“Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” (Titus 2:12)
1803
Active ingredient of opium is discovered. Friedrich Sertuerner of Paderborn, Germany, discovers the active ingredient of opium by dissolving it in acid then neutralizing it with ammonia. The result: alkaloids—principium somniferum or morphine. This may have been the first plant alkaloid ever isolated, and it sets off a firestorm of research into plant alkaloids. Within half a century, dozens of alkaloids, such as atropine, caffeine, cocaine, and quinine are isolated from other plants and being used in precisely measured dosages for the first time. Physicians believe that opium has finally been perfected and tamed. Morphine is lauded as “God’s own medicine” for its reliability, long-lasting effects, and safety.
1827
E. Merck & Company of Darmstadt, Germany, begins commercial manufacturing of morphine.
1847
The American Medical Association (AMA) is founded. At the founding meeting, delegates adopted the first code of medical ethics and the first national standards for preliminary medical education and the degree of MD. Those attending the founding meeting of the AMA launched what has become the largest medical association in America, whose work for more than a century and a half has remained focused on the founding principles. The AMA represents the best of American medicine and today continues to serve as an advocate for the profession, physician, and patient.
1853
The hypodermic needle is invented.
1860s
Cocaine is synthesized. The drug induces a sense of exhilaration in the user primarily by blocking the reuptake of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the midbrain.
Opiates see widespread use as a painkiller for injured soldiers during the Civil War.
Opiates are the first real miracle drugs because they allow the patient to be anesthetized while the doctor performs surgery. Before the advent of opiates, the most common surgery was a simple amputation. That is, the doctor got several big strong people to hold the patient down and then literally sawed off an arm or a leg while the patient screamed in pain. For this reason, a good doctor was a fast doctor. Battlefield hospitals during the Civil War commonly had large piles of severed arms and legs. The use of opiates as anesthesia gives doctors time to work on the patient and actually makes modern surgery possible.
1869
Prohibitionist Party is formed. Gerrit Smith, twice Abolitionist candidate for president, an associate of John Brown, and a crusading prohibitionist, declares: “Our involuntary slaves are set free, but our millions of voluntary slaves still clang their chains. The lot of the literal slave, of him whom others have enslaved, is indeed a hard one; nevertheless, it is a paradise compared with the lot of him who has enslaved himself to alcohol.”
1870s
The first laws against opium smoking are passed in San Francisco and Virginia City. Opium itself is not outlawed and remains available in any number of over-the-counter products. Only the smoking of opium is outlawed, because that is a peculiarly Chinese habit and the laws are specifically directed at the Chinese. The white people in the communities fear that Chinese men are luring white women to have sex in opium dens.
The patent medicine industry arises.
The patent medicine industry starts its rise. Because there are no restrictions on advertising, labeling, or contents of any products, the patent medicine industry makes up all sorts of concoctions, including the opiates, cocaine, and other drugs, and sells them with the most extravagant advertising claims. This leads to a rise in addiction.
Addiction is poorly understood.
Morphine and heroin are recommended as remedies for alcohol addiction.
French Wine of Coca: Invigorating Tonic becomes popular.
French Wine of Coca: Invigorating Tonic becomes a popular soft drink because it contains cocaine. It goes on to become Coca-Cola and, together with other similar drinks like Pepsi-Cola, makes the soda fountain a common part of the neighborhood pharmacy.
Amphetamine is first synthesized.
First synthesized in Germany, amphetamine is for a long time a drug in search of a disease. Nothing is done with the drug from its discovery (synthesis) until the late 1920s, when it is seriously investigated as a cure or treatment for nearly everything from depression to congestion.
1874
Heroin is synthesized.
The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union is founded. Later, in 1883, Frances Willard, a leader of the WCTU, forms the World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.
1882
“Temperance education” is made a part of a required course in public schools. The law in the United States and the world making “temperance education” a part of the required course in public schools is enacted. In 1886, Congress makes such education mandatory in the District of Columbia, and in territorial, military, and naval schools. By 1900, all the states have similar laws.
