Historical Research on Drug Policy

1910

= Recommended Reading

• New! The Reefer Madness Collection - Hundreds of examples of hilarious Reefer Madness from history.
• New! - Medical Marijuana Throughout History - Pictures of more than 100 medicines that once contained cannabis extracts
•   Federal Court Decisions - 1910-1919
• Hemp article, from Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed. (1910-1911)
• Fiber Investigations - Hemp & Flax - USDA Yearbook, 1910
• Four Tons of Opium Seized - New York Times February 21, 1911
• Uncle Sam is the Worst Drug Fiend in the World, New York Times March 12, 1911
• Sales of Hypodermic Needles, The New York Times March 15, 1911
• The Discovery of Hashish from Victor Robinson, *An Essay on Hasheesh* (New York, 1912) p.23
• The Peril of the Drug Habit, By Charles B. Towns, Century Magazine, Vol. 84 (August, 1912), 580-88.
• New Cocaine Bill Adds to Penalties, NY Times, January 17, 1913
• Opium Crisis in Far East, New York Times January 26, 1913
• Arrest Physician After Opium Raid , New York Times January 31, 1913
• Would Flog Drunkards - Lash Recommended by a London Doctor for Cure, Not punishment.- New York Times February 9, 1913
• Dr. Alsberg Begins Fight on Fake Drugs - NY Times, February 13, 1913
• Drug Evil Now the Target of Fierce Attack - article, New York Times, 1913
• Ex-Soldier, Crazed on Cocaine, Raids a Saloon, New York Times April 2, 1913
• Opium Degrading French Navy, New York Times April 27, 1913
• Bells on Poison Bottles, New York Times May 11, 1913
• No More Indian Opium for China, New York Times May 13, 1913
• We Gain in China and England Loses - New York Times May 13, 1913
• Georgia Banker, Who Took Poison by Mistake, Awaits The End., New York Times May 19, 1913
• Poisonous Drugs - Proper Packing Might Lessen the Number of Accidents, New York Times May 25, 1913
• BiChloride Tablets, New York Times June 5, 1913
• Swindled in Opium Deal, New York Times June 8, 1913
• Psychopathologic Phases Observable in Individuals Using Narcotic Drugs in Excess, By C. C. Wholey, M.D. Pennsylvania Medical Journal, Vol. 16 (June, 1913), 721-25.
• Burglars Had Cocaine, New York Times June 10, 1913
• Poisonous Drugs - Letter to the Editor, New York Times June 16, 1913
• Took Mercury - May Live, New York Times June 18, 1913
• Household Remedies May Do Great Harm, New York Times June 23, 1913
• Asbury Bans Hot Dogs , New York Times June 24, 1913
• Mercury Killing Her, New York Times June 24, 1913
• Poisonous Tablets - Letter to the Editor, New York Times June 26, 1913
• Yuan Stops Opium Growing.- New York Times July 6, 1913
• Boys Wrecked by Heroin, New York Times July 24, 1913
• After Chinese Opium Ring - Federal Officials Suspect Alien Smuggling and White Slavery, NY Times, September 8, 1913
• Opium Imports Fall Off - New York Times December 5, 1913
• Say Drug Habit Grips Nation - New York Times December 5, 1913 - United States Second only to China in Abuse of Opium Products, Experts Affirm. Many Physicians Victims
• Hemp: Extension of the Industry to Other States -  1913 Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture
• Hemp: Soils Suited to Hemp -  1913 Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture
• The Physiological Activity of Cannabis Sativa - Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association (1913)
• Great Dangers of Heroin-  The New York Times January 22, 1914
• To Make It Harder to Get Habit Drugs - New York Times Monday January 26, 1914
• Negro Cocaine Fiends - New Southern Menace - article, New York Times, February 8, 1914 - This is a good example of the arguments used in favor of the proposed narcotics laws.
• Great Legislative Plan to Stamp Out Cocaine - By Edward Marshall, Article, New York Times, Sunday, February 22, 1914
• A Modern Opium Eater American Magazine, Vol. 77 (June, 1914), 31-35.
• Narcotic Addiction By Perry M. Lichtenstein New York Medical Journal, Vol. 100 (November 14, 1914), 962-66. The author was physician at the New York City Prison.
• New Drug Law Hits Accidental Users - New York Times, June 21, 1914

• Two things are of particular note in this article.
  The first is the assertion that drug addicts could be cured in a matter of five days. This is a reference to a drug addiction "treatment" advanced by Charles Towns, which consisted of imprisoning addicts and giving them a plainly poisonous concoction for five days. At the end of five days of "treatment" every addict so "treated" claimed they were cured, to avoid further "treatment." Follow-up studies conducted years later showed that, in fact, very few of the addicts had been cured by the treatment -- if any.
  The second point is Mr. Towns assumptions about the root cause of drug addiction in the last paragraph -- which he attributes to the earlier use of tobacco.

