For more than forty years our country has had a problem with our southern border neighbor, Mexico. The issue of the growing number of drug users and violence related to drug smuggling dates back to 1954, during the presidency of Eisenhower (Suddath). When Eisenhower was president he realized that the rate of people using drugs was increasing, which is why he established a five-member cabinet to stop “narcotic addiction” (Suddath). However this problem seemed to be a growing problem because in 1973 President Nixon established the Drug Enforcement Administration (Suddath). Its goal was to reduce statistics on illegal drug use by increasing the size of federal drug agencies (“A Brief History of the War on Drugs”). Another issue that arose during his presidency was whether or not to criminalize or decriminalize marijuana (“A Brief History of the War on Drugs”). During his presidency, eleven states wanted to decriminalize marijuana, saying it could be used for medicinal purposes and reduce statistics on illegal drug use (“A Brief History of the War on Drugs”). Nixon was determined to decriminalize marijuana, but the topic was later dropped as parents complained about the growing number of teenagers abusing marijuana use (“A Brief History of the War on Drugs”). It is evident that presidents help stop the use of marijuana. illegal drugs did little to help. When Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president, he decided to expand the war on drugs in hopes that it would alleviate the statistics of people consuming contraband illegal drugs (“A Brief History of the War on Drugs”). His efforts, however, have only increased incarceration rates: “The number of people behind bars for nonviolent drug law violations… middle of the paper… we need to educate students and help them be successful so that they will never want to fall under the influence of drugs. The most important thing is that we must recognize that this problem will not be solved quickly, it will take a long time to stop these gangs that have infiltrated and terrorized people, but we must continue to educate and provide resources so that people do not fall under the influence of drugs. Works Cited "A Brief History of the War on Drugs." npndWeb. February 17, 2014.Archibold, C, Randal . The New York Times. Apatzingan Newspaper. 16 January 2014. Web. 28 January 2014. Faysett, Richard. Los Angeles Times. 7 November 2013. Web. 5 February 2014. “Brutal Mexican drug gang enters in the United States" Washington Times. April 19th. 2011.Web. January 30, 2014.Suddath, Claire. “The War on Drugs.” Time. Time Inc. March 25, 2009. Web. February 17. 2014.