Hello! Welcome to Overdosed a weekly newsletter on drug policy and people who use drugs by me, Diane Roznowski.
This newsletter is coming a bit later than usual, so I want to thank you for your patience as I got it together. Part two of The War on Drugs will come the Friday.
In the last newsletter, we talked about how we’re all drug users but only some of us develop substance use disorders. This week we’re going to talk about the criminalization of drug use and substance use disorders.
Most often when people think about the criminalization of drug use they think about the “War on Drugs” and most articles about the criminalization of drug use will start with Richard Nixon launching the War on Drugs in the 1970s. While that is a huge and important part of this conversation, it often makes people forget that the official War on Drugs was not the first time drug use was criminalized in the United States. In this Friday’s newsletter, we’ll talk about the official War on Drugs through where we are today, but until then we are going to talk about the criminalization of drug use before the War on Drugs was officially started.
Around 1860, certain states began regulating pharmaceuticals and therefore punished people who didn’t follow the regulations. These various laws regulated the sale and labeling of drugs. At the same time, pharmaceutical societies pushed to classify cannabis as a poison under poison laws.
In 1880, the US and China agreed to prohibit the shipment of opium between the two countries. This was an attempt to control the supply of drugs coming into the US. It’s an interesting agreement to think about now in the context of the current opioid epidemic and the prevalence of fentanyl in overdose deaths because a majority of fentanyl in the US comes here illegally from China.
In 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act required certain specified drugs to be labeled accurately with the contents and dosages. These specified drugs included alcohol, cocaine, heroin, morphine, and cannabis. These drugs were still legally available as long as they were accurately labeled.
In 1913, California outlawed cannabis and one year later the first US law putting a ban on the distribution of drugs domestically was passed. The Harrison Narcotic Act of 1914 was presented and passed as a method of regulating the production and distribution of substances containing opium under the commerce clause of the US Constitution, but the law was interpreted to mean that doctors could prescribe opioids to people unless they were considered “addicts.” The Harrison Act is important because it set a nationwide precedent othering people with substance use disorders.
Five years later in 1919, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was passed banning alcohol. Alcohol prohibition is just one failed example of policymakers banning a substance to try and stop substance use. Alcohol prohibition remained in effect for 14 years but it didn’t stop people from drinking. It did, however, make the supply of alcohol more dangerous and deaths resulting from drinking tainted liquor rose significantly.
While alcohol prohibition was in effect there were other attempts to criminalize drug use. In 1925, the US supported the regulation of cannabis as a drug at the International Opium Convention. Then in 1930, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was created. This government agency consolidated the functions of the Federal Narcotics Control Board and the Narcotic Division of the Treasury Department. The Bureau lobbied for harsh penalties for drug use. It is also known for criminalizing certain drugs including cannabis and for strengthening the Harrison Act.
In 1933, alcohol prohibition ended with the passage of the 21st Amendment. Today, alcohol prohibition remains the only major act of prohibition to be repealed federally.
In 1937, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act. It was presented as a $1 nuisance tax on the distribution of marijuana. It was passed largely based on testimony and public perception that marijuana caused insanity, criminality, and death. This law required anyone distributing marijuana to maintain and submit a detailed account of their transactions, inspections, and information about the parties involved in their sales. In order to get the tax stamp, distributors basically had to confess to committing crimes.
The next major piece of legislation criminalizing drug use passed in 1951. The Boggs Act increased penalties and set mandatory minimums for drug convictions. Under this law, a first offense conviction for marijuana possession had a 2- to 10-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $20,000. Five years later, the Daniel Act increased the penalties established under the Boggs Act by a factor of eight. During the passage of the Daniel Act, testimony refuted the claims used to pass the Marijuana Tax Act (that marijuana caused insanity, criminality, and death), but the testimony claimed that marijuana was a gateway drug to heroin. This popularized the still commonly cited gateway drug theory.
When talking about the criminalization of drugs it’s important to talk about the time before the War on Drugs officially started. We all need to stop ignoring the long history of criminalizing drug use in the United States if we want to stop it.
Further Reading
I had a hard time finding good articles on the early criminalization of drug use so instead of readings, this newsletter I wanted to recommend a podcast episode my friend Verónica sent me a while back.
NPR’s Throughline - “America’s Opioid Epidemic” This gave me a ton of historical context about the opioid epidemic that I had never heard before.
Since this newsletter started a month ago, the number of subscribers (all of you wonderful people!!) has doubled. I am completely blown away by the support. I wanted to share my original Further Reading section again so you all can have the list of where I like to get my news on drug policy and substance use.
Kaiser Health News - I subscribe to KHN Morning Briefing, their opioid crisis section has articles on many different topics related to opioids and has introduced me to many issues within substance use policy.
New York Times - Recently the NYT Editorial Board has been publishing strong pieces on the opioid epidemic aimed at combating misinformation. These two are really wonderful.
STAT - I first found STAT News when they published this article that included my sister’s obituary. Since then I have subscribed to their Morning Rounds, DC Diagnosis, and Weekend Reads newsletters. I have found STAT’s reporting and reporters to be extremely thorough.
The Temper - The Temper has intersectional, modern, and nuanced perspectives on recovery and sobriety. They decenter white men and show that recovery can look like many different things.
Vox - I also really like Vox’s reporting on drug policy. German Lopez does incredible work on many topics related to drugs and the opioid epidemic.
Thank you for subscribing to Overdosed! If you know someone who may be interested in getting it, I would love for you to share it with them (and encourage them to subscribe here!) Additionally, you can find all past newsletters archived here.
I would love for you to let me know what you thought about this newsletter. If you have any questions you have on drug use or substance use disorders you can let me know here.
Until Friday,