Harrison Narcotics Tax Act
From Drug Rehab Wiki
When the prohibition of drugs first took place in the United States in the early 20th Century, it gained little attention – especially in comparison to the prohibition of alcohol a few years later. The media barely took notice and the mainstream public knew very little about the details surrounding the change.
While Congress wanted to prohibit the use of narcotics completely, the U.S. Opium Commissioner, Hamilton Wright, left out of his proposed legislation products that contained a small amount of opium. At the time, these products were the biggest money maker for the pharmaceutical industry (Big Pharma) and patent-medicine companies.
Congressional members understood at the time that while complete control of all opium products was desired, it was not the most practical choice. Proponents of the bill believed the pharmaceutical lobby was powerful enough to create a long road of problems for the legislation if it were to take that approach. Law makers opted for the practical approach they believed would find favor with all involved.
Thus was born the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act. This final bill, pushed by Wright and William Jennings Bryan, eventually provided even looser stipulations surrounding heroin and morphine, allowing for higher concentrations in medications. It was, even through barely noticed at the time, the first major federal law to regulate drugs. Its main purpose was to ban the distribution of narcotics for anything that did not include medical purposes.
Dubbed the Harrison Act, this move by Congress was not a reactionary, authoritarian crackdown, but instead considered to be progressive reform. The main purpose of this legislation was to regulate what had become a chaotic market. It was designed with the public health and common good in mind and came at a time when Americans were quick to relinquish their civil liberties to support the war effort.
Within a few years of its passing, the Harrison Act was being used by prosecutors to go after doctors and pharmacists who readily supplied narcotics to addicts. It could easily be argued at the time that high-profile cases were pursued – and heavily covered by the media – to send the message that the federal government was serious and would go to great lengths to enforce the Harrison Act.
While the Harrison Act is widely referred to as an experiment in which Congress sought to use the criminal sanction to address the use of drugs for non-medical purposes; the legislation actually only referred to a handful of drugs that are considered to be dangerous. The act specifically referred to opium, morphine and its derivatives, coca leaves and its derivatives, it did not address amphetamines, barbiturates, marijuana, hashish or hallucinogenics.
As the federal government tried to provide order to a chaotic drug market, what it created instead was a need to move the drug market underground. Today, we do not have a reduction in the number of addicts, but an increasing number of individuals seeking to eliminate their problems through medication. The drug problem is greater than ever and even as organizations and legislators seek ways to reverse the trend, Congressional Acts do little to prevent use, abuse and addiction.
