“The War on Drugs” has been a controversial movement in the United States since Richard Nixon coined the term in 1971. While it has helped to control the use of many dangerous substances, it is not without its major drawbacks. According to CNN, the drug war has cost over $1 trillion in 40 years. 45.3% of all inmates are in federal prison for drug offenses. 451,000 people are locked up for non-violent drug offenses each day. It is also racially driven.
Though black and white people use marijuana at comparable rates, black people are four times more likely to be arrested for possession. Drug imprisonments vary wildly by state and do not correlate with overdoses or use. This infographic from The Weed Blog provides a timeline of the federal legality of 12 different illegal substances (LSD, cannabis, peyote/mescaline, psilocybin, MDMA, Fentanyl, cocaine, opium, heroin, alcohol, and methamphetamines, and morphine) since 1870.