The war on drugs it a constant battle that we have going on in America. We are going to look at where it all started, what our government has done to stop it, what are the out come of drugs in the us, and last what are alternative solutions to help. These are going to help us get a better understanding of how the war on drugs became a priority, who put it into place, and how it is going so far for the American people.
Drugs were intro discovered to the united states in the 1800’s. During the civil war is where we first see opium’s. According to the DEA “Opium is a highly addictive non-synthetic narcotic that is extracted from the poppy plant, Papaver somniferum. The opium poppy is the key source for many narcotics, including morphine, codeine, and heroin.” (Drug Fact Sheet: Opium) We discovered cocaine shortly after is the 1880’s, which opium’s are in. Coca was a health drink and not so much a “drug”. In the 1900’s morphine was discovered for medical use as we still do to this day. Heroin was used for respiratory illnesses, cocaine in Coca-Cola, and morphine to relieve pain for doctors to use for pain relieve. (The United States War on Drugs)
After these newly discovered drugs were in everyday …show more content…
President Carter in 1977 wanted to decriminalize on marijuana. He stated in a speech to congress “penalties against possession of the drug should not be more damaging than the drug itself”. He was not completely sold on making it completely legal but wanted to have more lenient laws. In his time as presidency they witness a major spike in the use of cocaine they deemed marijuana a gateway drug to cocaine. Cocaine in America went from about 25 tons to about 137 tons. That is a 700 percent increase in six-year span. When this happened everyone move away from marijuana because of what other drugs were starting to make a bigger impacted on the people. (The United States War on