Harrison Narcotics Act

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The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914

In the early seventeenth century a small Christian cult known as the puritans left Europe for a new life in North America. The Puritans brought with them supplies; food, tools, clothing, weapons, and all the necessities to survive their new un-developed environment. The Puritans also brought with them, forty-two tons of beer, and ten thousand gallons of wine. Thus by arriving early and in quantity alcohol secured its place as the most ‘American’ of the psychoactive drugs, though other more ‘exotic’ drugs were accepted and used throughout the young nation. (J. June)
Up until 1883 there were no restrictions on psychoactive drugs. As the nineteenth century progressed, eating-opium could be bought in grocery and candy stores, and the promoters of patent medicines, including even “soothing” preparations for children, took to loading their products with the drug. It was the Civil War, however, that gave the American addiction rate its big boost. In those bitter years, morphine, and the new syringe proved a blessed substitute for inadequate battlefield ministrations, and opium was always in short supply because it was an effective antidote for the ever-present dysentery which afflicted soldiers under both standards. There were three different types of tools usually found in a field medics bag; a knife for tissue, a saw for bone, and wire clippers for veins. In those days a good medic was a quick medic. (History Channel “Illegal Drugs and How They Got That Way”) When morphine came along it effectively killed the pain and enabled the medics to take more time on the wounds. After the Appomattox, addiction became tolerantly known as “The Army Disease.” In the 1880’s one observer estimated that 4 per cent of the population of the U.S. used some kind of opiate for non-medical purposes.
After the Civil War finally ended, there was the great task of rebuilding. There were many newly...