The Law and Drug Abuse

The Pure Food and Drug Act was passed mainly in response to widespread public concern about contaminated meat and other food, but patent medicines with dubious contents and misleading labels were also a significant problem. Among its other provisions this law required that any narcotic ingredients in a patent medicine be disclosed, and prohibited unwarranted claims of curative powers. 

The Harrison Narcotics Act represents the first federal effort to gain control over the burgeoning use of harmful drugs in the United States. Chap- 

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. 

The criminalization of marijuana proceeded swiftly By 1939 there were no longer any legal medicines containing marijuana, and in 1941 marijuana was removed from the U.S. Pharmacopeia and the U.S. National Formulary, the two definitive sources for medical legitimacy of drugs. 

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Abuse. We have all heard the terms substance abuse, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, cocaine abuse, and so on. In one sense, any illicit use of a substance is abuse. For example, from the legal point of view, whenever someone smokes crack (even if it is the only time), (s)he has broken the law and abused cocaine. Likewise, if you borrow a prescription sedative or pain reliever from a friend, then you have similarly abused that medication. That is an appropriate use of the term in many cases, but this is not customarily the way that mental health specialists use the term. From our perspective, substance abuse involves a pattern of repeated use over time that results in problems in one or more areas. These include compromised physical health and well-being, legal proceedings, job status, and relationships as well as overall day-to-day functioning. 

After his election Nixon created the President s National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse. In 1970, Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the first comprehensive narcotics control law since 1914. The CSA systematically arranged drugs in schedules according to an assessment of addictive potential, dangerousness of effects, and pervasiveness of abuse. 

January The Nixon administration steps up the enforcement side of the drug effort by establishing the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement. Its purpose is to establish joint federal and local task forces to fight street-level drug crime. 

Controlled Substances Act. The Controlled Substances Act not only strengthens law enforcement in the field of drug abuse but also provides for research into the prevention and treatment of drug abuse. 

In 2000, California voters approved a ballot measure that allows state courts to sentence first- and secondtime drug use offenders to rehabilitative treatment rather than jail or prison. The measure, Proposition 36 (Prop. 36), also known as the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act, took effect July 1, 2001. As of March 1, 2002, more than 15,000 individuals had been referred to treatment under Prop. 36. The law mandates probation and drug abuse treatment for offenders instead of jail time. Persons sentenced under Prop. 36 are required to spend up to a year in a state-approved treatment regimen. Treatment can include outpatient care, inpatient treatment at a halfway house, psychotherapy, and drug education and prevention classes. The law applies to persons convicted of possession of amyl nitrite without a prescription. 

Laws about marijuana have been the subject of controversy for many years. When marijuana use spread to the middle class in the 1960s and 1970s, public attitudes toward it softened. In 1970, President Richard Nixon created the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse. In 1972, the Commission issued its report, "Marijuana A Signal of Misunderstanding." This report recommended the elimination of criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.,—... 

With the coincidental retirement in 1962 of Commissioner Anslinger and the Supreme Court s decision that addiction was a disease, and with the arrival of President Kennedy s New Frontier, the Bureau s approach was becoming anachronistic. The prevailing mood of the day encouraged reduced penalties, more medical treatment, possible development of maintenance clinics, and a reevaluation of drug laws. In 1962 a White House Panel on Narcotic and Drug Abuse reported that It is the opinion of the Panel that the hazards of marijuana per se have been exaggerated and... 

In 1967, The President s Commission On Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice compiled a public document titled Task Force Report Narcotics and Drug Abuse, Annotations and Consultants Papers, referred to as TFR 1967. I will quote from the various consultants reports to lay a foundation for a better understanding of prohibitionist policies and the long term effects of these policies. 

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