Chapter 2: Drug Use Yesterday and Today

T/F: The first recorded use of cannabis was in the early 1800s.

False- The use of Cannabis dates back to around 2700 BC in China, where the Emperor Shen Nung recommended it for the treatment of various ailments.

T/F: Grape wine was the first alcoholic beverage to be used.

False-Beer and huckleberry wine were used as early as 6400 BC. Grape wine did not appear until between 300 BC and 400 BC.

T/F: The Opium Wars between China and Great Britain in the mid-1800s occurred in large part because Britain was unwilling to curtail its trade of opium into China.

True-Most of the opium used in China at the time was cultivated in India and brought to China by British traders. British were unwilling to curtail this trade due to financial reasons and users in England were not experiencing the same degree of addiction.

T/F: Columbus and his crew were responsible for introducing tobacco to the New World.

False-The Indians Columbus encountered introduced him and later explorers to tobacco and other psychoactive plants.

T/F: Many of the drugs that are now illegal in the US were widely used to treat a broad spectrum of illnesses in the 1800s and early 1900s.

True-Opiates, marijuana, cocaine, and amphetamines were all used at one time or another to treat various illnesses.

T/F: The first notable drug law in the US--the 1875 San Francisco ordinance--banned the smoking of opium.

False-The San Francisco ordinance banned opium dens but not the actual smoking of opium.

T/F: The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 had little impact on individuals who were addicted to drugs.

True-This act was designed to control opiate addiction and legislated that producers of medicines indicate on the packaging the amount of drugs contained in their product. It had little impact on addicts of the time.

T/F: The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 sharply curtailed the prevalence of heroin use in the US.

False-This act strictly regulated the legal supply of certain drugs but actually served to shift opium and morphine addicts to heroin.

T/F: The Eighteenth Amendment, which prohibited the production, sale, transportation, and importing of alcohol, failed because it did not have a substantial effect on drinking in the US.

False-Prohibition did have an effect on drinking. The rate of drinking decreased. In addition, death rates to liver cirrhosis decreased, and there was a decline in admission rates to state hospitals for alcoholism and arrest rates for alcohol-related offenses.

T/F: Federal antidrug legislation between 1940 and 1970 failed to have a sustained influence on drug use or dependence.

True-This is true. However, increased attention was paid to nonnarcotic drug use and to abuse treatment during this time.

T/F: The most successful aspect of the war on drugs has been the interception of drugs.

False-Most experts say this effort has been a failure, even though hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on it. The flow of drugs into the US has not been noticeably changed.

T/F: Urine testing is a reliable method for detecting drug use.

False-Many urinalysis tests continue to be unreliable.

What was the earliest drug use?

Alcohol and plants with psychoactive properties

What is the current trend of drugs?

"club drugs", such as MDMA, GHB, and Methamphetamine

What was the main mechanism for establishing formal guidelines about drugs?

Legislation and laws

What was the first federal drug legislation?

1906 Pure Food and Drug Act

What was the 1914 Harrison Narcotics Tax Act?

regulated the legal supply of certain drugs; resulted in the establishment of drug treatment centers for opiate addicts

What was the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937?

authorized producers, manufacturers, importers, and dispensers of the drug had to register and pay annual license fee

What was the 1970 Controlled Substances Act?

classified drugs according to legitimate medical uses and potential for abuse and dependence

What act does law enforcement still rely on today?

1970 Controlled Substances Act