Harrison Act

Cocaine wos written in the US shortly after the passing of Ihe Harrison Act, a piece of legislation banning the non-prescript ion sales of cocaine and other drugs. This prohibition was the result of the tremendous a mount of drug debilitation and Addiction caused by the rash of potent patent medicines which swept the country around (he tern of the century. 

The U.S. government passes the Harrison Act, which regulates narcotic substances. 

It should be noted that the Harrison Act was structured as a tax law. Until the Supreme Court expanded the interpretation of Congress s power to regulate interstate commerce, Congress often relied on the better established taxing power. 

Marijuana had not been included under the Harrison Act. The Marijuana Tax Act brought the plant under federal regulation, also using the form of a tax law. The essential feature was that a tax was imposed on the manufacture and distribution of marijuana. Because a growing number of states had already made possession of marijuana illegal, a dealer or user faced a Catch-22 either pay the ta.x and thereby furnish evidence of intent to violate the state law, or not pay the tax and be subject to being charged with a federal tax offense. 

Boggs Amendment to the Harrison Act (1951) removed much judicial dis-... 

The defendant, a physician, was indicted for violating section 2 of the Harrison Narcotics Act by selling 500 tablets of heroin to a known addict, such sale not being part of any legitimate medical practice. The Harrison Act required that forms be filed with the government for any such nonmedical distribution of controlled drugs other provisions required payment of an excise tax. 

The four dissenting justices argued that die district court was correct in its belief that the Harrison Act actually represented an attempt by Congress to exercise a police power reserved to the states, in the guise of a tax measure. 

While laws continued to be passed over the next seven decades, none proved to be as controversial as the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 and 1988. Like the Harrison Act, this law arose during an epidemic of cocaine use. 

Since addiction was not considered a legitimate disease meriting a prescription for narcotics (the medical community itself was split), an increasing number of people subsequently resorted to criminal activity to obtain their drugs the cost of heroin on the streets rose from 6.50/ounce to approximately 100. The increase in crime validated the Treasury Department s fear that deprived addicts would threaten the public order. Although passage of the Harrison Act did increase the price of street narcotics, it also resulted in a reduction of patent medicine narcotics as well as a decline in addiction rates. 

The strength of the temperance movement in overcoming economic realities of the day is illustrated by the effect the Eightieth Amendment had on the collection of fees by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In 1916, gross receipts at the IRS were 513 million, of which 241 million were derived from distilled spirits and fermented liquors. Thus, 47 percent of IRS receipts were from alcohol-related income versus 13 percent from personal income tax. The movement s fervor also affected the medical profession. With the cynical belief that physicians would discharge their responsibilities under prohibition no better than they had under the Harrison Act, new legislation was created. The specific law, the Willis-Campbell Act of 1921, was enacted in order to restrict the number of liquor prescriptions permitted by each physician. 

During the 1920s, enforcement of prohibition of alcohol surpassed that of narcotics by the Harrison Act. However, despite disparate resources, the smaller Narcotic Division successfully closed 44 opiate-dispensing clinics by 1923. This hard-line attitude reflected the prevailing public mood of the day that narcotic maintenance served only to contribute to or create a menacing personality. Not much has changed in contemporary society. 

But Congress got more than it bargained for. The bureaucrats who moved into the department began to feel the need to justify their existence beyond that of mere bookkeepers and they began to look for ways to expand and improve their worth. One way of becoming important was to take a more active part in overseeing the Harrison Act. But to do so, the terms of the act had to be broadened. To expand, there had to be an issue, one that Congress could understand and appreciate and at the same time see the need to bolster the Narcotics Division. 

Shortly after the adoption of the Harrison Act, the United States also passed the Eighteenth Amendment, outlawing the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol across state lines. (Consumption, on the other hand, was still legal.)... 

In contrast to the antinarcotics laws, however, Prohibition came about with little debate. But like the Harrison Act, Prohibition continued the pattern of using federal authority to dictate morality to Americans and of placing enforcement of the law under the watchful eye of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. 

A second reason for Anslinger s initial reluctance to join in an antimarihuana campaign on a federal level was that there was no federal law under which marihuana offenses could be prosecuted. The Harrison Act did not apply since it encompased only dmgs not grown in the United States such as opium. 

The bill was labeled 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. Rather than making opium or cocaine illegal, the Harrison Act instead allowed doctors and pharmacists to continue to prescribe narcotics, and manufacturers and importers to continue to meet this demand, provided that they registered with the internal revenue office and paid the fee of one dollar per year. (At the time cocaine was incorrectly labeled as a narcotic. )... 

The opportunity the Harrison Act offered to those seeking to stamp out the spread of addiction was contained in one small phrase. A doctor or a dentist was permitted to continue to prescribe cocaine and other narcotics, provided that it was done in the course of his professional practice only. In other words, cocaine could be prescribed as part of a recommended course of medical treatment but not merely to help someone who was addicted to the drug avoid the symptoms of withdrawal or continue with their drug use. Doctors found to be writing prescriptions without some medical backup for the prescription could be and were arrested. 

As a result of the Harrison Act (1914), morphine came under government control and was made available only by prescription. Although morphine is addictive, heroin, a derivative of morphine, is much more addictive and induces a greater sense of euphoria that lasts for a longer time. 

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