Personal Liberty League of the United States is founded to oppose the increasing momentum of movements for compulsory abstinence from alcohol.
1884
Sigmund Freud treats his depression with cocaine and reports feeling “exhilaration and lasting euphoria, which in no way differs from the normal euphoria of the healthy person.” Freud later dies from the effects of tobacco-induced cancer. He was able to break his addiction to cocaine, but could not break his addiction to cigar smoking even though most of the lower part of his face had been removed by cancer surgery.
1886
John Pemberton includes cocaine as the main ingredient in his new soft drink, Coca-Cola. It is cocaine’s euphoric and energizing effects on the consumer that are mostly responsible for skyrocketing Coca-Cola into its place as the most popular soft drink in history.
1895
Heroin is produced by Bayer. Heinrich Dreser, working for the Bayer Company of Elberfeld, Germany, finds that diluting morphine with acetyls produces a drug without the common morphine side effects. Bayer begins production of diacetylmorphine and coins the name “heroin.”
1898
The Bayer company introduces heroin as a substitute for morphine.
1903
Cocaine is removed from Coca-Cola. As the American majority becomes more and more aware of the dangers of cocaine, and the severity of this problem becomes more and more apparent, concern mounts to an eventual public outcry to ban the social use of cocaine. This public pressure forces John Pemberton to remove cocaine from Coca Cola in 1903.
Heroin addiction rises to alarming rates.
1905
Congress bans opium.
1906
Pure Food and Drug Act is enacted, providing for federal inspection of meat products and forbidding the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products or poisonous patent medicines. This act paves the way for the eventual creation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Anti-alcohol teaching gets underway in public schools.
Laws are enacted to make anti-alcohol teaching compulsory in public schools in New York state. Similar laws will be passed in Pennsylvania, with other states soon following suit.
1907
New York bans the nonmedicinal use of cocaine.
1909
The first federal drug prohibition passes in the US outlawing the importation of opium. It is passed in preparation for the Shanghai Conference, at which the US presses for legislation aimed at suppressing the sale of opium to China.
1910
Cocaine Manufactures Syndicate is founded; it includes pharmaceutical giants Merck, Sandoz, and Hoffman-LaRoche.
1912
International Opium Convention is signed as the first international drug-control treaty and a response to increasing criticism of the opium trade. The treaty is signed by Germany, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Russia, and Siam.
1914
Harrison Narcotics Act is implemented, which regulates and taxes the production, importation, and distribution of opiates.
1915
Utah passes the first state anti-marijuana law. Mormons who had gone to Mexico in 1910 returned smoking marijuana. It is outlawed as a result of the Utah legislature enacting all Mormon religion prohibitions as criminal laws.
1919
18th Amendment to the US Constitution is ratified, banning the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol.
National Prohibition Act (Volstead Act) is passed, enabling federal enforcement of the 18th Amendment and enabling legislation for the amendment, treating such matters as the definition of “intoxicating liquors,” medicinal use, and criminal penalties.
1922
Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act (Jones-Miller Act) is passed, providing fines of up to $5,000 and prison sentences for up to ten years for any individual found guilty of being party to the unlawful importation of narcotics. It also sets strict quotas on the quantity of drugs that can be imported into the United States. The measure allows possession of narcotics without a prescription to become presumptive evidence of having illegally imported drugs. In fact, the legislation has little influence upon the illicit drug marketplace except to increase the price of heroin and cocaine.
1924
Heroin Act is passed, prohibiting the manufacture, importation, and possession of heroin illegal, even for medicinal use.
1925
Linder v. United States decriminalizes doctors prescribing drugs for addicts.
In the wake of the first federal ban on opium, a thriving black market opens up in New York’s Chinatown.
1930
Harry J. Anslinger is appointed the first “Drug Czar” as head of the newly created Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN)
The Porter Act establishes the Bureau of Narcotics to take up enforcement of the Harrison Act, to streamline the bureaucracy, and to represent the United States in foreign conferences.
1933
Prohibition ends with passage of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution.
The Supreme Court upholds the Veteran’s Administration policy defining alcoholism as a form of “willful misconduct.”
