In 1994, a former Nixon policy adviser admitted the War on Drugs was waged not to keep Americans safe, but to crush dissent. According to John Ehrlichman, who served time in prison for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, the Drug War was intended to disempower anti-war and black rights movements in the 1970s. Author Dan Baum wrote in the
Former Nixon Advisor: The War On Drugs Invented To Crush Anti-War And Black Movements
While the justice system still perpetuates racism through the Drug War, it is evident that at least some relics of past authoritarianism are now slowly disintegrating.