Crop Eradication
Crop eradication has been the primary strategy of the U.S. and governments of producer countries of marijuana, coca and opium poppies to reduce the production of illegal drugs at their source. The U.S. began using crop eradication in the early...
Alternative Development
The softer version of crop eradication is alternative development, which uses financial incentives and training to help marginalized farmers switch to other crops such as coffee, instead of coca or opium poppies. Given its focus on poor rural populations, it...
Opium & Civil War Morphine Addiction
The U.S. experienced its first major drug epidemic over 150 years ago with returning Civil War veterans addicted to morphine. At the turn of the 19th century, the U.S. was exposed to opium use and addiction from its newly acquired...
Early 20th Century Cocaine Use & Addiction
While cocaine was first synthesized in 1856, it did not become widely commercially available until the early 20th century. Coca Cola even used small amounts of cocaine in its beverage from 1886-1900. Yet, it wasn’t until the early 20th century...
The 1906 U.S. Food & Drug Act and the First International Opium Conference
To address nascent drug use and abuse, the U.S. Congress passed the Food and Drug Act in 1906. The Food and Drug Act’s main purpose was to ban foreign and interstate traffic of all adulterated and mislabeled food and drug...
The Harrison Act of 1914
In the U.S., continued growing alarm over drug addiction, the rising Temperance Movement for alcohol, and a desire to maintain credibility with its international partners upon pushing for the 1912 Opium Convention, motivated the U.S. to pass its first major...