01 Sep 2008, Posted by Cat in News, 16 Comments. Tagged drugs

drug law history snippets

The notion of making drug use illegal did not really emerge in western societies until the late nineteenth century. Before that, in Australia, Britain, Europe, and the United States, whether people used drugs was considered a personal decision – subject to social disapproval, but not illegal. Alcohol was of course the most widely used psychoactive substance.

Cannabis plants were sent to Australia by Sir Joseph Banks on the First Fleet, in the hope that the new colony might grow enough hemp to supply the British Navy with rope.

Heroin, a very pure form of opiate, was developed – by the Bayer company – to treat wounded soldiers and send them back into battle as heroes (hence the name ‘hero-in’). It was used medically in many countries for many years. Ecstasy (MDMA) was first synthesised in 1912, and later used in psychotherapy. Cocaine was advocated by Sigmund Freud as a cure for heroin addiction (and it was also once an ingredient in Coca Cola). Until the early twentieth century, cannabis could be bought over the counter and was used (often in tincture form) to treat a range of ailments.

Ironically, as the historian Alfred McCoy has shown, while the United States has been the most vocal promoter of international drug prohibition, actions of the United States military have given the international drug trade its biggest boosts. First, in the Second World War, American military intelligence made arrangements with Sicilian mafia figures such as Lucky Luciano to support the Allied invasion of Italy. The arrangement allowed the mafia to gain control of – and expand – the international heroin trade, including into the United States. Later, in Vietnam, the CIA sought alliances with the hill tribes of the Golden Triangle against the communist Viet Minh.
In exchange for their political support, the CIA provided substantial transport and other logistical support for the hill tribes to sell opium and heroin. And United States soldiers in Vietnam became the major customers for the heroin, in many cases taking their heroin dependence back home with them.

Heroin was legally available on prescription in Australia until 1953. It was so widely used as a painkiller and in cough mixtures that Australia was the world’s largest per capita user of heroin. The 1953 prohibition of heroin was the result of international pressure on Australia to conform to the prohibition of heroin adopted by other countries, with some opposition from the AMA.

Excerpts from Hot Topics: legal issues in plain language, #59
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