You’re right about President Nixon starting the intensified anti-drug policy. I’d forgotten. But President Reagan did increase the effort.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Youth_Anti-Drug_Media_Campaign
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_National_Drug_Control_Policy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Crime_Control_Act_of_1984
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandatory_minimum_sentences
I saw positive results in university students during the late 1980s.
You are exactly right about President Reagan, he and Nancy probably made the most positive effect ever on drug use.
I was just referring to the war on drugs moniker. Based on the positive effects of Reagan’s policies I have to ask if education not prosecution is a better plan.