The Great Depression, Jazz, and Harry Anslinger: The War on Drugs Before Nixon

Tags: Media and Culture, The Police State, U.S. History

09/06/2017 Chris Calton

Season 1, Episode 5. While the phrase “War on Drugs” was coined by the Nixon Administration, it was FDR who earned the first headlines for his “Narcotic War.”

In this episode, Chris Calton details the first arrest made for marijuana in the US, the military’s earliest attempts to control narcotics distribution, and how the FBI used drug laws to target black Jazz musicians.

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