13th Page #5

admitted the war on drugs

was all about

throwing black people in jail.

He said, quote,

The end of the Reagan era

I'm like 11 or 12 or

Old enough to understand

The sh*t'll change forever

They declared the war on drugs

Like a war on terror

But what it really did was

Let the police terrorize whoever

But mostly black boys

But they would call us n*ggers

And lay us on our belly

While they fingers on they triggers

Raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I, Ronald Reagan, do solemnly swear...

that I will faithfully

execute the Office...

The election of Ronald Reagan was, uh,

in many ways, transformative,

in a negative sense.

President Richard Nixon

was the first to coin the term

"a war on drugs,"

but President Ronald Reagan turned

that rhetorical war into a literal one.

It's back to school time

for America's children.

And while drug and alcohol abuse

cuts across all generations,

it's especially damaging

to the young people

on whom our future depends.

The modern war on drugs was declared

by Ronald Reagan in 1982.

As we mobilize for this national crusade,

I'm mindful that drugs

are a constant temptation for millions.

Popular opinion polls of the day

show that it wasn't an issue

for most people in the United States.

But Reagan was determined

to put this onto the agenda

to define it as a problem.

A war against drugs

is a war of individual battles.

Reagan used his wife, for example,

in this "Just Say No" campaign.

She has helped so many of our young people

to say no to drugs.

Nancy, much credit belongs to you.

This is your brain.

This is drugs.

This is your brain on drugs.

I joined it.

And some people said,

"Well, how can you join

a person declaring a war on drugs,

someone like Ronald Reagan?"

I joined with Nancy Reagan

because she said, "Just say no."

Just say no so loud

that everyone around you can hear it.

We're talking about a general education

that we're talking about.

We're not talking about locking up people.

We're talking about educating people.

We're talking about prevention.

There was a crisis

in the US economy at that time.

I regret to say

that we're in the worst economic mess

since the Great Depression.

There is a frontal assault

on institutions that are designed

to assist human beings,

on the education system, welfare,

on jobs, healthcare.

Government programs that can't be paid for

out of a balanced budget

must be paid for out of your pocket.

The rich are getting richer

and the poor are getting poorer.

The idea of expanding, uh,

the freedom of American business

and the entrepreneurial class...

We will save $1.8 billion

in fiscal year 1982.

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