The drug war

Name: WW9 Atlas: The drug war
Creator: WorldW9r

Its crimes from 1914 to now, and what it did to our communities. 29 points on the WW9 Atlas, oldest first, each with its source.

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The Harrison Narcotics Act and the "cocaine fiend" scare1914 · Washington, D.C.December 17, 1914: Congress passes the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act, the first federal drug law. The push ran on race panic: on February 8, 1914 the New York Times ran Dr. Edward Huntington Williams' piece "Negro Cocaine 'Fiends' Are a New Southern Menace," claiming cocaine made men papered as Negro iHarrison Narcotics Tax Act, 38 Stat. 785 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Narcotics_Tax_Act); New York Times, Feb 8 1914 (https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/02/08/issue.html)
Marihuana Tax Act1937 · Washington, D.C.August 2, 1937: Congress passes the Marihuana Tax Act, pushed by Harry J. Anslinger of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Cannabis is effectively outlawed nationwide.Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marihuana_Tax_Act_of_1937)
Boggs Act: the first mandatory minimums1951–1956 · Washington, D.C.1951: the Boggs Act sets mandatory minimum prison terms for drug convictions, including cannabis. The Narcotics Control Act of 1956 raises them again.Boggs Act (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boggs_Act); Narcotics Control Act of 1956 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcotics_Control_Act_of_1956)
Nixon names drug abuse "public enemy number one"1971 · The White House, Washington, D.C.June 17, 1971: President Richard Nixon calls drug abuse America's "public enemy number one" and asks Congress for new money to fight it. The Controlled Substances Act (October 27, 1970) had already set the schedules. The DEA is created July 1, 1973.War on drugs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_drugs); Controlled Substances Act (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act)
Rockefeller drug laws1973–2009 · New York State Capitol, AlbanyMay 1973: Governor Nelson Rockefeller signs laws setting 15 years to life for selling two ounces or holding four ounces of narcotics. New York's prisons fill with people from Harlem, the Bronx and Brooklyn. Major reforms come in 2004 and 2009.Rockefeller Drug Laws (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Drug_Laws)
"Dark Alliance": Contra cocaine in South Central1981–1998 · South Los AngelesAugust 1996: Gary Webb's San Jose Mercury News series traces cocaine from Contra-linked traffickers Danilo Blandón and Norwin Meneses to "Freeway" Rick Ross in South Central Los Angeles, as crack spreads. Major papers attack the series; the CIA Inspector General's 1998 report (Hitz, vol. II) confirmDark Alliance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Alliance); Gary Webb (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb)
Civil asset forfeiture opens up1984 · Washington, D.C.1984: the Comprehensive Crime Control Act creates the federal Assets Forfeiture Fund and "equitable sharing," letting local police keep most of the cash and property they seize, often with no criminal charge.Civil forfeiture in the United States (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States)
Len Bias dies; the 100-to-1 crack law follows1986 · University of Maryland, College ParkJune 19, 1986: University of Maryland star Len Bias dies of a cocaine overdose two days after the NBA draft. Four months later, October 27, 1986, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act sets the same five-year minimum for 5 grams of crack as for 500 grams of powder cocaine: a 100-to-1 ratio that fell mostly on our Len Bias (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Bias); Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Drug_Abuse_Act_of_1986)
LAPD Operation Hammer and the Dalton Avenue raid1987–1990 · South Los AngelesApril 1988: LAPD's Operation Hammer sweeps South Central, arresting over 1,400 people in a weekend, most released without charges. August 1, 1988: 88 officers raid apartments at 39th and Dalton, wrecking homes, finding small amounts of drugs and leaving families homeless; the city later paid settlemOperation Hammer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Hammer_(1987)); BlackPast (https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/operation-hammer-1987-1990/); HuffPost on 39th and Dalton (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/raid-of-the-day-the-39th-_n_2621763)
