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On June 17, 1971, Richard Nixon, after a campaign by “Law and order” and, taking advantage of white backlash against college students, black activists and hippies, held a press conference to announce the country’s newest enemy.

Substance abuse, he stated, was “Public enemy number one”.

It was a strange statement for a president overseeing a war. When Nixon held his press conference, thousands of Americans were fighting in Vietnam. More than 2,000 died there that year.

And just three days before Nixon declared drug abuse our newest enemy, the New York Times published the first issue of today’s Pentagon Papers. We learned what a small, committed minority of activists had been saying for years: The war against the communists in Vietnam was not to be won, the loss of human life was unnecessary and the destruction of a small Southeast Asian country on the other side of the Pacific was avoidable.

Yet Nixon said it was “Necessary to start a new, comprehensive offensive” against substance abuse. His announcement marked the beginning of the war on drugs.

A key component of this war is federal funding. U.S. government money goes to states and counties to criminalize, prosecute, and punish substance abuse, drug dealers, and drug manufacturers (unless you’re a drug company). As the 1970s turned into the 80s, with Ronald Reagan at the helm, the War on Drugs escalated to dizzying new heights.

Hawaii jumped headlong into this new war. It started with marijuana. I grew up on Maui between Haiku and Huelo in the 80s and 90s. Like many in my generation, I grew up with creeks, unexplored jungles and, on weekends, the dull and whirring noise of a helicopter.

Police, in collaboration with the National Guard, flew over rural parts of Maui’s North Shore, looking into our backyards, canyons, secluded trails, and other places that cannot be seen from the road. They were looking for Pakalolo. As soon as they saw it, they sometimes roped off the helicopter and grabbed it.

Such impressive feats, reminiscent of a war movie, were part of Operation Green Harvest, an expensive program funded by the federal government that began on the island of Hawaii.

With Pakalolo as a police target, it wasn’t long before the criminal justice system was inundated with weed smokers. Aggressive policing, generously funded by the federal government for military cooperation, the latest technology and know-how, created challenges for defenders. With that, war entered our judicial system.

When you look back and read the opinions from the early years of the drug wars, it’s almost strange to see the amount of energy and resources put into the investigation and prosecution of marijuana, or as they used to call it, “Marijuana.”

But the drug war has shaped our jurisprudence. The United States Supreme Court began its turn to the right, and the drug cases resulted in what scholars and lawyers saw as an undermining of our constitutional right to privacy and the protection against interference by the Fourth Amendment.

The 80s turned into the 90s with no real dissenting voice against the drug wars. By 1994, legislatures across the country and the Democrat-controlled Congress doubled mandatory minimum sentences and tougher and longer sentences for drug offenders – all under the aegis of President Bill Clinton, who admitted to experimenting with marijuana (in England). , but “not inhaled.” It led to the mass incarceration of mainly colored people and the poor.

After 50 years, many have questioned the wisdom of this war. It has turned into a war against the poor, an offensive against people of color, and a war against privacy. It has given us home industries of drug detection, drug counseling, drug enforcement. Many argue that it is time to end it.

The change begins with marijuana – the word anyway. In 2017, the Hawaiian legislature stated that the word “Has adverse effects rooted in racial stereotypes. . . “ Therefore, when the plant is used for medicinal purposes, it is officially called cannabis. (Of course, the legislature hasn’t changed the name in the Criminal Code, so if people are arrested for it, it’s still marijuana.) Labels aside, we still cannot achieve full decriminalization.

Big changes were difficult to make. The criminalization of drug use and the drug industry is deeply ingrained in our thinking and in our society. Dedicated drug warriors in every community, who consider it a worthy cause to be pursued at all costs, wave the bloody shirt of drug abuse and its evils. In contrast to the American war in Vietnam, which ended shamefully, and in contrast to Nixon, who resigned before he could be charged, the war on drugs rages on.

* Ben Lowenthal is a litigation and appeal attorney currently in the Office of the Public Defender who grew up on Maui. His email is 808stateofaloha@gmail.com. “The State of Aloha” changes on Fridays with Sarah Ruppenthals “Neighbours.”

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