ongoing problem since the late 1960’s and to provide justice to the world and our nation in particular the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) was introduced in 1973 to assist the United States law enforcement, becoming the foot soldiers of police agencies around the country. Also in the early 1980’s the slogan “just say no” was introduced becoming a central facet to the anti-drug message. During Bill Clinton's administration was in office they passed the death penalty for major drug offences because the government believed major drug activity was no worse than murder or treason. The most recent activity with the war on drugs was addressed by the Obama administration re-branding the name “war on drugs” to anti drug harm reduction strategies in order to evoke a less threatening approach to the problem acknowledging that this is not a war because it is impossible to declare war on inanimate objects, but a step in the right direction.