Kerry Committee: Contra supply lines ran with traffickers1989 · U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.April 13, 1989: the Senate subcommittee chaired by John Kerry reports that U.S. officials knew people in the Contra supply network were drug traffickers, and that the State Department paid companies run by traffickers.Kerry Committee report (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Committee_report)
Operation Just Cause burns El Chorrillo1989 · El Chorrillo, Panama CityDecember 20, 1989: the U.S. invades Panama to seize Manuel Noriega on drug charges. Fighting and fire destroy El Chorrillo, a poor, largely Afro-Panamanian neighborhood by the Comandancia. Civilian deaths are still argued: the Pentagon said about 200, rights groups and Panamanian investigators say fUnited States invasion of Panama (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_invasion_of_Panama); El Chorrillo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Chorrillo)
Ehrlichman: "We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black"1994–2016 · Washington, D.C.April 2016: Harper's Magazine publishes writer Dan Baum's account of a 1994 interview with former Nixon aide John Ehrlichman, who he says told him the drug war was built to criminalize the antiwar left and Black communities: "We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black.Dan Baum, "Legalize It All," Harper's, April 2016 (https://harpers.org/archive/2016/04/legalize-it-all/); Government Executive, March 2016 (https://www.govexec.com/management/2016/03/nixon-administration-official-we-created-war-drugs-criminalize-black-people/126917/)
Congress keeps the 100-to-1 ratio1995–2010 · Washington, D.C.1995: the U.S. Sentencing Commission reports the crack/powder gap is unjustified and votes to equalize it. Congress rejects the change (Pub. L. 104-38), the first time it overrode the Commission. The Fair Sentencing Act of August 3, 2010 cuts the ratio to 18-to-1, not 1-to-1.Fair Sentencing Act (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Sentencing_Act)
Alice Marie Johnson: life for a first-time drug offense1996–2018 · Memphis, Tennessee1996: Alice Marie Johnson, a grandmother from Memphis, gets life without parole for a first-time nonviolent drug offense. She serves 21 years before her sentence is commuted on June 6, 2018.Alice Marie Johnson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Marie_Johnson)
Rampart CRASH scandal1997–2000 · Rampart Division, Los Angeles1998-2000: LAPD officer Rafael Pérez, caught stealing cocaine from an evidence room, tells investigators how the Rampart anti-gang unit planted drugs and guns, lied and shot people. More than 100 convictions are overturned.Rampart scandal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampart_scandal)
Tulia: one undercover agent's word1999–2003 · Tulia, TexasJuly 23, 1999: 46 people are arrested in Tulia on the word of one undercover agent, Tom Coleman, with no drugs, money or wires recovered. 39 were papered as Black, in a town of about 5,000. In 2003 Governor Rick Perry pardons 35 of them; Coleman is convicted of perjury in 2005.Tulia, Texas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulia,_Texas)
Hearne informant sweeps2000–2005 · Hearne, TexasNovember 2000: a Robertson County drug task force sweeps Hearne's Black neighborhood on a paid informant's word. Charges collapse; the ACLU's suit (Kelly v. Paschall) ends in a settlement. The case becomes the film American Violet (2008).Hearne, Texas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearne,_Texas); American Violet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Violet)
Falsos positivos2002–2008 · Colombia2002-2008: Colombian army units kill civilians and dress them as guerrillas or traffickers to raise kill counts, during the U.S.-funded Plan Colombia years. Colombia's peace tribunal (JEP) counts at least 6,402 victims.False positives scandal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_positives_scandal)
Stop-and-frisk ruled unconstitutional2002–2013 · New York CityAugust 12, 2013: in Floyd v. City of New York, Judge Shira Scheindlin rules the NYPD's stop-and-frisk practice violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, as millions of stops fell on people papered as Black and Latino, mostly finding nothing.Floyd v. City of New York (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_v._City_of_New_York)
