bill fell primarily on addicts and traffickers, not the dealers and distributors. They also argued that these strict jail sentences would not stop importation, because the profit was too fruitful. Even though there was much opposition to the Boggs Act, it was approved and signed into affect on November 2, 1951 by President Truman. Even though there was supposed decline in illicit drug use, Anslinger started to push for even stiffer penalties. Instead of approving a new bill, the American Bar Association created a committee that was in charge of investigating the Harrison Act and the first nationwide investigation of illicit drugs. Arising from this investigation was the Narcotic Control Act, which was the most severe antidrug legislation put into affect(3). The NCA doubled the lengthy sentences of the Boggs Act, and added the death penalty in some cases. These laws also failed in extinguishing the drug epidemic. By now, most states specified that marijuana and heroin penalties should be identical, and consequently marijuana penalties were adjusted upward every time heroin sentences were increased. During the sixties, marijuana became the most popular drugs, particularly among college students. Due to the rise in usage, the federal government attempted to cut off the supply at the Mexican border. This was known as Operation Intercept, which consisted of closer automobile inspections and over eighteen hundred strip searches in its first week. In 1963, Anslinger ended his long tenure as head of the FBN, and the Presidential Commission on Narcotics and Drug Abuse reversed the harsh penalties of the mandatory minimum sentences. They then created the Bureau of Drug Abuse Control(BDAC) to deal with the increase in drug usage among young people. In 1968, the FBN merged with the BDAC to become the new Bureau of Narcotics and Other Dangerous Drugs(BNDD). During President Nixons’ time in office, he wage war on drugs and created the Office o...
