War on Drugs - Street Art

On June 17th, 1971 President Richard Nixon declared war on drugs. This declaration both enforced a campaign dedicated to ending the epidemic and subconsciously promoted violence among civilians. Nixon believed the United States of America's worst threat was narcotics and the problem must be terminated.

During the time of the epidemic, alongside many other cities, Chicago was impacted heavily. Even after the declaration of the war on drugs, drug abuse and addiction have not ended. Small neighborhoods are still suffering the same way as before, and one example is in Humboldt Park.

Ben Kurstin, a local resident in Humboldt Park, found pleasure in walking through his neighborhood en route to work. Walking freely allowed him to clear his mind and become inspired by something along his journey. During his commutes, he often found small clear bags (in other words, dime bags) that he knew once contained narcotics. Since his dime bag discoveries were not a one-time thing, he decided to collect them and turn them into artwork. Kurstin writes on a social media platform, "In 22 months I collected over 8800 drug bags in Humboldt Park, Chicago. My project is about how the "War on Drugs" has been a failure."

With these dime bags, Kurstin has designed former President Richard Nixon, the United States of America's flag, and many other colorful canvases all made of dime bags.

The street-view on this entry is a walk-through of the neighborhood where Kurstin found these dime bags and began his art project.

•  Hertzberg, Andrew. “This Chicago Artist Is Making Collages out of Used Dime Bags.” Rare. Rare, August 31, 2017. https://rare.us/local/chicago/this-chicago-artist-is-making-collages-out-of-used-dime-bags/.
• Hooper, Ben. “Chicago Artist Turns Discarded Drug Bags into Mosaic Art.” UPI. UPI, September 1, 2017. https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2017/09/01/Chicago-artist-turns-discarded-drug-bags-into-mosaic-art/5161504269861/. 
• Gossett, Stephen. “An Artist Transformed Nearly 9,000 Found Dime Bags into Stunning Mosaics.” The Chicagoist. Accessed November 13, 2021. https://chicagoist.com/2017/09/08/ben_kurstin_bags.php