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Non Medical Drugs In The 1900's

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Non-Medical Drugs “The war on drugs is being lost on a daily basis,”- Rhys Ifans. The war on drugs is an ongoing battle that the United States has been fighting for many years. Many people believe that drug abuse and addition is only a recent problem, but this is far from the truth. Not only is drug addiction a problem today, but it was also a huge problem in the late 1800’s all throughout the 1900’s. Many of the drugs that were abused throughout history started off as over the counter medication, this is why the war on drugs is such a hard battle to win. During the late 1800’s, tobacco and cocaine were widely addressed as the main drug problem. Little did people know, that heroine and Coca-Cola were also underlying problems. Tobacco was …show more content…

Many legal proceedings involving drugs happened during this time, but this did not completely solve the war on drugs. In 1906 the Pure Food and Drug act was passed. This required companies to be honest on their labels and it banned poisonous medicines. As a result of this act being passed, multiple companies got sued for what their products contained or what their labels said. Not only was this act passed but California banned pot and the FDA took a position against caffeine. The United States wasn’t only trying to take a stand on drugs during this time, they were also trying to stand against alcohol. During the early 1900’s the 18th amendment was ratified. This banned the manufacturing, selling, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. One thing that went unnoticed during the early 1900’s was how many people were addicted to morphine. Morphine was used as a painkiller, which is still its use today, but in the 1900’s it was overused and given to people too easily. For example: if someone had appendicitis, they would be on morphine during the surgery, during their stay at the hospital, and after they left the hospital. This extended use of morphine lead many people to become addicted. The early 1900’s was really the kickstarter to the entire war on …show more content…

A lot of major things happened during this time. The first big thing to happen was the 21st amendment was ratified, this repealed the eighteenth amendment making it no longer illegal to buy alcohol. The marijuana tax act was also created. This was the first step in criminalizing marijuana in the United States. Even though this tax act was created, recreational drug use spiked to a new high in 1965. The president noticed this increase and he created Operation Intercept. This operation took huge strides in trying to block marijuana from entering the United States. This wasn’t the only step taken by the United States against drugs. They also started the drug abuse prevention and control act. Research was also done during this time and they finally linked lung cancer to tobacco, which of course created a spike in tobacco prevention programs. The late 1900’s is where the U.S. really cracked down on the use of drugs and they started placing more laws in order. One of the biggest things in the late 1900’s were the mandatory sentences enacted for possession and use of drugs. This put minimum sentences in places for possession of drugs. This of course increased the amount of drugs arrests. At one point, over 50% of the arrests made in New York City were drug related. There were multiple documentaries made and programs set in place to prevent people, especially teens from doing

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