Drug use and regulation have occurred since colonial times, with early focus on alcohol and opium. Over time, laws targeted specific drugs like cocaine and marijuana, and established agencies like the FDA and DEA. Debate continues over whether drug laws deter use and whether alternative approaches could better balance public health and civil liberties. Enforcement efforts face challenges in stemming the flow of illegal drugs.

1. Albia Dugger • Miami Dade College
Chapter 4
Drugs and the Law

2. Drugs and the Law
• Attempts have been made to regulate the use of mind-altering
substances since settlers first arrived in the New World
• The first substance regulated was alcohol
• The temperance movement in the late 1700s advocated that
people become more educated about the hazards of alcohol

3. Early Drug Regulations
• Alcohol
• 1791: Congress passed an excise tax on whiskey
• Opium
• 1833: US treaty regulated international opium trade
• 1842: Tax on crude opium shipped to the US
• 1875: San Francisco prohibiting smoking in opium dens
• 1890: Only US citizens could manufacture or import opium
• Proprietary drugs (over-the-counter drugs)
• Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

4. Questions about Drug Laws
• Do drug laws affect whether people use drugs?
• Should drug laws be aimed at drug users, sellers, or
traffickers?
• Should the role of government be to inform its citizens about
drugs or to prevent its citizens from using drugs?
• Should a person be prevented from engaging in self-
destructive behavior?

5. Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
• Before 1906, patent medicines were largely unregulated
• US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was created to
assess drug hazards and prohibit sale of dangerous drugs
• Law required drug manufacturers to report adverse reactions
to their products
• Law required that the amount or proportion of drugs in the
medicine had to be listed on the label

6. Collier’s Magazine, 1905

7. Harrison Act of 1914
• The Harrison Act resulted from the need to limit opiate use
• Law governed the marketing and sale of narcotics, regulated
nonmedical narcotic use, and made possession of narcotics
without a prescription illegal
• Doctors and pharmacists had to keep records of the
prescriptions they wrote
• To obtain drugs, an increasing number of people resorted to
criminal activity

8. Marijuana Tax Act of 1937
• Forbade the recreational use of marijuana, but not medicinal
or industrial uses
• Anyone using marijuana was required to pay a tax – failure to
comply meant a large fine or prison term for tax evasion
• AMA and others opposed marijuana legislation
• The Federal Bureau of Narcotics, established in 1932, later
became the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

9. Arguments against Marijuana

10. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938
• Under 1906 guidelines, a drug manufacturer could not be
prosecuted for fatalities due to toxic drugs
• 1938 Act required pharmaceutical companies to file
applications with the federal government demonstrating that
all new drugs were safe and properly labeled
• Manufacturers had to submit a “new drug application” to the
FDA, giving the FDA more authority and responsibility

11. Limitations of the 1938 Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act
• Did not cover drugs that were previously marketed
• Drugs had to be proven safe, but not effective
• Government had little authority to enact penalties
• Manufacturers determined whether a drug would be sold as a
prescription or over-the-counter
• Manufacturers conducted their own tests to determine a
drug’s effectiveness

12. Kefauver-Harris Amendments
• Serious birth defects caused by thalidomide resulted in
implementation of stronger regulations regarding drug testing
• Kefauver-Harris Amendments, 1962, gave the FDA the
authority to withdraw drugs from the marketplace
• Drug advertisements directed to physicians were required to
include the drug’s side effects and its contraindicated uses
• Testing procedures required prior approval from the FDA

13. Effects of Thalidomide

14. Kefauver-Harris Amendments
• 1972 Drug Efficacy Study: The FDA asked the National
Research Council to conduct a study of new drugs
• Active ingredients were placed in one of three categories:
• Category I drugs: Determined to be safe, effective, and
properly labeled
• Category II drugs: Not generally recognized as safe and
effective, or recognized as mislabeled; must be removed
from medications within six months
• Category III drugs: Data insufficient to determine general
recognition of safety and effectiveness

15. Comprehensive Drug Abuse
Prevention and Control Act of 1970
• Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act
(Controlled Substances Act), effectively replaced all previous
laws dealing with narcotics and dangerous drugs
• Expanded community health centers and Public Health
Service hospitals for drug abusers
• Established a commission on marijuana and drug abuse
• Divided drugs into five categories called schedules