1935
Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, as the outcome of a meeting between Bill W., a New York stockbroker, and Dr. Bob S., an Akron surgeon, both of whom are hopeless alcoholics who had been in contact with the Oxford Group, a mostly nonalcoholic fellowship that emphasized universal spiritual values in daily living.
U.S. Public Health Service pioneers program for drug-abuse research.
1937
Marijuana Tax Act goes into effect after being introduced to the US Congress by “Drug Czar” Harry Anslinger, then Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The act does not itself criminalize the possession or usage of cannabis, but levies a tax equaling roughly one dollar on anyone who deals commercially in marijuana and includes penalty provisions and complex regulations. The net effect is to make it too risky for anyone to deal in the substance.
Amphetamine is available by prescription in tablet form.
1938
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act passes, bringing cosmetics and medical devices under control. It requires that drugs be labeled with adequate directions for safe use. Moreover, it mandates pre-market approval of all new drugs, such that a manufacturer must prove to the FDA that a drug is safe before it can be sold. It irrefutably prohibits false therapeutic claims for drugs.
1942
Opium Poppy Control Act is implemented to prohibit possessing or growing the opium poppy without a license. Opium poppies are widely grown as an ornamental plant and for seeds in the United States.
1943
Summer School of Alcohol Studies is founded at Yale.
1944
Marty Mann founds the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCA). The Committee is founded around the following propositions: 1. Alcoholism is a disease; 2. The alcoholic, therefore, is a sick person; 3. The alcoholic can be helped; 4. The alcoholic is worth helping; 5. The alcoholic is our No. 4 health problem, and our public responsibility.
1949
Hazelden is founded in Minnesota as “a sanatorium for curable alcoholics of the professional class.”
1951
The Boggs Act creates mandatory minimum sentencing for drug-related convictions. This act nearly quadruples the penalties for narcotics offenses and categorizes marijuana together with narcotic drugs.
Durham-Humphrey Amendment resolves issues left open by the 1938 FDA Act. This establishes two classes of drugs: prescription and over-the-counter (OTC). Prior to the passage of this amendment, drug manufacturers have generally been free to determine in which category their drug belonged. A subsection of this amendment grants the FDA the authority to categorize prescription drugs as those that are habit-forming, unsafe for use except under the supervision of a healthcare practitioner, and/or subject to the new drug application approval process.
1954
The American Medical Society on Alcoholism (AMSA, later to become ASAM) is established.
1956
The Narcotics Control Act (aka Daniel Act) is enacted. Among other things, this increases the minimum and maximum penalties for all drug offenses; increases fines, and empowers narcotic agents and customs officers with the authority to carry guns, serve warrants, and arrest without warrant.
The American Medical Association recognizes alcoholics as treatable patients.
1960
E. M. Jellinek publishes “The Disease Concept of Alcoholism,” which significantly accelerates the movement towards the medicalization of drunkenness and alcohol habituation.
1966
Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act (NARA) allows the use of the federal courts and criminal-justice system to compel drug addicts to participate in treatment.
President Lyndon Johnson proclaims alcoholism as a disease, appointing the first National Advisory Committee on Alcoholism and becoming the first president to address the country about alcoholism: “The alcoholic suffers from a disease which will yield eventually to scientific research and adequate treatment.
The Johnson Institute is founded in Minnesota to design treatment programs as well as educate individuals, families, professionals, and entire communities about addiction disease.
1967
The American Medical Association adopts the disease concept of alcoholism, passing a resolution identifying alcoholism as a “complex disease,” and a “disease that merits the serious concern of all members of the health professions.”
1969
Dangerous Substance Act classifies all drugs, except nicotine and alcohol, by their medical use and addictive potential.
1970
The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (Uniform Controlled Substances Act) provides a foundation for a coordinated, federal-state system of drug control.
1972
Drug Abuse Office and Treatment Act increases concern about drug abuse and its causes and consequences.
Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime (TASC) is created to screen addicts in the criminal justice system and then to link and manage their involvement in treatment services.
