In June 1971, then-President Richard Nixon said the U.S. had a new public enemy number one: addiction. It was the beginning of America’s long war on drugs.
Fifty years later, during months of interviews, NPR found a growing consensus across the political spectrum — including among some in law enforcement — that the drug war simply didn’t work.
The stories in this episode are from NPR’s Brian Mann and Eric Westervelt as part of a special series: The War On Drugs: 50 Years Later.
Email us at [email protected].