16. Drug Schedules

17. Anti–Drug Abuse Act of 1988
• Legislation that emphasizes stringent punishment of the drug
user, to reduce drug demand
• Punishment could be waived if the user completes a drug
rehabilitation program
• Greatly increased federal prison population and led to a new
Cabinet position, Director of National Drug Control Policy
• Under this law, drug users are punished more stringently than
rapists or robbers

18. College Students and Drug Convictions
• Students convicted of possession face a temporary ban on
financial aid – a third conviction loses financial aid indefinitely
• A drug-selling conviction means loss of eligibility for two years
if that is one’s first offense
• An estimated 200,000 students have lost access to aid since
this law went into effect

19. Legal Issues
• Should the sale of drug paraphernalia be illegal?
• Should people using small amounts of illegal drugs for
personal enjoyment receive harsh criminal penalties?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of
decriminalizing or legalizing drugs?
• What impact has drug enforcement had on drug use?
• Should the vast amount of money spent on stopping drugs be
used differently?

20. Drug Paraphernalia
• Drug paraphernalia:
• Items that are aids to using drugs (cigarette-rolling papers,
water pipes, razors, clay pipes, roach clips, spoons,
mirrors, and other products)
• Prosecuting individuals for possessing drug paraphernalia is
viewed as a deterrent for drug use

21. The War on Drugs
• In 1988, Congress proclaimed that the US would be drug-free
by 1995
• The monetary expense and human resources employed to
combat illicit drug use are enormous – yet, the number of
Americans who have used illegal drugs has increased
• The government’s assault on illicit drugs has resulted in social
tension, ill health, violent crime, compromised civil liberties,
and international conflict

22. Federal Prisoners and Drug Offenses

23. Arguments Against Legalization
• Some argue that decriminalization would increase drug use,
addiction, and drug-related deaths
• Drug-related crimes might fall, but the number of addicts
would rise
• Legalization would result in more dysfunctional addicts who
would be unable to support their lifestyles and drug use
through legitimate means

24. Arguments For Legalization
• Legal regulation of drugs would protect drug takers and save
money
• Billions of dollars spent on drug enforcement might be put to
use more effectively if the money were directed toward
education and treatment programs

25. AIDS Cases by Transmission Category

26. AIDS in the United States by Age

27. People Living with AIDS

28. Arguments For and Against Decriminalization

29. Drug Enforcement
• Drug enforcement is designed to stem the flow of drugs
coming into the US and to punish the user
• To stop drugs at their source, the State Department works
with a number of foreign governments
• DEA agents help block drugs from leaving other countries,
eradicate crops, and find and dismantle illegal laboratories

30. Methamphetamine Traffic

31. Drug-Related Arrests

32. Problems with Enforcement
• Farmers make more money from coca or opium crops than
from legal crops
• On a global scale, less than 10% of illegal crops are
consistently eradicated
• Interdiction is especially difficult because of numerous points
of entry

33. Cocaine Transportation

34. Confiscated Cocaine

35. DEA Drug Seizures

36. DEA Seize Hashish in Afghanistan

37. DEA Seize Hashish in Afghanistan

38. Prevention
• Harm reduction
• Interventions that respond to needs of drug users and the
community to reduce harm caused by illicit drug use
• Includes providing sterile syringes to reduce spread of HIV
infection, education, and increased treatment
• Treats drug abuse as a public health problem, not a
criminal problem

39. Prevention
• Normalization
• Term used by the Dutch for the practice of not prosecuting
users of soft drugs such as marijuana
• Using some drugs is not illegal, but drug traffic is illegal
• Treatment assists physical and social well-being of addicts
rather than try to stop their addiction
• Result: Netherlands has less drug use than the US and
other European countries

40. Racism and Drug Enforcement
• Questionable search warrants in inner-city communities
• People of color are stopped and searched more often than
others on the basis of “drug courier” profiles
• Despite comparable drug usage, Blacks are incarcerated at a
higher rate than Whites
• Penalties for crack cocaine, used more by poor, are greater
than those for powder cocaine, used more by middle class

41. “Drug Courier” Profiles

42. Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentencing
• Starting in 1984, Congress enacted mandatory minimum
penalties specifically focusing on drugs and violent crimes
• It has been shown that mandatory minimum drug sentences
have not acted as deterrents to further crime
• Mandatory minimum drug sentences give no latitude to
judges to determine appropriate punishments
• Treatment is 15 times more effective for reducing serious
crime than mandatory minimum sentencing