The 1971 escalation under Nixon revealed prohibition’s fundamentally dishonest nature when the administration declared cannabis “public enemy number one” while privately acknowledging that the president didn’t consider it “particularly dangerous” and found penalties “ridiculous.” John Ehrlichman’s later admission that “we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the (Vietnam) war or Black,” but could criminalize drugs associated with these groups, exposes prohibition as deliberate political warfare against dissenting communities.