• New Anti-Drug Law is in Effect Today, The New York Times July 1, 1914, Prescribes Penalties for Misuse of Privileges by Physicians and Druggists, Many Convictions Expected---Author of Measure Hopes for Interstate Regulations.
• Progress and Paregoric, The New York Times July 17, 1914
• Liquor and the Drug Traffic, New York Times July 29, 1914 by William H. Anderson, State Superintendent Anti-Saloon league of New York.
• The Harrison Narcotic Act (1914) - Chapter 8 of the Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs, 1972
• Harrison Narcotics Tax Act - Full text of the Act, as approved December 17, 1914
• Nearly 2,000 Drug Arrests - New York Times January 6, 1915 -  Commissioner Woods Sees an Improvement in Conditions
• Poorer Drug Users in Pitiful Plight, New York Times April 15, 1915 -- Illicit Peddling of Heroin and Cocaine Practically at an End, Police Say.
• Problems of Drug Addiction, The New York Times April 16, 1915
• Treasury Department Memo on the Medical Use of Marijuana - September 25, 1915
• The Heroin Habit, By Pearce Bailey, New Republic, Vol. 6 (April 22, 1916), 314-16.
• Census of Narcotic Drugs, The New York Times May 3, 1916, Persons Licensed to Sell Them Must File Inventory of Stocks.
• Interpret Harrison Law, The New York Times June 6, 1916, Supreme Court Decides It Only Applies to Those Who Deal in Drugs.
• Finds Drug Evil Pervades the City - New York Times December 5, 1916
• The Seed Supply of the Nation - USDA Yearbook, 1917
• Production of Drug-Plant Crops in the United States, USDA Yearbook, 1917
• Drug Addicts Cured by New Treatment - New York Times January 28, 1917  - Dr. Stokes, at City Farm, Gets Satisfactory Results in Only a Few Days - Wants More Patients- No preliminary Confinement in Hospital Necessary-- Victims Take on Weight Rapidly
• Drug Addiction and the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Act, By J. C. Densten, M.D., New York Medical Journal, Vol. 105 (April 21, 1917), 747-48.
• City's Drug Cure Called a Success - New York Times June 10, 1917 - Dr. C.F. Stokes Reports to the Board of Inebriety Results of His Experiments - Drugs Suddenly Withdrawn from Addicts Without Causing Suffering.
• Report on Drug Cases - The New York Times September 2, 1917
• Prohibition in El Paso, 1918
• Morphinism and Crime, By L. L. Stanley, Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 8 January, 1918, 749-56.
• Richmond P. Hobson Argues for Prohibition
• Chicago Saloons Before Prohibition
• Ohio Dry Federation Prohibition Campaign of 1918
• Drugs and Genius, NY Times July 21, 1918
• Drugs and Genius - NY Times Review of Books, August 4, 1918
• Strange Story from Iceland - December 18, 1918
• Those Who Laugh at the Drunken Man - New York Evening Journal, 1918
• Webb, et al. v. United States, 249 U.S. 96 (1919) No. 370. U. S. Supreme Court
• U. S. v. Doremus , 249 U.S. 86 (1919) No. 367. U.S. Supreme Court
• Dr. Copeland Reports Great Increase In Sale of Habit-Forming Drugs Here - The New York Times March 23, 1919
• City Sends About 135 Addicts of Both Sexes to Special Wards in Hospitals, The New York Times April 11, 1919, Copeland Plans Campaign, Two Doctors, Three Druggists, and One Addict Arrested in Raid in Brooklyn
• 8,000 Lads in City are Drug Addicts - The New York Times April 15, 1919 -  80,000 in Draft Were Rejected by National Army, Rainey Tells Parole Board. - Doped to Evade Service - Prohibition a Disturbing Factor-- State Commission Joins Local health Department Campaign.
• Drug Addictions, By L. L. Stanley Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 10 (May, 1919), 62-70.
• More Than 1,000,000 Drug Users in the US - NY Times June 13, 1919
• The Relation of Drug Addiction to Industry, By T. S. Blair Journal of Industrial Hygeine, Vol. 1 (October, 1919), 284-96. Copyright 1919,
• The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, which made alcohol prohibition the law of the land.