The war on drugs is a global anti-narcotics campaign led by the United States federal government, including drug prohibition and foreign assistance, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the US. The initiative's efforts includes policies intended to discourage the production, distribution, and consumption of psychoactive drugs that the participating governments, through United Nations treaties, have made illegal.
The term "war on drugs" was popularized by the media after a press conference, given on June 17, 1971, during which President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse "public enemy number one". Earlier that day, Nixon had presented a special message to the US Congress on "Drug Abuse Prevention and Control", which included text about devoting more federal resources to the "prevention of new addicts, and the rehabilitation of those who are addicted"; that aspect did not receive the same media attention as the term "war on drugs".
In the years since, presidential administrations and Congress have generally maintained or expanded Nixon's original initiatives, with the emphasis on law enforcement and interdiction over public health and treatment. Cannabis presents a special case; it came under federal restriction in the 1930s, and since 1970 has been classified as having a high potential for abuse and no medical value, with the same level of prohibition as heroin. Multiple mainstream studies and findings since the 1930s have recommended against such a severe classification. Beginning in the 1990s, cannabis has been legalized for medical use in 39 states, and also for recreational use in 24, creating a policy gap with federal law and non-compliance with the UN drug treaties.
In June 2011, the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a critical report, declaring: "The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world." In 2023, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that "decades of punitive, 'war on drugs' strategies had failed to prevent an increasing range and quantity of substances from being produced and consumed." That year, the annual US federal drug war budget reached $39 billion, with cumulative spending since 1971 estimated at $1 trillion.
Addressing the US Congress on March 4, 2025, President Donald Trump announced, "It’s time for America to wage war on the cartels," as his administration pursued a militarized strategy against Latin American drug cartels. On January 3, 2026, the United States launched a large-scale military operation (Operation Absolute Resolve), capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who face federal charges (United States v. Carvajal-Barrios) including narcoterrorism and cocaine trafficking.
History
Drugs in the US remained largely unregulated until federal laws arrived in the early 20th century. Opium had been used to relieve pain since the Revolutionary War. Civilian use of opiates and cocaine surged in the late 1800s. Alcohol consumption grew alongside the temperance movement. Cannabis was noticed in the early 1900s. While state and local laws date back to the mid-1800s, the US Constitution grants drug control authority at both the federal and state level.
1800s – America's "first opioid crisis"
The 1880s saw opiate addiction surge among housewives, doctors, and Civil War veterans, creating America's "first opioid crisis". By the end of the century, an estimated one in 200 Americans were addicted, with a majority of mostly affluent white women. Rapid medical advances led to better treatments, and prescribed opiate use declined. Opium smoking among thousands of Chinese immigrant Chinese laborers began to change the image of the opium user, from well-to-do white Americans, to "Chinese, gamblers, and prostitutes".
During this period, states and municipalities began enacting laws banning or regulating certain drugs. In 1875, San Francisco enacted a vigorously enforced anti-opium ordinance, imposing stiff fines and jail for visiting opium dens. The law was ultimately aimed at the Chinese laborer population accused of taking jobs. Similar laws were enacted in other states and cities, and the federal government became involved, raising the import tariff on the smoking grade of opium. These measures proved largely ineffective. Meanwhile, opioids, cocaine, and cannabis came to be associated with ethnic minorities.
1900–1971: Rise of federal drug prohibition
Drug regulation and restriction grew rapidly in the first part of the new century. In 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act required the listing of active ingredients on medications, specifically named opium, morphine, heroin, cocaine, and cannabis were deemed addictive or dangerous, and assigned oversight to the US Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Chemistry (the Food and Drug Administration as of1930). On February 9, 1909, the Smoking Opium Exclusion Act, became the first US federal law to ban the importation and use of a drug for non-medical purposes, soon followed by the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914, to regulate and tax opiates and coca products.
During World War I (1914–1918), military use of opiates for pain and cocaine for performance enhancement, and concern over abuse, led to the adoption of the International Opium Convention, incorporated into the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The convention regulated the drug trade without affecting production or use, and became the basis of current international drug control policy —a strongly prohibitionist US felt the provisions were not sufficiently restrictive.
In 1919, the 18th Amendment and the National Prohibition Act (the Volstead Act) banned alcohol for recreational use. Prohibition soon proved to be a failure as consumption rose, crime and the black market flourished, and tax revenue was lost. In 1933, amidst the Great Depression, the ban ended with the 21st Amendment—President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945) asked Americans not to abuse "this return to personal freedom." Meanwhile, in 1922, the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act broadened federal regulation of opiates and coca products by prohibiting import and export for non-medical use.
Anslinger era begins
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) was established by the US Department of the Treasury on June 14, 1930, with Harry J. Anslinger as commissioner, a position he held for 32 years, until 1962. Anslinger supported Prohibition and the criminalization of all drugs, and spearheaded anti-drug policy campaigns, urging courts to "jail offenders, then throw away the key." He has been characterized as the first architect of the punitive war on drugs.
Anslinger's zealous pursuit of harsh drug penalties focused particularly on cannabis. He drafted legislation, discredited critics, discounted medical opinion and scientific findings, and convinced lawmakers. Publicly, he used the media and speaking engagements to promote the evils of drug use, announcing that youth become addicted to cannabis and "deteriorate mentally, become insane, turn to violent crime and murder." He presented a racialized view of drug use, where blacks and Latinos were the primary abusers. He testified before Congress that narcotic addicts were the leading perpetrators of crime. He was also an effective administrator and diplomat, attending international drug conferences and steadily expanding the FBN's influence.
