Anslinger as commissioner. Under his 32 year tenure, drugs were increasingly criminalized. The Boggs Act intensively increased the penalties for marijuana use. The Narcotics Control Act of 1956 eliminated all discretion to suspend sentences or grant probation. Parole was only privileged to first offenders convicted of possession, and the death penalty readily available for heroin dealers who served minors. Anslinger was so determined on criminalizing drugs, he requested judges to increase the minimum sentence on the drug policy. Under his authorization, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics used propaganda as a precautionary measure. They assembled myths and frightening stories about drugs in hopes to instill fear on the American people. One story surrounded a group of people flying into a delirious rage and committing violent crimes. .
The drug propaganda of the 1940s and 1950s was often so complex nobody believed the government's cautions on drugs. The 1960s presented a different issue for the war on drugs in its entirety. The "Hippie" movement counterculture popularized drugs making it fashionable and appealing, especially on college campuses. Numerous Vietnam veterans returned with heroin and marijuana habits. In response to this, the Johnson Administration passed the Narcotics Addict Rehabilitation Act of 1966. Narcotic addiction would now be recognized as a mental illness but drug use however, is still punishable by law. Although the act did not prosper, the funding was relatively small compared to the amount of resources required to accomplish plenty. In retrospect, the act paved the road for federal awareness on drug abuse treatment. .
In 1971 President Richard Nixon asserted his war on drugs.2 Nixon's perspective reflected both the need to criminalize and sympathize, in the context of distribution and addiction. Nixon lead the first compelling federal funding treatment program in 1971 which funded the controversial methadone maintenance program.