Harrison Narcotics Act
The Harrison Narcotics Act was once signed by way of then-President Woodrow Wilson on Dec. 17, 1914 and took impact on March 1, 1915, setting up a federal drug tax designed to generate income and curb the loose industry of substances. It was once authorized by means of 3 expenses, H.R. 1966, H.R. 1967, and H.R. 6282. The expenses excited about strictly regulating the industry of cocaine, morphine, heroin, and opium, enforcing taxes and restrictions on distribution of substances with out absolutely banning them. Earlier than The Harrison Narcotics Act, it is advisable purchase heroin and cocaine at Sears (then Sears, Roebuck and Co.), or a bottle of Coca-Cola with a pinch of cocaine in it at a gasoline station with just about 0 oversight. It was once most commonly enforced on companies run by way of Chinese language immigrants and Black American citizens.
Uniform State Narcotic Act of 1932
Courtesy DEA Museum
The Uniform State Narcotic Legislation aligned state drug regulations with federal regulation, first drafted in 1925 however followed in 1932. Then-President Herbert Hoover signed it, solving the loopholes in The Harrison Narcotics Act, and forcing state drug regulations to stick. Earlier than then, state-level drug regulations had been incessantly in battle with one any other. It was once handed most commonly because of the relentless lobbying of Harry J. Anslinger, the primary commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Division’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics. In lobbying for the invoice, Anslinger launched bulletins mentioning that hashish reasons madness and sexual attack. It was once a significant step in outlawing hashish as a drug elegance on the federal point, however it was once arduous to implement.
Marihuana Tax Act of 1937
H.R. 6385 was once authorized and turned into The Marihuana Tax Act on Aug. 2, 1937. The act was once designed to blot out hashish industry by way of setting up an not possible “tax” at the sale of hashish. Hashish customers had been taxed $100 in keeping with ounce—adjusted to $2,191.04 in 2024—until they met a strict licensing standards, with stamps to end up it, and that best diminished the taxes. Harry J. Anslinger’s early drug drive, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics which predated the Drug Enforcement Management, was once in command of imposing the regulation. Samuel R. Caldwell and Moses Baca had been the primary two individuals who had been arrested below the act simply days after it took impact.
The Boggs Act of 1951
The Boggs Act of 1951 put in necessary drug sentences—significantly for hashish convictions. For a primary offense conviction for hashish ownership, it established a minimal sentence of 2 to 5 years in jail and a advantageous of as much as $2,000. $2,000 in 1951, adjusted for inflation, can be $24,539.68 in 2024, and clearly no person may pay it. It was once signed into regulation on Nov. 2, 1951, by way of then-President Harry S. Truman. On Jan. 4, 1952, regulation enforcement brokers arrested about 500 folks in sooner or later in a sequence of federal raids in keeping with the brand new regulation.
Reorganization Plan No. 2
Courtesy Shutterstock
On June 8, 1973, the U.S. Space authorized Reorganization Plan No. 2 after a push from then-President Richard Nixon. The invoice created the Drug Enforcement Management (DEA) on July 1, 1973, merging 3 companies—The Bureau of Narcotics and Unhealthy Medication, the Place of job for Drug Abuse Legislation Enforcement, and the Place of job of Nationwide Narcotics Intelligence—into one mega-agency designed to forestall the industry of substances. They’ve failed up to now, after greater than 50 years of techniques.
