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Coca Plant
The Coca plant was first extracted in 1859 by Albert Nieeman. It was then used and promoted by Freud. He began using cocaine in 1884. Cocaine was first used to help treat morphine addiction but the result would be the addict would become dependent on cocaine and morphine. There were very popular items that contained coca for example, Coca-Col. In 1908 a study was done and it found that more than 40 brands of soft drinks contained cocaine. -
Sinclairs the Jungle
This reported the unsafe and unsanitary conditions of the meat industry in Chaicago. The sales of meat dropped fifty perceent. There was an investigation done and it was found that Sinclairs findings were accurate. This was one of the reasons the Pure food Act was passed. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
The main purpose the pure food and Drug Act was to ban foreign interstate traffic in adulterated or mislabeled food and drug products. It required that the ingredients be listed on the label and drugs could now fall below the aloud levels according to the United States Pharmacopeia. -
Harrison Act
Woodrow Wilson approved the Harrison Act in order too surpress the use of opium, morphone, and cocaine. Anyone that was selling drugs would need to register annually and pay a annual tax of a 1$. If you were caught selling drugs and not registered you could face jail time and or a fine, In 1930, the congress removed the drug enforcement due to corruption. -
Prohibition
In 1919, the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, that banned the manufacture and sell of any alcoholic beverage in the United States. On January 16, 1920 the amendment was passed and Prohibition became a federal law. The Volstead act was created to set rules regarding what alcohol was prohibited. The use of religious wines were acceotable. This law remained in place until 1933. -
Patent Medicines
Patent medications frequently contained significant amounts of cocaine. The use of opium is known to be derived from the U.S patent medicine industry. People were promoting medical cures that did not work as promoted. The jungle by Sinclair help lead to put an end to the patent medicine industry. -
Marijuana
Marijuana's was brought to Africa by the Arab traders and then introduced to Brazil through the slave trade in the 1660's. It has been said that with the marijuana legislation race was an influence. Marijuana was known to be related to the Mexicans. In 1937 Congress developed a Tax Act. The act placed a tax the drug at 100 dollars an ounce. There were many that did not support this act. They felt that marijuana "degrades its users mentally, physically, and morally". -
Drug Rehabiltation Programs
In 1961, California designed a civil commitment program that drug addicts would be taking into custody and admitted just as a mentally ill person. Between the years of 1969-1974 there was an upraise in drug rehabilitation programs. It went from an 80 million dollar industry to an 800 million dollar industry during that time. -
Crack Cocaine
A new form of cocaine became popular called crack-cocaine. This from of drug was smoked, not snorted like the powder of cocaine. It became popular in New York. By 1989, the fad of the drug began to wear off. -
Ronald Reagen
During Reagen's presidency drugs became a major political issue. He fought hard to put a stop to the heavy drug use in the United States. There were multiple deaths that led to this. For example, Len Bias, and Don Rodgers were highley publicized known overdoses. In 1988, the fight against drugs finally passed a drug bill called the Anti Drug use Act of 1988. -
1990
This is when the lack of political interest in the drug use began. Prisons became overcrowded due to all of the federal policies. More people were sentenced to drug rehab, probation, and parole. There has been a rise in methamphetamine, the use of prescription drugs, and marijuana remains popular. -
Drug Policies racial and ethnic groups
Race, religion, and ethnicity have been known to be related to the drugs throughout the United States. For example, chinese and opium, African American and Cocaine, and Irish with alcohol. Profiling races are still popular today just as they were back then.
