Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, the United States has a problem and it is well documented. But that does not at all begin to tell the whole story about why people are locked up. In the United States it is large numbers of people that got caught up in the so-called war-on-drugs, in Turkey it is because Erdogan has used the failed coup (if there even was one) as a pretext to lock up just about everybody who he felt might be a threat to his regim…
It seems Nixon's and Erdogan's motivations were similar. The war on drugs was created by the Nixon regime as a way to neutralize threatening political movements like Black Power and the Hippie Peace movement.
This seems like one of those Illuminati/Knights Templar conspiracy theories. I don't buy it. I'm imagining Nixon's cabinet in a super secret meeting:
Nixon: "Those hippies and negroes. They are growing too powerful. Soon, democrats will dominate every level of government"
Secretary of State: "But what can we do?"
Nixon: smirks and peers over reading glasses directly at the camera
Nixon: "We hit them where it hurts. Tell me, what does the hippy and the negro have in common?"
Secretary of Agriculture: "High rates of homelessness?"
Nixon: "No, the Reefer. We can't outright declare war on US citizens. But we can attack the thing they hold most dear and get the religious right to love us for it."
Secretary of Defense: "Mother of God... a war... on drugs"
Nixon: "Precisely. The hippy and negro cannot resist the draw of the Reefer. Thus, we simply declare war on the Reefer. We can lock them up in prisons where they will harmlessly live out their days, unable to empower the democratic party."