DH Ep:54 The War On Drugs

What if the War on Drugs was never really about drugs at all?In this episode of Disturbing History, we pull back the curtain on a devastating truth. For over fifty years, the U.S. government has waged a costly, brutal campaign that’s locked up millions, empowered police militarization, devastated entire communities—and yet, drugs are cheaper and more accessible than ever, with overdose deaths now surpassing 100,000 annually.

If the goal was to stop drug use, it’s been an undeniable failure. But what if that wasn’t the real goal?We take you on a journey through time, beginning in 1875 San Francisco, where America’s first anti-drug law targeted Chinese immigrants, not opium. From there, we trace a pattern—how drug policy after drug policy has been rooted in racism, fear, and control. You'll hear how Nixon’s declaration of the War on Drugs, Reagan’s crackdown on crack cocaine, Clinton’s crime bill, and beyond, each added layers to a system designed less to protect public health than to marginalize and imprison.

Along the way, we follow the money—into the pockets of private prisons, testing firms, and police departments incentivized by seizures and incarceration quotas. We dig into how the CIA’s covert dealings with drug traffickers, the practice of civil asset forfeiture, and the arming of local police forces created a system that punishes the vulnerable while shielding the powerful.Y ou’ll meet real people who paid the price—like Kemba Smith and Weldon Angelos—whose sentences make clear just how unforgiving and uneven this war has been.

We contrast the punitive crack era with the more compassionate response to the opioid crisis and ask: who gets treated, and who gets punished? We don’t stop at America’s borders either. From Mexico and Colombia to the Philippines, we explore how U.S. policy has fueled violence and instability abroad, pushing other nations into our prohibitionist mold.

But there’s hope. We highlight what’s working—from Portugal’s bold decriminalization model to harm reduction in Switzerland—and reflect on the slow but steady reforms happening here at home. Legalization. Sentencing reform. Rescheduling. Change is coming—but the machine hasn’t stopped.