Many Presidents determined that the war on drugs was a direct and critical threat to our nation's national security. President Reagan made it a national priority and made it policy to involve the United States Military. Reagan focused on South America based drug based Cartels. He felt it the best way to combat the growing drug problem in the United States. President Bush had a slightly different approach. He targeted Columbia, Bolivia, and Peru increasing drug enforcement operations. President Bush increased spending to assist the war on drugs by more than $750 million to over a billion dollars by 1992. President Clinton decided to take a less aggressive role trying to focus on a domestic drug enforcement policy. This resulted in an increase of young Americans using illegal drugs. This caused President Clinton to also take a more aggressive stance toward the war on drugs. Drugs are a clear and present danger to our national security and we should treat it as such. Drug Cartels, formidable highly funded multi-national corporations, use terrorist tactics to ensure their product to the consumer. Thesis Statement: Drug Cartels pose a phenomenal threat to our national security; it is important that our military play a major part combating these extremely well funded multi-national corporations that use terrorist type tactics.

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