In 1935, the New York Times headlined President Roosevelt's public support of the Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act as, "Roosevelt Asks Narcotic War Aid". The act created a model law reflecting the Harrison Act that states could adopt to replace the existing patchwork of state laws. Anslinger and the FBN were centrally involved in drafting the act, and in convincing states to adopt it.
Cannabis effectively outlawed, prescription drugs
By 1936, the non-medical use of cannabis had been banned in every state. With the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, federal taxation effectively did the same. An arrest for tax non-payment for possession of a quarter-ounce (7g) of cannabis resulted in nearly 18 months sentence. The American Medical Association (AMA) had opposed the tax act on grounds that it unduly affected the medical use of cannabis, and that the claims about addiction, violence and overdoses were not supported by evidence.
In 1939, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, an opponent of the Marihuana Tax Act, initiated the first US in-depth study of cannabis use. The report, produced by the New York Academy of Medicine, contradicted government claims, finding that cannabis is not physically addictive, and doesn't lead to other drugs or to crime. The FBN's Anslinger branded the study "unscientific" and denounced all involved.
In the late 1930s, the League of Nations' Opium Advisory Committee questioned the focus on drug prohibition over public health measures. Anslinger, backed by his Canadian counterpart and policy ally, Charles Henry Ludovic Sharman, successfully argued against this view, and kept the focus on increasing global prohibition and supply control measures.
In 1938, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act required that non-narcotic drugs were labeled for safe use. The FDA determined that certain drugs, including amphetamines and barbiturates, were unsafe without medical supervision and could only be obtained by doctor's prescription. This marked the beginning of the federal distinction between over-the-counter and prescription drugs (made law in the Durham–Humphrey Amendment of 1951).
Amphetamines, harsher penalties, international obligations
World War II (1939–1945) saw widespread use of morphine, and the use of amphetamines to combat fatigue and improve morale. In the US, the Benzedrine brand, widely used in the military, became popular in the public for medical and recreational applications. Post-war, amphetamines were promoted as mood elevators and diet pills to great success; by 1945, an estimated 750 million tablets a year were being produced in the US, and production increased during the 1950s and 1960s.
After the war, the League of Nations ended and transferred responsibilities to its successor, the United Nations. Anslinger, supported by Sharman, successfully campaigned to ensure that law enforcement and the prohibitionist view remained central to international drug policy. With the 1946 Lake Success Protocol, he helped to make sure that law enforcement was represented on the UN's new drug policy Supervisory Body (today's International Narcotics Control Board), and that it did not fall under a public health-oriented agency like the WHO.
In the early 1950s, responding to "white suburban grassroots movements" concerned about teenagers, liberal politicians at state level cracked down on drugs. California, Illinois, and New York passed the first mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses; Congress followed with the Boggs Act of 1951, creating the first federal mandatory minimums for drugs. The act unified penalties for the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act and the Marihuana Tax Act, effectively criminalizing cannabis. Anslinger testified in favor of the inclusion of cannabis. First-offense possession of cannabis carried a 2–10-year minimum and a fine of up to $20,000.
In 1961, the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs became the first of three UN treaties that together form the legal framework for international drug control. The Single Convention unified existing international drug agreements, and limited possession and use of opiates, cannabis and cocaine to "medicinal and scientific purposes". It came into force in the US in 1967. The Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 added synthetic, prescription and hallucinogenic drugs. The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988 addressed international drug trafficking and in effect criminalized the entire illicit drug market chain.
In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–69) moved to curtail the social unrest that blanketed the country at the time. He focused on illegal drug use, following expert opinion that drugs were the root of much of crime His Reorganization Plan of 1968 merged the Bureau of Narcotics and the Bureau of Drug Abuse Control to form the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs within the Department of Justice.
Federal drug schedule system introduced
The Richard Nixon presidency (1969–74) incorporated his predecessor's anti-drug initiative in a tough-on-crime platform. In a 1969 special message to Congress, he identified drug abuse as "a serious national threat".
On October 27, 1970, Nixon signed into law the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, establishing his approach to drug control. The act largely repealed mandatory minimum sentences: simple possession was reduced to a misdemeanor, while trafficking penalties were increased, up to life in prison. Funding was authorized for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to provide treatment, rehabilitation and education, and for additional federal drug agents. Title II of Act, the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), helped align US law with the UN Single Convention—the CSA's five drug Schedules, an implementation of the Single Convention's four schedule system, categorized drugs based on medical value and potential for abuse.
Under the new drug schedules, cannabis was provisionally placed by the administration in the most restrictive Schedule I, "until the completion of certain studies now underway to resolve the issue." As mandated by the CSA, Nixon appointed the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, known as the Shafer Commission, to investigate.
1971–present: the "war on drugs"
On May 27, 1971, two congressmen, Morgan F. Murphy (Democrat) and Robert H. Steele (Republican), released a report based on their trip to Vietnam, describing a "a rapid increase in heroin addiction" among US troops in South Vietnam. On June 6, the New York times cited the Murphy-Steele report in a discussion of heroin addiction, and called out amphetamine addiction in the American suburbs—the housewife to cure her "blues", the husband for his weight—as a comparable problem.
On June 17, 1971, Nixon presented to Congress a plan for expanded anti-drug abuse measures. He painted a dire picture: "The problem has assumed the dimensions of a national emergency. ... If we cannot destroy the drug menace in America, then it will surely in time destroy us." His strategy involved both treatment and interdiction, asking for funds for treatment and rehabilitation, and for law enforcement. He singled out heroin and broadened the scope beyond the US, calling for international cooperation.