Heroin Introduced 1898

Considered nonaddictiveFree samples by mail as “step down” cure for morphine addictionNon-medical use banned 1924Medical use banned 1970

Sigmund Freud Discovers Miracle Cure for Opioid

Addiction

An Effective Ophthalmologic Anesthetic and Vasoconstrictor

Cocaine

"...you are simply normal, and it is soon hard to believe you are under the influence of any drug.... Absolutely no craving for the further use of cocaine appears after the first, or even after repeated taking of the drug..."

Freud Praises Cocaine

Freud later ruefully admitted using cocaine to cure morphine addiction was "like trying to cast out the Devil with Beelzebub."

Drug War History:A Snapshot

CJ/PS 4535The War on Drugs

a Dr. Matt presentation

Significant Dates: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

Marijuana!!!

Marijuana!!!

Significant Dates: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

Consider:

Significant Dates:1970: Narcotics Treatment Administration formed (President Nixon) 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

Significant Dates:1971: Nixon declares war on drugs Most money for treatment

1971: Operation Golden Flow Required returning soldiers to take urine test

Significant Dates:1972: Office of Drug Abuse & Law Enforcement (ODALE) formed (President Nixon)

Coordinated task forces to reduce drugs and crime Shifted focus to law enforcement approach

1973: Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Primary federal agency involved in drug seizures and

busts

1978: Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act amended Allowed for asset forfeiture

Significant Dates:1981: US-Colombia treaty Allowed extradition of traffickers to US

1983: DARE founded in LA, California Totally ineffective

1984: Comprehensive Crime Control Act Longer sentences and increased bail amounts for

drug offenders

1985: “Just Say No” (Nancy Reagan) Totally ineffective

Estimated 1.2 Million Opioid Addicts in U.S.

Increasing since 1991

Lucas GM. Buprenorphine in primary HIV care clinics: a big pill to swallow. The Hopkins HIV Report. 2004;16:5-7.

Estimated 5.5 Million People Used Cocaine in the U.S. in 2005

Meth Treatment Admission Per 100,000

Meth Treatment Admission Per 100,000

Meth Treatment Admission Per 100,000

Impact of the War on Drugs on Incarceration in the United States

President Nixon Declares The “War On Drugs”

Congress Dramatically Increases Penalties For Drug Offenses

A Nation of Prisoners

The United States incarcerates more than six times as many people as does the entire European Union, which has 100,000,000 more people.

Weekly Growth in Prison Population

Costs of Drug Crime Continued to Climb

The Economic Costs of Drug Abuse in the United States 1992 – 2002, Office of Drug Control Policy

In Reality, Drugs Make Us Do Horrible Things

“Meth Mouth”