The National Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC) is founded. Now known as the Association for Addiction Professionals, this is the largest membership organization serving addiction counselors, educators, and other addiction-focused health care professionals who specialize in addiction prevention, treatment, and education.
1973
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is established after a merger of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) and the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE) forms a single federal agency to enforce federal drug laws.
Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA) consolidates the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) under a single umbrella organization.
Heroin Trafficking Act increases penalties for the distribution of heroin.
Methadone Control Act regulates methadone licensing.
1974
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is established as the federal focal point for research, treatment, prevention and training services, and data collection on the nature and extent of drug abuse.
The Association of Labor and Management Administrators and Consultants on Alcoholism, or ALMACA. is created to provide another major boost to the Employee Assistance Program movement.
1975
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services codifies regulations on confidentiality of alcohol and drug abuse patient records. Congress recognizes that the stigma associated with substance abuse and fear of prosecution deters people from entering treatment and enacts legislation that gives patients a right to confidentiality.
1980
Drug-abuse prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation amendments extend prevention education and treatment programs.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is founded, with its first two chapters created in California and Maryland. MADD holds its first national press conference in Washington, DC, with members of Congress and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), putting the drunk-driving issue and the organization on the nation’s radar screen.
1982
Betty Ford Center is founded in Rancho Mirage, California, to assist women, men, and their families in starting the process of recovery from alcoholism and other drug dependency.
Comedian John Belushi of Animal House and Saturday Night Live fame dies of a heroin-cocaine- “speedball” overdose.
1983
Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program is founded in Los Angeles. This is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through twelfth grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives. The program is later implemented in 75 percent of the nation’s school districts and in more than forty-three countries around the world.
American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) adopts public policy of alcoholism as a primary disease.
Project ALERT drug-prevention curriculum for middle-school students is created by the RAND Corporation.
1984
Federal legislation creates age 21 as national minimum drinking age.
Drug Offenders Act sets up special programs for offenders and organizes treatment.
The wholesale price of cocaine drops to $25,000 for one kilogram, down from $55,000 in 1981.
1986
Anti Drug Abuse Act is signed by President Reagan and passed with a nearly unanimous vote. The act institutes five- and ten-year mandatory minimum sentences, and also the possibility of the death penalty for certain drug offenses The bill strengthens federal efforts to encourage foreign cooperation in eradicating illicit drug crops and in halting international drug traffic; improves enforcement of federal drug laws; and enhances interdiction of illicit drug shipments. It also provides strong federal leadership in establishing effective drug-abuse prevention and education programs, and expands federal support for drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation efforts.
Analogue (Designer Drug) Act makes composition and use of substances with similar effects and structure to existing illicit drug illegal.
Federal Block Grants are established, dramatically increasing the primary prevention resources allocated to the states. Funding is also increased to schools, K-12 and higher education, and communities through the development of the Drug Free Schools and Communities programs.
Partnership for Drug-Free America is founded as a nonprofit coalition of communication, health, medical, and educational professionals working to reduce illicit drug use and help people live healthy, drug-free lives. Research-based, educational campaigns are disseminated through all forms of media, including TV, radio, and print advertisements and over the Internet.
Victims Panels Institutes are founded by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to train volunteers in supporting victims of drunk driving and serving as their advocates in the criminal justice system.
1987
The American Medical Association defines all drug dependencies as diseases.
The Supreme Court upholds its 1933 ruling that Veterans Administration (VA) can define alcoholism as the result of “willful misconduct” rather than as a disease.
1988
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act creates the White House Office of Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). This act is directed toward preventing the manufacture of scheduled drugs and includes increased penalties to further discourage drug use.
Opium production in Burma increases.
About three hundred thousand infants are born addicted to cocaine.
1989
The first drug court is founded in Miami.
Medellin Cartel declares war on Colombian government. The strategy consists in terrorizing the civilian population and cornering the government. The cartel conducts hundreds of terrorist attacks against civilian and governmental targets.
1990
Addiction medicine becomes a specialty.
