Drug War History: A Snapshot

1. Drug War History:A Snapshot

2. Significant Dates: ** Opium 1875: San Francisco First anti-drug law in US Banned smoking opium, opium dens, possession of opium pipes 1880: US and China agreement Banned shipping opium between countries 1883 and 1887: Congress acts Raised tariff on opium imports, banned imports by Chinese, banned flavored opium 1909: Opium Exclusion Act Banned opium that could be smoked Lesson #1 � This was NOT likely about opium but rather about who was using it (see Robinson and Scherlen, Chapter 2, p. 20)

3. Significant Dates:

4. Significant Dates: ** Patent Drugs 1906: Food and Drugs Act In response to The Jungle and abuses of patent medicines Required truthful and complete labeling of products (including patent drugs) Did not ban drugs but required truthful labeling Patent medicine led to the nation�s FIRST major drug problem (see p. 21).

5. Significant Dates: ** Patent Drugs

6. Significant Dates: ** Patent Drugs

16. Significant Dates: ** Patent Drugs Sears and Roebuck sold hypodermic kits for morphine! See! Lesson #2 � Legalization may increase drug use

17. Significant Dates: ** Narcotics 1914: Harrison Narcotics Control Act Required registration with Treasury Department for importing, manufacturing, selling, dispensing cocaine/opiates Imposed prohibitive tax Allowed physicians to prescribe and dispense for �legitimate medical purposes � in course of professional practice� (but not to maintain addict)

18. Significant Dates: ** Narcotics Lesson #3 � Drug laws are often serve ulterior motives (see p. 22)

19. Significant Dates: ** Narcotics Interpreted as �prohibitory� by Treasury Department�s Narcotics Division. 1919: Treasury begins arresting doctors for opiate prescriptions for addicts Led to three US Supreme Court cases (see p. 23) Doctors would no longer �serve� addicts Lesson #4 � Prohibition creates black market (see p. 23)

20. Significant Dates:

21. Significant Dates: ** Alcohol 1919: 18th Amendment prohibits alcohol Lasted until 1933 Alcohol consumption reduced by modest amount Great costs created (violent crime, murder, corruption, expansion of criminal justice) Lesson #5 � Prohibition creates great costs

22. Significant Dates: ** Marijuana 1930: Bureau of Narcotics formed (Treasury Dept.) Harry Anslinger, director Close links to William Randolph Hearst (newspaper giant / timber guy), E.I. DuPont (paper giant), and Andrew Mellon (Sec. of Treasury and owner of Mellon Bank) Launched campaign against the �killer weed� and �assassin of youth� marijuana "Most marijuana smokers are Negroes, Hispanics, jazz musicians, and entertainers. Their satanic music is driven by marijuana, and marijuana smoking by white women makes them want to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and others. It is a drug that causes insanity, criminality, and death -- the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."�

23. Marijuana!!!

24. Marijuana!!!

25. Marijuana!!!

26. Significant Dates: ** Marijuana 1937: Marijuana Tax Act Required tax stamp to sell ($1) Required laborious procedures to prescribe Very tough sentences (�life� for selling to minor) Bureau also wrote sample bill banning pot (adopted by 40 states) Partly inspired by racist sentiment Lesson #6 � Many drug wars inspired by racism/ ethnocentrism (see p. 25)

27. Consider:

28. Consider:

29. Consider:

30. Every drug war seems focused ONLY on �some people�s drugs� Alcohol (1880s / early 1900s): Woman�s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) concerned with alcohol use by non-Christian immigrants Opium (late 1800s / early 1900s): focused on Chinese laborers who represented unwanted labor competition Marijuana (1930s): grounded in racism against Mexican immigrants (�drug-crazed criminals�) taking jobs away from Americans Crack (1980s): focused mostly on urban minorities, especially African Americans Consider:

31. Significant Dates: ** Marijuana Doctors NOT opposed to marijuana use AMA urged Congress not to vote for 1937 Marijuana Tax Act Lesson #7 � Harms of some drugs overstated for political purposes, and empirical evidence often is ignored

32. Significant Dates: 1951: Boggs Act Quadrupled penalties for pot offenses Mandatory death penalty for selling to minor 1956: Daniel Act Mandatory prison sentences and no parole for heroin sales Mandatory death penalty for selling heroin to minor 1966: Bureau of Drug Abuse Control (BADC) formed (Food and Drug Administration) Enforced Drug Abuse Control Amendments of 1965 regulating stimulants, sedatives

