Anti Drug Legislation in the United States: Part One - Explanation and the FDA
Drugs in modern America are seen as a dirty word, something to push to the side and ignore unless someone you know is directly affected. Over the course of the last century, there have been massive changes in how the United States approached drugs federally and within individual states. The purpose of the following paper is to take a brief look into current and past legislation on a Federal level as well as Arizona being that it is commonly seen as a cornerstone state in the current "drug war." Another purpose of the paper is to present potential alternatives and how those alternatives may actually "fix" what is currently seen as a major problem. It should be noted that this is not an all-inclusive paper as there are many variables within this emotional and longstanding issue, the attempt will be made to include what is necessary to present a balanced view.
The Federal Government began its current war on drugs in 1906 with a law that is arguably one of the best concerning drugs and food. Theodore Roosevelt insisted on passing the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. This act did the following three things,
1). It created the Food and Drug Administration in Washington that must approve all foods and drugs meant for human consumption. The very first impact of that was that the patent medicines were not approved for human consumption once they were tested.
2) The Pure Food and Drug Act said that certain drugs could only be sold on prescription.
3) The Pure Food and Drug Act, (and you know, this is still true today, go look in your medicine chest) requires that any drug that can be potentially habit-forming say so on its label. "Warning -- May be habit forming." (Whitebread, 1995)
This act if used for currently illegal drugs could potentially reduce addiction at a bare minimum it would reduce crime and allow for those addicts who currently do not receive treatment to do so. It would also ensure that quality was better and at the very least it would keep relatively harmful substances from being used to "cut" drugs as is done currently and results in toxic poisoning as well as other reactions. These simple steps could and would save more lives than are currently lost as result of the drug trade and or addictions...
Whitebread, Charles. (1995).
The History of non-medical use of drugs in the United States. A Speech to the California Judges Association 1995 annual conference, The Pure Food and Drug Act, Retrieved from http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm
Published by Jesse Mathewson
As an individual who believes in Liberty, Non-Aggression, Self-Defense, Self-Ownership and a Free Market without state interference it is my firm belief that we should all be better students in life. With my... View profile
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7 Comments
Post a CommentI wish I could write like you. I am struggling in college because I just do not know how to write what I am thinking and it seems that everyone else says what I want to say but they just know how to write it out. You are an awesome writer and you have extreme talent.
Insightful and well written.
Very insightful piece. Glad I stopped by!
Yep - control is the thing these days...
I firmly believe that the various "agencies" or bureaucracies established to control things are not a good thing- however, in the case of the FDA and its ORIGINAL mandate I feel that it was a benefit- as of 2009, honestly it is just another government method of control.
So far, so good....On my way to parts 2&3!
excellent info from unique perspective.