U.S. Court indicts Khun Sa, leader of the Shan United Army, and reputed drug warlord. The US Attorney General’s office charges Khun Sa with importing 3,500 pounds of heroin into New York City over the course of eighteen months, as well as holding him responsible for the source of the heroin seized in Bangkok.
1991
Join Together is founded as a program of the Boston University School of Public Health, and will remain the nation’s leading provider of information, strategic planning assistance, and leadership development for community-based efforts to advance effective alcohol and drug policy, prevention, and treatment. Join Together helps community leaders understand and use the most current scientifically valid prevention and treatment approaches.
1992
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA is created). This agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is created to focus attention, programs, and funding on improving the lives of people with or at risk for mental and substance-abuse disorders.
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) is formed as a response to the dramatic growth in the number of substance-abuse coalitions and their need to share ideas, problems, and solutions. It evolves to become the principal national substance-abuse prevention organization working with community-based coalitions and representing their interests at the national level.
First observance of the National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month is held in September.
1993
Pablo Escobar, leader of the Medallin Cartel, is killed. After Escobar’s death, the Medellin Cartel fragments and the cocaine market soon becomes dominated by the rival Cali Cartel.
Twenty-three-year-old actor River Phoenix dies of a heroin-cocaine overdose.
1994
Efforts to eradicate opium at its source remain unsuccessful.
The Clinton administration orders a shift in policy away from the anti- drug campaigns of previous administrations. Instead, the focus includes “institution building” with the hope that by “strengthening democratic governments abroad, [it] will foster law-abiding behavior and promote legitimate economic opportunity.”
Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the Seattle-based alternative rock band, Nirvana, dies of heroin-related suicide.
1995
The Golden Triangle region of Southeast Asia is the leader in opium production.
1996
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is formed.
International drug-trafficking organizations aggressively market heroin in the US and Europe.
1997
Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act becomes a law. This anti-drug program provides grants of up to $100,000 to community coalitions that mobilize their communities to prevent youth alcohol, tobacco, illicit drug, and inhalant abuse.
2000
Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist Training Curriculum (SAPST) is created to train prevention specialists.
2002
Drug Sentencing Reform Act (2SHB 2338) is passed, revising sentences for nonviolent drug offenders with the intention to use the savings created by shorter sentences to increase access to substance-abuse treatment for offenders. Research shows that court-supervised treatment is more effective in reducing recidivism than imprisonment alone.
No Child Left Behind Act is signed on January 8 by President Bush. This authorizes a variety of activities designed to prevent school violence and youth drug use.
Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program is created by the US Bureau of Justice Assistance. This is developed to help tribes plan and implement comprehensive, system-wide strategies to reduce and control crime associated with the distribution and abuse of alcohol and controlled substances.
2003
Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act of 2003 makes it easier for prosecutors to charge, convict, and imprison property owners, business owners, and managers who fail to prevent drug-related offenses committed by customers, employees, tenants, or other persons on their property. This legislation also adds a civil liability clause to the existing criminal code.
2006
Drug-use statistics:
- Approximately 35.3 million Americans age 12 and older have tried cocaine at least once in their lifetimes, representing 14.3% of the population age 12 and older.
- Approximately 6.1 million (2.5%) have used cocaine in the past year, and 2.4 million (1.0%) have used cocaine within the past month.
- An estimated 97.8 million Americans age 12 or older have tried marijuana at least once in their lifetimes, representing 39.8% of the US population in that age group.
- Among 12–17 year olds surveyed, 6.7% reported past month marijuana use.
- 1 million persons 12 or older have used marijuana for the first time within the past twelve months.
- 62 percent of adults age 26 or older who used marijuana before they were 15 years old reported that they have used cocaine in their lifetime. More than 9 percent reported they have used heroin and 53.9 percent reported non-medical use of psychotherapeutics.
- There are an estimated 731,000 current users of methamphetamine age 12 or older, Among persons aged 12 or older, there are 259,000 recent, new users of methamphetamine.
- There are 977,000 persons age 12 or older who have used cocaine for the first time within the past 12 months; this averages to approximately 2,700 initiates per day.
