6400 B.C.
ALCOHOL-- Beer and berry wines used. (Grape wines date to 300-400 B.C.) Use may date back as far as 8000 B.C. and was found world wide.
3000 B.C.
OPIUM-- Mentioned in Homer's "The Odyssey"-- both as medicinal and pleasure. Ancient Hebrews and Babylonians also used (med.)
2700 B.C.
MARIJUANA-- Used for rope, cloth, and paper. Used marginally for medicinal purposes, but also known for euphoriant effects.
300-400 B.C.
OPIUM-- Alexander the Great introduces opium to India. However, use in India actually came much later.
500 A.D.
COCAINE-- First record of cocaine use, though obviously dates back to earlier. A grave included all necessities for after-life-- including several bags of coca leaves.
600-700 A.D.
OPIUM-- Introduced to China by Arab traders. Until 17th century A.D., used only for medicinal purposes.
MARIJ-- Banned for medicinal uses in China since unpredictable and opium considered better.
800 A.D.
ALC-- Distillation said to have been developed in Arabia. 200 years later, the process was used in Europe to make "aqua vitae" later translated as "whiskey."
900 A.D.
CAFFEINE-- Discovered centuries earlier by a goatherd (reportedly named Kaldi), coffee is proclaimed by an Arabian medical book as being good for measles and reducing lust.
1000 A.D.
COCAINE-- by this time, coca extensively cultivated in Peru. The terrain in area unsuited to grow almost anything else. Some of the same coca patches (some still legal in Peru) have been in operation for over 800 years.
MARIJ-- Social use of cannabis spread to Muslim world. Use in India as part of religion-- considered gift from Almighty.
1492
TOBACCO-- Oct. 12, 1492, natives of San Salvador presented Columbus with tobacco leaves-- a fitting birthday present. (One member of Columbus' crew, upon returning, was jailed because his friends and a priest were convinced that he was possessed because he would exhale smoke. Upon release, he noted that many people were then doing what he had been jailed for.)
1500
ALC-- distillation common in America-- especially in hills ("proof" comes from old British Army procedure of testing alcohol content-- pour over gunpowder; if still able to ignite the alcohol content was good (57% or higher). The sound made ("pooff") became "proof."
TOBAC-- used as medicine for everything-- headaches, abscesses, etc. Nicotine named for a French physician, Jean Nicot.
1600's
OPIUM-- The Dutch, while exploring/exploiting China, discovered that smoking opium with tobacco relieved symptoms of malaria. Smoking of opium (for pleasure) caught on in China.
COCAINE-- Well developed civilization in Peru, using coca leaves as money. Spanish conquerors adopted same, and paid laborers with leaves.
TOBAC-- Tobacco one main reason for attempts at colonization of Americas by Britain. Finally able to do so by 1619-- and decreed that no tobacco growth in England.
CAFFEINE-- 1674- the "Women's Petition Against Coffee" appeared in England-- they claimed their men used too much coffee and were, thus, "unfruitful" (i.e., impotent).
1729
OPIUM-- 1st Chinese decree against opium smoking-- had little effect. At this time, major source of opium was through importation, which was controlled by the Portuguese, who brought in over 200,000 pounds in this first year of prohibition.
1773
CAFFEINE-- Taxation w/o representation led to boycotts of English tea, putting the East India Co. into trouble. Cheap, non-taxed tea was shipped to Colonies, and on Dec. 16, 1773, to protest this practice (that would have been financially ruinous to Colonial businessmen), 342 chests of tea were dumped into Boston Harbor. This resulted in a trend for Colonists to be coffee drinkers and English to be even more tea drinkers-- symbolic.
1800
OPIUM-- New Chinese decree banning cultivation and importation of opium in or to China. However, the British East India Co. considered this to lead to too much of a cost-- currently shipping in 1,000 TONS of opium to China per year-- 54% of profits for whole company. Other countries also involved-- Portugal, France, Holland, & U.S.A. From 1838-1839, 40,000 chests of opium delivered into China (2,670 TONS, compare with 33 tons into America in 1973).
1803
OPIUM-- Morphine isolated.