33. Significant Dates: 1968: Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) formed (Justice Dept.) Combined Bureau of Narcotics (Treasury Dept.), Bureau of Drug Abuse Control (Health, Education, and Welfare Dept.) 1969: Operation Intercept Required thorough search of vehicles crossing Mexican border Major failure Lesson #8 � Drug control efforts often interfere with other government priorities (see p. 26)

34. Significant Dates: ** Nixon 1970: Narcotics Treatment Administration formed (President Nixon) Drug abuse expert, Dr. Robert Dupont, director In part due to military addiction to heroin from Vietnam Treatment received majority of funds 1970: Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act �Federalization� or �nationalization� of drug control Created 5 drug schedules through Controlled Substances Act see p. 27

35. Significant Dates: ** Nixon 1971: Nixon declares war on drugs Most money for treatment Also sets up Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention, headed by Dr. Jerome Jaffe (methadone treatment expert) 1971: Operation Golden Flow Required returning soldiers to take urine test

36. Significant Dates: ** Nixon 1972: Office of Drug Abuse & Law Enforcement (ODALE) formed (President Nixon) Miles Ambrose, Director (former Customs Director) Coordinated task forces to reduce drugs and crime Shifted focus to law enforcement approach 1973: Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Idea of Miles Ambrose Primary federal agency involved in drug seizures and busts See handout 1978: Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act amended Allowed for asset forfeiture

37. Significant Dates: ** DARE 1981: US-Colombia treaty Allowed extradition of traffickers to US Banned in 1991 by Colombian Constitution but reinstated later 1983: DARE founded in LA, California Totally ineffective (see p. 29)

38. Significant Dates: ** Just Say No 1984: Comprehensive Crime Control Act Longer sentences and increased bail amounts for drug offenders 1985: �Just Say No� (Nancy Reagan) Totally ineffective (see p. 29)

39. Significant Dates: ** Crack Cocaine 1986: Anti-Drug Abuse Act Mandatory sentencing and 100:1 disparities for crack versus powder Decertification for countries (p. 30) 1988: Anti-Drug Abuse Act Created Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to lead war on drugs ONDCP authorized for ONLY 5 years (see pp. 30-31) William Bennett, Director Lesson #9 � Drug war prior to 1988 was not clearly formulated carefully planned policy (see p. 31)

40. Significant Dates: ** Bush/Clinton 1989: President Bush re-declares war �All of us agree that the gravest domestic threat facing our country today is drugs� US invades Panama to get Manuel Noriega,a paid CIA operative since early 1970s (seep. 31) 1993: North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) makes thorough inspections impossible Lesson #10 � One priority of government often interferes with another (see p. 31)

41. Significant Dates: ** Clinton 1994: Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (President Clinton) Death penalty for high level drug offenders Mandatory sentences for other drug offenders 1995: US Sentencing Commission recommends reversing mandatory minimum sentences for crack Rejected by Congress (first time ever) 1996: Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act Conviction for drug offense means removal of welfare, food stamps assistance

42. Significant Dates: ** Oh brother! 1998: Drug-Free Media Campaign Act National anti-drug media campaign Massive failure (see p. 34). And tried before: This is your brain on drugs OK but who cleans up the mess? Pee Wee says: �This is crack� Dive in! If your dog talks � Lazy and boring � You used to be taller? These are good friends! I do whatever my friends say � Smoking pot funds terrorism

43. Significant Dates: ** Oh brother! My favorite: In "Pool," a toddler carries an inflatable raft to a swimming pool and places it in the water. As she teeters on the edge, a voiceover says: "Just tell her parents you weren't watching her because you were getting stoned. They'll understand.� FADE TO BLACK And yes, they still do it

44. Significant Dates: ** Clinton 1998: Higher Education Act No federal financial aid with drug conviction 2000: Plan Colombia US military intervention in Colombia to inhibit coca cultivation Rolled into �Andean Regional Initiative� in 2001 (Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Venezuela)

45. Significant Dates: ** W. Bush 2001: Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act Targets raves and �drug-involved premises� for Ecstasy Could not get out of committee so attached to Child Abduction Protect Act 2003:Illict Drug Anti-Proliferation Act Targets �raves� using �crack house� statute Attached as provision of Amber Alert bill Most recent issues deal with drugs and terrorism, medical marijuana, harm reduction in states (see pp. 35-36)