2008
Websites are targeting children with “digital drugs,” audio files that consist of binaural beats, which must be used with head phones and play different sounds in each ear. They are not in and of themselves “music,” but sound waves designed to induce drug-like effects, and they can be embedded into music. Various “services” are provided, depending on the website, but among them are binaural beats made to mimic the effects of alcohol, marijuana, LSD, crack, and heroin, and some are even supposed to simulate sexual desire, and heaven and hell. A Duke University study suggests that binaural beats can affect mood and motor performance.
2009
California Democratic State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano is spearheading a marijuana legalization bill.
Mexico decriminalizes small amounts (deemed appropriate for personal use) of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs with the intent of freeing up law enforcement to focus on fighting organized crime. The legal amount of marijuana is 5 grams, or about four joints. The limit for cocaine is a half gram, which is approximately 4 “lines.” In addition, the limits are 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams for methamphetamine, and 0.015 milligrams for LSD. Former President Vincente Fox is suggesting that Mexico consider taking the next step of legalizing drug consumption entirely.
2010
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2010 “Monitoring the Future” report (www.monitoringthefuture.org), marijuana use continues to rise 10th, 11th, and 12th graders.
Daily marijuana use has increased to nearly 1 in 16 high school seniors being a current daily or near-daily user.
The total number of organized crime-related homicides, which includes drug-related killings, shows a dramatic increase.
2011
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports that the cost of drug abuse and addiction (with the cost including productivity and health- and crime-related costs) tops $600 billion a year. That includes approximately $181 billion for illicit drugs, $193 billion for tobacco, and $235 billion for alcohol (http://www.drugabuse.gov/infofacts/understand.html).
2012
There is an increase in new and more dangerous street drugs.
“Ivory Wave,” “Purple Wave,” “Vanilla Sky,” and “Bliss”—all are among the many street names of a so-called designer drug known as “bath salts,” which has sparked thousands of calls to poison centers across the US over the last year. Agitation, increased pulse, paranoia, hallucinations, chest pain, suicidality are its effects. Some of these effects are said to linger in the body causing uncontrollable waves of the afore mentioned symptoms. http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/bath-salts-drug-dangers
The legalization of marijuana is still a controversial topic.
In the 2012 presidential election, three states (Colorado, Oregon, and Washington) are voting to fully legalize marijuana.
2015
Synthetic marijuana with names like names like “AK-47,” “Psycho,” and “Green Giant” can be easily purchased on the Internet with little to no consequence.
Across the nation, synthetic marijuana-related phone calls made to poison centers in the first four months of this year have increased by 229 percent compared to the same period last year, and synthetic drug-related emergency room visits in New York State have increased tenfold.
2016
Heroin use reaches the highest level in twenty years in the United States.
Deaths related to heroin use have increased five-fold since 2000. Further, the National Institutes of Health reports that abuse of prescription opioid painkillers in the US has doubled in ten years.
2017
Fentanyl is causing most overdose deaths.
Philadelphia’s is averaging one hundred overdose deaths per month.
2018
Marijuana becomes more widely legalized, both for medical and recreational purposes.
Nationwide, ten states and Washington, DC, have legalized marijuana for recreational use, while thirty-three allow medical marijuana.
The CDC calls the “opioid overdose epidemic … the public health crisis of our time.”
An estimated 10.3 million Americans aged 12 and older misused opioids this year, including 9.9 million prescription pain reliever abusers and 808,000 heroin users. More than 67,300 Americans die this year in drug-involved overdose, including illicit drugs and prescription opioids.
2019
Opioid Crisis Accountability act of 2019 is introduced to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for dubious marketing and distribution of opioid products and for their role in creating and exacerbating the opioid epidemic in the United States.
Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. The House Judiciary Committee becomes the first congressional panel to approve a bill to end federal marijuana prohibition. If enacted, this will remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and fund programs to begin repairing the harms of the war on drugs.
The majority of Americans favor legalizing marijuana; separate surveys conducted by Gallup and Pew indicate that roughly two-thirds of Amer