Albia Dugger • Miami Dade College

Chapter 4 Drugs and the Law

Drugs and the Law

• Attempts have been made to regulate the use of mind-altering substances since settlers first arrived in the New World

• The first substance regulated was alcohol

• The temperance movement in the late 1700s advocated that people become more educated about the hazards of alcohol

Early Drug Regulations

• Alcohol• 1791: Congress passed an excise tax on whiskey

• Opium• 1833: US treaty regulated international opium trade• 1842: Tax on crude opium shipped to the US• 1875: San Francisco prohibiting smoking in opium dens• 1890: Only US citizens could manufacture or import opium

• Proprietary drugs (over-the-counter drugs)• Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

Questions about Drug Laws

• Do drug laws affect whether people use drugs?

• Should drug laws be aimed at drug users, sellers, or traffickers?

• Should the role of government be to inform its citizens about drugs or to prevent its citizens from using drugs?

• Should a person be prevented from engaging in self-destructive behavior?

Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

• Before 1906, patent medicines were largely unregulated

• US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was created to assess drug hazards and prohibit sale of dangerous drugs

• Law required drug manufacturers to report adverse reactions to their products

• Law required that the amount or proportion of drugs in the medicine had to be listed on the label

Collier’s Magazine, 1905

Harrison Act of 1914

• The Harrison Act resulted from the need to limit opiate use

• Law governed the marketing and sale of narcotics, regulated nonmedical narcotic use, and made possession of narcotics without a prescription illegal

• Doctors and pharmacists had to keep records of the prescriptions they wrote

• To obtain drugs, an increasing number of people resorted to criminal activity

Marijuana Tax Act of 1937

• Forbade the recreational use of marijuana, but not medicinal or industrial uses

• Anyone using marijuana was required to pay a tax – failure to comply meant a large fine or prison term for tax evasion

• AMA and others opposed marijuana legislation

• The Federal Bureau of Narcotics, established in 1932, later became the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

Arguments against Marijuana

Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938

• Under 1906 guidelines, a drug manufacturer could not be prosecuted for fatalities due to toxic drugs

• 1938 Act required pharmaceutical companies to file applications with the federal government demonstrating that all new drugs were safe and properly labeled

• Manufacturers had to submit a “new drug application” to the FDA, giving the FDA more authority and responsibility

Limitations of the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

• Did not cover drugs that were previously marketed

• Drugs had to be proven safe, but not effective

• Government had little authority to enact penalties

• Manufacturers determined whether a drug would be sold as a prescription or over-the-counter

• Manufacturers conducted their own tests to determine a drug’s effectiveness

Kefauver-Harris Amendments

• Serious birth defects caused by thalidomide resulted in implementation of stronger regulations regarding drug testing

• Kefauver-Harris Amendments, 1962, gave the FDA the authority to withdraw drugs from the marketplace

• Drug advertisements directed to physicians were required to include the drug’s side effects and its contraindicated uses

• Testing procedures required prior approval from the FDA

Effects of Thalidomide

Kefauver-Harris Amendments

• 1972 Drug Efficacy Study: The FDA asked the National Research Council to conduct a study of new drugs

• Active ingredients were placed in one of three categories:• Category I drugs: Determined to be safe, effective, and

properly labeled• Category II drugs: Not generally recognized as safe and

effective, or recognized as mislabeled; must be removed from medications within six months

• Category III drugs: Data insufficient to determine general recognition of safety and effectiveness

Comprehensive Drug AbusePrevention and Control Act of 1970

• Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (Controlled Substances Act), effectively replaced all previous laws dealing with narcotics and dangerous drugs

• Expanded community health centers and Public Health Service hospitals for drug abusers

• Established a commission on marijuana and drug abuse

• Divided drugs into five categories called schedules

Drug Schedules

Anti–Drug Abuse Act of 1988

• Legislation that emphasizes stringent punishment of the drug user, to reduce drug demand

• Punishment could be waived if the user completes a drug rehabilitation program

• Greatly increased federal prison population and led to a new Cabinet position, Director of National Drug Control Policy

• Under this law, drug users are punished more stringently than rapists or robbers

College Students and Drug Convictions

• Students convicted of possession face a temporary ban on financial aid – a third conviction loses financial aid indefinitely

• A drug-selling conviction means loss of eligibility for two years if that is one’s first offense

• An estimated 200,000 students have lost access to aid since this law went into effect

Legal Issues

• Should the sale of drug paraphernalia be illegal?

