More than 50 years ago, in the summer of 1971, US President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse “public enemy number one” and announced what would soon be known as the country’s “war on drugs”.The policy promised to cleanse streets across the United States of narcotics, dismantle trafficking networks and deliver a safer environment for Americans.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listInstead, decades of punitive policing and militarised crackdowns left the US with record overdose deaths, one of the world’s highest incarceration rates, and more than $1 trillion spent with little measurable impact on drug availability or demand, according to estimates by the Center for American Progress.In the US, the war on drugs helped reshape policing and criminal justice, disproportionately sweeping Black communities into prisons. Abroad, it fuelled a parallel conflict across Latin America, where US-backed operations deepened cycles of corruption and organised crime.Today, overdose deaths driven by fentanyl have reached historic highs and many states have moved to legalise cannabis.Now, as the Donald Trump administration appears poised for military action against Venezuela over accusations that the South American nation’s government is driving narcotics trafficking into the US – claims that Washington has not backed with evidence – here’s a look at how the war on drugs started, and its effects in the US and regionally.How did it begin and where does it stand now?Nixon launched the war on drugs at a turbulent …