1827
ALC-- formation of American Temperance Society.
1830's
MARIJ-- Introduced to France by returning soldiers, intellectuals thrilled about hashish. (Described in The Count of Monte Cristo).
ALC-- First law to limit alcohol availability in U.S.-- forbade selling to Indians.
1839-1842
OPIUM-- Chinese got tough-- Opium Wars with Britain-- China lost. Influx of opium followed (5,000 TONS). Opium brought to U.S. primarily by Chinese laborers.
1850's
OPIUM-- Hypodermic needle invented (1856). By the end of Civil War, 45,000 soldiers addicted to morphine.
ALC-- Between 1851 and 1855, 13 states passed prohibition laws. By 1868, 9 had repealed them. Same pattern later. Again, laws aimed partially at those who were partaking. IN 1852, Susan B. Anthony established the Women's State Temperance Society of New York, the first such society formed by and for women.
Mid-1800's
COCAINE-- introduced to Europe-- chiefly by Angelo Mariani, a French chemist, who introduced coca extracts in such products as tea and, most popularly, wine. Was presented a medal of appreciation by the Pope for his efforts. 1880's, use found as local anesthetic.
1886-- a green nerve tonic evolved into Coca-Cola-- containing extracts of coca leaves. All traces of cocaine gone by 1906 (actually seized by FDA in 1909 because it contained "no coca and little if no cola" (so, misbranded) and contained an added "poisonous" ingredient-- caffeine.
ALC-- In 1886 Congress makes "temperance education" mandatory in the District of Columbia, military and naval schools, and in federally held territories. By 1900, all the states had similar laws.
1884
COCAINE-- Sigmund Freud found cocaine to be a "magical" drug-- using it himself to stave off depression and indigestion. He urged all friends, colleagues, etc., to try it. Recommended it as a safe treatment for morphine addiction. However, after nursing a friend through a frightful night of cocaine psychosis, brought about by trying to counter his friend's morphine addiction, he bitterly was against the use of drugs.
1897
===> Tea Importation Act-- possibly first consumer protection law. Test incoming loads for quality (by tasting, of course).
1898
OPIUM-- Heroin developed by Bayer CO., -- considered to be safe and non-addicting. Became new drug of choice until addictive qualities learned.
=====> At this time, anywhere from 1 in 400 to 1 in 20 adults addicted to opium, morphine or heroin in U.S. Typical addict: 30 to 50 year old white woman. Estimated that 50% of adult Chinese population addicted to opium.
MARIJ-- Recommended by William James (psychologist) as way to study mind-- described by one psychologist in 1899 as a "microscope; it magnifies psychological states..."
TOBAC-- Tobacco dropped as medicine from United States Pharmacopeia.
1830's
In Massachusetts, first law to limit alcohol availability in U.S.-- forbade selling to Indians.
1850's
Between 1851 and 1855, 13 states passed alcohol prohibition laws. By 1868, 9 had repealed them. Same pattern later. Again, laws aimed partially at those who were partaking rather than on the drug itself.
1875
San Francisco Ordinance banning the operation or visiting of opium dens. Again, the drug itself not banned, only a particular setting (aimed at controlling use among Chinese immigrants).
1897
Tea Importation Act-- possibly first consumer protection law. Test incoming loads for quality. (How done? By tasting, of course).
As discussed in class, drugs have been a part of the human experience from the beginning. Most of the regulation during that time was through social sanctions and responses to intoxication (rather than sanctions for use).
More official proclamations against the use of various substances have occurred over the centuries (including laws forbidding the consumption of coffee, smoking of tobacco, etc.) In this country, the restriction of use and distribution of drugs on a Federal level is less than 100 years old. Previous to 1914, any restrictions were on the State or local level, and those restrictions were few and far between and commonly targeted to use by certain groups.
What I'll do here is trace the development of legal control over drugs to give you an idea of how we came to where we are now.
(Don't memorize specific years. I won't ask you, "What law was passed in 1938?" However, the chronology is important for understanding how these regulations have developed (and how relatively recent most of them are. Also, you'll need to know what the major drug acts did. Major acts will be marked in red.))