Federal Drug Control: The Evolution of Policy and Practice

A comprehensive look at the beginnings of the current drug problems in the United States

Federal Drug Control: The Evolution of Policy and Practice presents an overview of the key issues and key individuals responsible for the creation of the federal government’s efforts to control illegal drugs in the United States, from 1875-2001. The book focuses special attention on federal legislation that constructed the federal drug regulatory machinery and the Supreme Court cases that interpreted these laws and their implementation. An esteemed panel of scholars, including co-editor Joseph Spillane, author of Cocaine: From Medical Marvel to Modern Menace, and William B. McAllister, author of Drug Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century: An International History, traces the internal tensions between factions favoring medicalization and criminalization throughout the 20th century, examining the difficult choices that continue to be made in this ongoing debate.

The central question in the government’s response to the crisis of illicit drugs in the United States has remained the same for more than 125 years: Should the government rely on educational and treatment programs or turn to the criminal justice system for answers? Federal Drug Control examines the historic turning points of the debate, including the 19th Century origins of the controversy, legislation and subsequent Supreme Court decisions in the 20th Century, international attempts at drug control agreements, and the emergence of new illicit drugs. The book also looks at the influential figures of the debate, including Levi Nutt, Lawrence Kolb, Richard Pearson Hobson, A.G. DuMez, and Harry J. Anslinger who ran the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) for more than 30 years.

Federal Drug Control examines:

• the history of cocaine use in the 20th Century
• the history of marijuana use in the 20th Century
• the advent of psychotropic drugs in the 1960s
• the origins of the Harrison Narcotic Act
• the federal government’s efforts to limit the pharmacy profession’s control over prescription drugs
• and much more!

Federal Drug Control: The Evolution of Policy and Practice is an essential resource for criminologists, historians, social historians, sociologists, anthropologists, public policymakers, academics, and anyone interested in the broad issues involved in how the federal government deals with the problem of illicit drugs in the United States.