It is often held that Nixon declared the drug war on June 17, 1971, to criminalize addiction, target his political enemies and set the nation on a path toward the prison-heavy policies that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s. Nixon did not use the phrase “war on drugs” that day, but he did announce a “new, all-out offensive” against drug abuse, which he called “public enemy number one.”
The rhetoric was exactly what Americans expected from a law-and-order president. What followed, however, was something different. Instead of mandating the construction of more prisons, Nixon announced the largest expansion of addiction treatment in U.S. history.
The centerpiece of the effort was the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention, headed by the psychiatrist Jerome Jaffe. Controlling two-thirds of the federal drug budget, the office rapidly expanded access to addiction treatment, including counseling, therapeutic communities and methadone maintenance. The initiative’s goal was simple: to make treatment available to any heroin user who wanted it.
By early 1973, more than 72,000 people were voluntarily enrolled in federally funded treatment programs, including more than 23,000 receiving methadone. It was the largest federal investment in addiction treatment infrastructure in U.S. history.
This was a remarkable departure. For more than half a century, federal drug policy had focused overwhelmingly on law enforcement. Nixon himself campaigned against the “scourge” of narcotics and spent his first years in office emphasizing arrests and imprisonment for drug use.
But midway through his first term, Nixon pivoted to public health.
Crime and heroin use were rising in cities nationwide. Overdose deaths were climbing. And in May 1971 came alarming reports from Vietnam that as many as 15 percent of American servicemen there were addicted to the pure, cheap and ubiquitous heroin the Vietnamese sold to soldiers. A media firestorm erupted in response, warning of the threat posed by the tens of thousands of “GI junkies” who would destroy the fabric of American society when they went into withdrawal.
In response, Nixon could have doubled down on arrests and punishment. But he expanded access to treatment and rehabilitation instead.
When the Special Action Office’s treatments became widely available, the effects on the street were noticeable. Overdose deaths declined. Drug-related emergency room visits fell. Drug use dropped, as did drug arrests, and in cities nationwide crime rates fell for the first time since their dramatic rise in the 1960s. Heroin addiction did not disappear, but the crisis that prompted Nixon’s intervention eased considerably.