Sgt. Ronald Watts frames the Ida B. Wells Homes2003–2022 · Ida B. Wells Homes, Bronzeville, ChicagoFor about a decade Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts and his team shake down residents of the Ida B. Wells Homes and pin drug cases on people who refuse to pay. By April 2022 Cook County prosecutors had thrown out 212 convictions tied to his crew.CBS Chicago (https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/ronald-watts-convictions-dismissed-vacated-thrown-out-corruption-cpd/)
Kathryn Johnston, 922006 · English Avenue, AtlantaNovember 21, 2006: Atlanta narcotics officers serve a no-knock warrant built on a made-up informant buy and kill Kathryn Johnston, 92, in her home. They plant marijuana to cover it. Three officers plead guilty.Shooting of Kathryn Johnston (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Kathryn_Johnston)
Mexico launches its drug war2006 · Michoacán, MexicoDecember 11, 2006: President Felipe Calderón sends federal forces into Michoacán, opening Mexico's war on the cartels with U.S. backing (the Mérida Initiative, 2008). Hundreds of thousands are killed or disappeared in the years after.Mexican drug war (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_drug_war); Mérida Initiative (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9rida_Initiative)
The 43 of Ayotzinapa2014 · Iguala, GuerreroSeptember 26, 2014: 43 students of the Ayotzinapa rural teachers' college are disappeared in Iguala after local police stop their buses. Investigations point to police working with the Guerreros Unidos trafficking group, and to the army.Iguala mass kidnapping (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Iguala_mass_kidnapping)
Gun Trace Task Force2015–2017 · Baltimore, MarylandMarch 1, 2017: eight members of the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force are indicted for robbing residents, stealing drugs and reselling them, and lying on reports. Hundreds of cases they touched are dropped.Gun Trace Task Force (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Trace_Task_Force)
Harding Street raid2019–2024 · 7815 Harding Street, HoustonJanuary 28, 2019: Houston narcotics officer Gerald Goines lies on a warrant about a heroin buy that never happened. The raid kills Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas. Goines is convicted of felony murder in 2024 and sentenced to 60 years; people he had sent to prison on his word testify at sentencinABC13 Houston (https://abc13.com/post/harding-street-raid-trial-jury-deliberations-enter-day-2-punishment-former-houston-police-officer-gerald-goines/15404748/); Reason (https://reason.com/2024/10/09/former-houston-drug-cop-gets-60-years-for-his-deadly-lies/)
Breonna Taylor2020–2024 · Louisville, KentuckyMarch 13, 2020: Louisville police serve a narcotics warrant at Breonna Taylor's apartment and kill her. In 2022 the Justice Department charges officers with falsifying the warrant affidavit.Killing of Breonna Taylor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Breonna_Taylor)
Jacarezinho massacre2021 · Jacarezinho, Rio de JaneiroMay 6, 2021: a Rio civil police operation against drug trafficking in the Jacarezinho favela leaves 28 dead, the deadliest in the city's history at the time.Jacarezinho massacre (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacarezinho_massacre)
The deadliest police raid in Rio's history2025 · Complexo da Penha and Alemão, Rio de JaneiroOctober 28, 2025: about 2,500 police storm the Penha and Alemão favelas against the Comando Vermelho. Police count 121 dead, including four officers; Rio's public defender counts 132. President Lula says he is "horrified."Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/29/brazils-rio-de-janeiro-raises-death-toll-from-police-raid-to-132); CBS News (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/raid-gangs-rio-de-janeiro-dozens-killed-police-officers)
U.S. strikes on boats called drug boats2025–2026 · Caribbean Sea, off VenezuelaFrom September 2025 the U.S. military strikes small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific it says carry drugs, with no arrests or trials. By March 2026 a defense official counts 157 people killed in 45 strikes, including fishermen named by families in Trinidad and Colombia.GV Wire / AP, March 17 2026 (https://gvwire.com/2026/03/17/us-strikes-against-suspected-drug-boats-have-killed-157-people-official-says/); InSight Crime map (https://insightcrime.org/news/mapping-out-us-alleged-drug-boat-strikes/)