Fighting the war on drugs: how presidential administrations produce distinct policing regimes

Abstract

This paper seeks to explain the war on drugs through a creation of a policing regime typology. This typology is constructed by examining the distinctions between legislation, presidential rhetoric, and administrative goals. It is applied to the case administrations of Nixon, Reagan, Obama and Trump to formulate an explanatory model of the different leadership styles of drug policies since 1969. It includes an examination of the Southern slave patrol as the originating model of modern policing, and how the structures that perpetuate a system social control of African Americans and ethnic minorities have evolved since slavery. In defining policing regimes, a content analysis is performed to analyze administrative rhetoric in the targeted legislation. The paper concludes with the construction of the ideal policing regime to end the war on drugs, with four major policy recommendations to aid in its construction.