• Should people using small amounts of illegal drugs for personal enjoyment receive harsh criminal penalties?

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of decriminalizing or legalizing drugs?

• What impact has drug enforcement had on drug use?

• Should the vast amount of money spent on stopping drugs be used differently?

Drug Paraphernalia

• Drug paraphernalia: • Items that are aids to using drugs (cigarette-rolling papers,

water pipes, razors, clay pipes, roach clips, spoons, mirrors, and other products)

• Prosecuting individuals for possessing drug paraphernalia is

viewed as a deterrent for drug use

The War on Drugs

• In 1988, Congress proclaimed that the US would be drug-free by 1995

• The monetary expense and human resources employed to combat illicit drug use are enormous – yet, the number of Americans who have used illegal drugs has increased

• The government’s assault on illicit drugs has resulted in social tension, ill health, violent crime, compromised civil liberties, and international conflict

Federal Prisoners and Drug Offenses

Arguments Against Legalization

• Some argue that decriminalization would increase drug use, addiction, and drug-related deaths

• Drug-related crimes might fall, but the number of addicts would rise

• Legalization would result in more dysfunctional addicts who would be unable to support their lifestyles and drug use through legitimate means

Arguments For Legalization

• Legal regulation of drugs would protect drug takers and save money

• Billions of dollars spent on drug enforcement might be put to use more effectively if the money were directed toward education and treatment programs

AIDS Cases by Transmission Category

AIDS in the United States by Age

People Living with AIDS

Arguments For and Against Decriminalization

Drug Enforcement

• Drug enforcement is designed to stem the flow of drugs coming into the US and to punish the user

• To stop drugs at their source, the State Department works with a number of foreign governments

• DEA agents help block drugs from leaving other countries, eradicate crops, and find and dismantle illegal laboratories

Methamphetamine Traffic

Drug-Related Arrests

Problems with Enforcement

• Farmers make more money from coca or opium crops than from legal crops

• On a global scale, less than 10% of illegal crops are consistently eradicated

• Interdiction is especially difficult because of numerous points of entry

Cocaine Transportation

Confiscated Cocaine

DEA Drug Seizures

DEA Seize Hashish in Afghanistan

DEA Seize Hashish in Afghanistan

Prevention

• Harm reduction • Interventions that respond to needs of drug users and the

community to reduce harm caused by illicit drug use• Includes providing sterile syringes to reduce spread of HIV

infection, education, and increased treatment• Treats drug abuse as a public health problem, not a

criminal problem

Prevention

• Normalization • Term used by the Dutch for the practice of not prosecuting

users of soft drugs such as marijuana• Using some drugs is not illegal, but drug traffic is illegal• Treatment assists physical and social well-being of addicts

rather than try to stop their addiction• Result: Netherlands has less drug use than the US and

other European countries

Racism and Drug Enforcement

• Questionable search warrants in inner-city communities

• People of color are stopped and searched more often than others on the basis of “drug courier” profiles

• Despite comparable drug usage, Blacks are incarcerated at a higher rate than Whites

• Penalties for crack cocaine, used more by poor, are greater than those for powder cocaine, used more by middle class

“Drug Courier” Profiles

Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentencing

• Starting in 1984, Congress enacted mandatory minimum penalties specifically focusing on drugs and violent crimes

• It has been shown that mandatory minimum drug sentences have not acted as deterrents to further crime

• Mandatory minimum drug sentences give no latitude to judges to determine appropriate punishments

• Treatment is 15 times more effective for reducing serious crime than mandatory minimum sentencing