This series of anti-drug ads includes the famous “Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?”, which was part of Richard Nixon’s National Mass Media Campaign Against Drug Abuse. Other commercials include PSAs by the American Osteopathic Association and the Food and Drug Administration, warning against drug dependence and the reactions that can occur when prescription and non-prescription drugs are used in combinations without the advice of a doctor.
The “war on drugs” officially began at a press conference on June 17, 1971. That was the day that President Nixon, declared drug abuse “public enemy number one.” “In order to fight and defeat this enemy,” he stated, “ it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.” These commercials were part of that offensive. Nixon wasn’t just imagining that American faced a new and fast-growing problem. In 1960, there were over 200 narcotics related deaths in New York City, but by 1970, that figure had risen to over a thousand and heroin addicts numbered in the tens of thousands. Crime rates in the United States had risen by over 100% since the end of the Eisenhower administration. The Nixon administration was able to impact these figures, with crime falling 72% in several major cities and many people opting to enter new drug treatment programs. But in many ways, the fight against drugs was just beginning.
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