HISTORY OF DRUG ABUSE
Humans
have used drugs of one sort or another for
thousands
of years. Wine was used at least from the time of
the early Egyptians; narcotics from 4000 B.C.; and medicinal
use of marijuana has been dated to 2737 B.C. in China. But
not until the 19th cent. A.D. were the active substances in
drugs extracted. There followed a time when some of these
newly discovered substances-morphine, laudanum,
cocaine-were completely unregulated and prescribed freely by
physicians for a wide variety of ailments. They were available
in patent medicines and sold by traveling tinkers, in
drugstores, or through the mail. During the American Civil War,
morphine was used freely, and wounded veterans returned
home with their kits of morphine and hypodermic needles.
Opium dens flourished. By the early 1900s there were an
estimated 250,000 addicts in the United States.
The problems of addiction were recognized gradually. Legal
measures against drug abuse in the United States were first
established in 1875, when opium dens were outlawed in San
Francisco. The first national drug law was the Pure Food and
Drug Act of 1906, which required accurate labeling of patent
medicines containing opium and certain other drugs. In 1914
the Harrison Narcotic Act forbade sale of substantial doses of
opiates or cocaine except by licensed doctors and
pharmacies. Later, heroin was totally banned. Subsequent
Supreme Court decisions made it illegal for doctors to
prescribe any narcotic to addicts; many doctors who
prescribed maintenance doses as part of an addiction
treatment plan were jailed, and soon all attempts at treatment
were abandoned. Use of narcotics and cocaine diminished by
the 1920s. The spirit of temperance led to the prohibition of
alcohol by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution in
1919, but Prohibition was repealed in 1933.
In the 1930s most states required antidrug education in the
schools, but fears that knowledge would lead to
experimentation caused it to be abandoned in most places.
Soon after the repeal of Prohibition, the U.S. Federal Bureau of
Narcotics (now the Drug Enforcement Administration) began a
campaign to portray marijuana as a powerful, addicting
substance that would lead users into narcotics addiction. In
the 1950s, use of marijuana increased again, along with that
of amphetamines and tranquilizers. The social upheaval of the
1960s brought with it a dramatic increase in drug use and
some increased social acceptance; by the early 1970s some
states and localities had decriminalized marijuana and
lowered drinking ages. The 1980s brought a decline
use of most drugs, but cocaine and crack use soared. The
military became involved in border patrols for the first time, and
troops invaded Panama and brought its de facto leader,
Manuel Noriega, to trial for drug trafficking.
Throughout the years, the public's perception of the dangers of
specific substances changed. The surgeon general's warning
label on tobacco packaging gradually made people aware of
the addictive nature of nicotine. By 1995, the Food and Drug
Administration was considering its regulation. The recognition
of fetal alcohol syndrome brought warning labels to alcohol
products. The addictive nature of prescription drugs such as
diazepam (Valium) became known, and caffeine came under
scrutiny as well.
Drug laws have tried to keep up with the
changing perceptions
and real dangers of substance abuse. By 1970 over 55 federal
drug laws and countless state laws specified a variety of
punitive measures, including life imprisonment and even the
death penalty. To clarify the situation, the Comprehensive Drug
Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 repealed, replaced,
or updated all previous federal laws concerned with narcotics
and all other dangerous drugs. While possession was made
illegal, the severest penalties were reserved for illicit
distribution and manufacture of drugs. The act dealt with
prevention and treatment of drug abuse as well as control of
drug traffic. The Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of 1986 and 1988
increased funding for treatment and rehabilitation; the 1988
act created the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Its
director, often referred to as the drug czar, is responsible for
coordinating national drug control policy.
