The Trillion Dollar War: Presidential Budgets and the War on Drugs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v12i3.4955Keywords:
War on Drugs, Overdoses, Incarceration, Drug War, Presidential budgetsAbstract
Officially coined by Richard Nixon in 1971, the “War on Drugs” was greatly expanded under the Reagan administration. Regardless of party, subsequent presidents have continued fighting this so-called ‘War,’ as evidenced in their speeches. In this paper, I examine presidential speeches and initiatives ranging from Reagan to Trump. In doing so, I consider how their respective rhetoric and the funding they sought for their administrations’ initiatives have resulted in chronic overspending on this War. Not only have these efforts largely not had their intended results in eliminating drug use, but they also resulted in high incarceration rates while drug overdoses have increased since Reagan’s presidency.
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