|
|
|
Dr. Michael Guadagnino holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the New York Institute of Technology and earned his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from New York Chiropractic College. He served as Vice President of Public Relations for the New Jersey Libertarian Party from 2017 to 2022. Dr. Guadagnino is the author of the best-selling book Fitness Over 50, 60, 70 and Beyond, available on Amazon and other major platforms. He also shares health and wellness insights on Instagram at @Dr._Guadagnino. As a regular guest contributor, Dr. Guadagnino writes on health care topics through the lens of personal freedom and individual liberty. |
In 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)—a piece of legislation that reshaped America’s relationship with drugs and, unintentionally or not, reshaped its future. The Act created the now-familiar system of “schedules,” ranking substances based on their perceived potential for abuse and medical value. On paper, it looked like a scientific effort to organize drug policy. In reality, it was a political maneuver designed to target Nixon’s greatest adversaries: the anti-war movement and Black Americans.
At the height of the Vietnam War, Nixon faced a nation in turmoil. The anti-war protests were loud, youth-driven, and politically inconvenient. His administration saw an opportunity to weaken the movement through criminalization. By associating marijuana with anti-war “hippies” and heroin with Black communities, the administration could justify raids, arrests, and media smear campaigns—all under the guise of law enforcement. One of Nixon’s top aides, John Ehrlichman, later admitted, “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.”
To do this effectively, the government needed a legal mechanism, and the Controlled Substances Act provided it. Substances like cannabis, LSD, and psilocybin (the active compound in psychedelic mushrooms) were placed in Schedule I—the strictest classification—alongside heroin. Schedule I drugs were declared to have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, making research nearly impossible. Scientists who wanted to study potential health benefits faced enormous bureaucratic barriers, expensive licensing, and social stigma.
Decades later, this politically motivated classification still cripples legitimate science. Mounting evidence now shows that cannabis can ease chronic pain, reduce seizures, and help with anxiety and PTSD. Psilocybin is showing promise for depression, addiction recovery, and end-of-life anxiety. Yet, because of Nixon’s outdated classifications, these substances remain difficult to study, locked behind the same legal walls that once served as tools of political suppression.
Nixon’s war on drugs was never truly a war on substances—it was a war on dissent. And today, its ripple effects continue to limit progress in medicine, mental health, and scientific discovery. Undoing the damage means more than decriminalization; it requires rewriting the political narrative that turned healing plants and compounds into forbidden tools of wellness.