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<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoTitle>A Brief History of Drug Prohibition</p>
<p class=MsoTitle><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>In the latter half of the nineteenth century,
American druggists sold a variety of <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>patent</b>
medicines over-the-counter both with and without a doctor's prescription. Many
of these products contained heavy doses of opiates, cocaine, and cannabis. At
that time, the medical community did not know the risks in taking these
medicines, nor did they have access to less potent painkillers, such as
aspirin.</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>Concerned over the increasing numbers of addicts to
morphine, Congress passed the <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Pure Food
and Drug Act of 1906</b> to combat the patent medicine industry. The new law
required<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> labels </b>on all habit-forming
medicines. These new "poison laws" listed the ingredients and warned
the consumer of the danger of overdose and addiction.</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>Before 1914, twenty-nine states had passed these <b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>non-punitive</b> measures to
"regulate" the use of narcotics. The word �narcotic� means sleep
inducing.</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>In 1914, the <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Harrison
Narcotics Act</b> became the first<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
"punitive"</b> measure levied by the <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal'>Federal Government. </b>The new law punished<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal'> </b>anyone, including physicians, who dealt, sold, and gave away
opiates, cocaine, or their derivatives without a written record, a license, and
payment of an <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>occupational tax</b>. The
new legislation responded to an increased concern that physicians and druggists
dispensed addictive drugs too freely, which led to more addiction. The Supreme
Court supported the new <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>criminal</b> law
and ruled that prevention of withdrawal from an addictive drug was no longer a
legitimate reason for medical treatment. </p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>The Harrison Act shut off all addicts from their
legal supply and forced them to rely on street dealers. The inflated prices of
the illegal market often drove addicts into thievery and prostitution, to
acquire enough money to afford the drug. This led to an increase in crime and
fostered the belief in the public mind that drug addiction itself caused crime
and depravity. The addict was now labeled a criminal and dope fiend.</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>By 1923, the new punitive laws had forced all drug
clinics to shut down. The compassionate medical model of maintenance and
gradual reduction shifted to a crusade of zero tolerance against illegal drug
users.</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>Prohibitionists did not attack illegal drug users
directly but they could enforce the <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>occupational
tax law</b> by arresting anyone for <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>tax
evasion </b>who transferred narcotics without a license. By using the tax
angle, the Treasury Department became the drug enforcement branch of the
Government. By 1920, the Narcotic Division of the Prohibition Unit of the
Internal Revenue Service had come into existence.</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>The narcotic tax laws highlighted the argument
between the drug prohibitionists policy of "serve and protect" the public
and <st1:place>Jefferson</st1:place>'s <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>inalienable</b>
right of the individual to "life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness." Under constant pressure from prohibitionist groups, Federal
lawmakers favored public morality over the pursuit of happiness and banned the
manufacture and sale of the demon drug, <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>alcohol</b>,
in 1920; however, they arrested but<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> did
not send folks to prison</b> for simple<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> </b>possession.</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>The prohibition of alcohol at the Federal level took
away<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> state control</b> of the drug and
placed it in the hands of the Federal Prohibition Bureau. The experiment met
with success in the first few years because it reduced availability, but
private stills and bootleggers soon replaced a legal, regulated and taxed
industry. </p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>In 1930, the Narcotics Division separated from the
Bureau of Prohibition and became the powerful Federal Bureau of Narcotics
(FBN).</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>By 1933, because of police corruption, mob violence,
loss of taxes and deaths from bad liquor, Congress realized alcohol prohibition
at the Federal level was a catastrophic failure and decided to returned control
to the states. The repeal of alcohol prohibition was a serious blow to the FBN
but the narcotic drug trade continued to provide job opportunities for agents.</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>In 1937, the head of the FBN, Harry Anslinger,
successfully applied the same<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> </b>strategy
used in the Harrison Narcotics Act to outlaw the cannabis plant and its cousin,
the hemp plant. The new prohibition was another <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal'>tax evasion scheme </b>run by the Treasury Department called the <b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Marihuana Tax Act of 1937</b>. The bill
passed in part because Anslinger replaced the familiar words "hemp"
with the <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Mexican </b>word,
"marihuana," which Congress and the public had never heard before. </p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>From 1930 to 1970, the FBN used this word to create
hostility against the "killer weed" through sensational newspaper
headlines and film propaganda. In a relentless campaign of lies and scare
tactics, Anslinger and his agents �educated� the public and forced the
cannabis/hemp/marihuana plant into <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Schedule
1</b>, next to heroin. Schedule1 drugs have no recognized use or value and
constitute a felony if found in one�s possession.</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>�</span>In 1972,
President Richard Nixon, who preferred the taste of cigars and alcohol,
dismissed the recommendations of his own drug panel of experts (The Schafer
Report) to decriminalize cannabis and launched an all out war against cannabis.
Nixon, the puritan and prohibitionist, vowed he would wipe out all illegal
drugs from American society. This would require a huge amount of tax dollars to
create the largest prison complex in the world and to hire enough police to
arrest every drug dealer. Anyone who passed a joint was a dealer, in Nixon's
view. </p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>�</span>In the
1980's, Ronald Reagan (with prodding from <st1:City><st1:place>Nancy</st1:place></st1:City>)
boosted the war effort and ordered law enforcement across the country to focus
on <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>individual users</b>. The war against
privacy became a national campaign and escalated into warrantless home
invasions and confiscations of property. It systematically destroyed the lives
of millions of Americans and turned the country into a breeding ground of
violence and fear. The Reagan's promoted the belief that arresting the
individual user would reduce demand and put the dealers out of business. </p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>Today, the new Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA), the prison industry, and an army of law enforcement agencies worldwide,
command a yearly budget of sixty nine billion dollars of tax money and
intercept 10% of illegal drugs. Over the last seventy years, the drug war
industry has imprisoned over 20 million Americans for growing or smoking the
cannabis plant. Under Federal Law, the simple possession of cannabis is a
felony.</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>The Supreme Court and Congress have proven time
after time they do not support Jeffersonian principles that once protected the
private citizen against government intrusion. The Supreme Court and Congress
have given the DEA free access to American homes and bodies, and immunity from
prosecution in a misguided effort to purge <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>
of outlawed substances.</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>Ninety-four years after the Harrison Narcotic Act,
estimates show the number of hard-core drug addicts in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region> remains the same, (1.3%), and 20
million Americans continue to use marijuana for medical relief and for
pleasure.</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>For more information or to help end change current
drug policies, join www.leap.cc (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). </p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent align=center style='text-align:center;text-indent:
0in'><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Source:<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal'> </b>www.druglibrary.org<b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><o:p></o:p></b></i></p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent style='text-indent:0in'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>����� </span>James Wiley</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent><st1:Street><st1:address>48 Woodland Ave</st1:address></st1:Street></p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>San <st1:place><st1:City>Anselmo</st1:City> <st1:State>CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode>94960</st1:PostalCode></st1:place></p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>415-453-8715</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent>Updated May 2011</p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoBodyTextIndent><o:p> </o:p></p>
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