Drug Crazy

Drug Crazy: How We Got into This Mess and How We Can Get Out by Mike Gray, Routledge, 2000. 

Criminalization of Narcotics

The author describes the criminalization of narcotics in the United States during the early twentieth century. At the beginning of the twentieth century there were about 3 thousand opium addicts in the United States. People often took laudanum (tincture of opium). The usage of narcotics decreased after the Food and Drug Act of 1906 required labeling of ingredients in medications.

Opium Commission (1909)

President Teddy Roosevelt had the U.S. State Department create the Opium Commission to improve relations with China. The International Opium Commission first met at Shanghai in January 1909. Hamilton Wright was the U.S. delegate. The Second International Conference on Opium met in December 1911 at The Hague. Hamilton Wright was again the U.S. representative. The resulting document was called The International Opium Convention, which required the United States to pass anti-narcotics laws.

Licensing and Record Keeping (1914)

The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914 required licensing and record keeping under the obligations of The International Opium Convention. The Harrison Act required that pharmacists obtain a license from the federal government in order to dispense narcotics (opium and cocaine) and to keep records of narcotics dispensed. A physician could prescribe narcotics in the course of his professional practice only, and enforcement agents could decide that feeding an addict’s habit was not part of the doctor’s professional practice.

Fear Mongering

Proponents of narcotics prohibition used fear mongering to persuade the public to support drug prohibition. They talked about drug-crazed niggers raping white women, marijuana-crazed Mexicans, and cocaine zombies. Richmond Pearson Hobson was a radio personality in the 1920s who promoted fears of drunken Indians and Negroes. The association of drugs and race had a long history in the United States. For example, the 1875 San Francisco opium ordinance had been aimed at the Chinese.

Federal Bureau of Narcotics (1930)

The Porter Act of 1930 created Federal Bureau of Narcotics of the Treasury Department. Harry J. Anslinger became its first commissioner. Harry Anslinger convinced state governments to include marijuana in their lists of prohibited narcotics. In 1936, Anslinger went to the League of Nations in Geneva and tried to get them to outlaw marijuana, but the League refused.

Marijuana Tax Act of 1937

A bill Anslinger drafted, the Marijuana Tax Act, became federal law in 1937.

Boggs Act of 1951

In 1951, Thomas Hale Boggs, Sr., Louisiana congressman, sponsored a bill with harsh mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana, cocaine and opium.

Narcotics Control Act of 1956

The Narcotics Control Act of 1956 was even harsher than the Boggs Act. Texas Democrat Senator Price Daniel was a proponent of this act. Thousands of doctors were indicted for prescribing narcotics.