The Harrison Act of 1914 In the U.S., continued growing alarm over drug addiction, the rising Temperance Movement for alcohol, and a desire to maintain credibility with its international partners upon pushing for the 1912 Opium Convention, motivated the U.S. to pass its first major national antinarcotic law, the Harrison Act of 1914.
It is very important to remember that individual use or possession of any drug was not criminalized by this law, and that physicians were still free to prescribe heroin, cocaine, or any other available drug... The Harrison Act was a ___ law.
In 1914 Congress passed the Harrison Narcotic Drug Act, the first measure to control narcotics trafficking. The act approached control through a revenue path—requiring those who transported, sold, or possessed narcotics to report it to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and pay taxes.
The Harrison Act limited opium availability to only small amounts as prescribed by doctors, who were required to register and pay taxes on the amounts they prescribed. Opium comes from opium poppy plants native to Turkey; cocaine comes from the coca plant found in South America.
Opium comes from opium poppy plants native to Turkey; cocaine comes from the coca plant found in South America. Both produce a feeling of euphoria (an artificial high) but have long-term health consequences when abused.
An Act To provide for the registration of, with collectors of internal revenue, and to impose a special tax upon all persons who produce, import, manufacture, compound, deal in, dispense, sell, distribute, or give away opium or coca leaves, their salts, derivatives, or preparations, and for other purposes.
Many of the states also passed their own laws prohibiting the sale of opiates by 1916. A narcotics division was established in the U.S. Treasury Department that enforced the ban on all narcotics sales. The Harrison Act did have an effect on the supply of drugs; it was reflected by an increased demand for drugs on the black market by the mid-1920s.
The war on drugs dominated the criminal justice system in the 1980s and 1990s until antiterrorism measures took priority. Prisons expanded greatly to hold the large volume of drug offenders apprehended during this period.
Divide the class into two groups and discuss the longstanding debate as to whether drug use should be considered a crime or a public health issue. How do the two perspectives differ in the treatment of drug traffickers and users? Should society accept drug use as unavoidable and focus only socially disruptive behavior?
Abadinsky, Howard. Drug Abuse: An Introduction. Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall Publishers, 1997.
1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. - Prohibited interstate commerce in adulterated or misbranded foods and drugs, bringing the federal government full force into the drug marketplace. - specifically referred to alcohol, morphine, opium, cocaine, heroin, Cannabis indica (marijuana), and several other agents.
Phase Three. Administers the drug to larger numbers of individuals (typically, 1,000 to 5,000) with the disease or symptom for which the drug is intended. If the compound proves effective in phase three, the FDA balances its possible dangers against the benefits for patients before releasing it for sale to the public.
Phase One. Encompasses studies with relatively low doses of the drug on a limited number of healthy people—typically, 20 to 80 company employees, medical school personnel, and others who volunteer for such trials.
Prison versus Treatment. By 1928, people sentenced for drug violations made up 1/3 of the total population in federal prisons. Even though the 1920s were the period of alcohol prohibition, twice as many people were imprisoned for drug violations than for alcohol.