Since its inception in 1970, the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) has been used by law enforcement to reduce drug abuse and U.S. addiction by regulating the production, sale, purchase, and use of many drugs. This law gives the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) the power to monitor and control the use of legal and illegal substances. If you are addicted to illegal or controlled substances and need help, we offer treatment options to help you on the road to recovery. Our hotlines are open 24 hours a day and our admissions coordinators are always available to talk to you about your questions about illegal and controlled substances and help you find the treatment options that are right for you. Call us at 615-490-9376. For many decades, the federal government has classified marijuana as a controlled substance that can only be used legally for scientific research projects. While state governments continue to criminalize the possession, distribution, and use of marijuana, nine states have legalized the use of the drug for medical purposes. Through the use of voting initiatives, voters approved these so-called “medical marijuana” laws in eight of these states, including California.
Proponents claim that people suffering from serious illnesses such as AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis are helped by smoking marijuana. The federal government has denied the constitutionality of these laws and has found that federal drug laws prevent states from making exceptions. In the scientific community, drugs are defined as substances that can affect the biological and neurological state of a human or animal. They can be organic, such as the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is found naturally in marijuana; or synthetic, such as amphetamines or sedatives produced in the laboratory. Drugs can be swallowed, inhaled through the nostrils, injected with a needle, applied to the skin, taken as suppositories or smoked. Scientists classify drugs according to their effects. Their categories include painkillers, which kill pain, and psychoactive drugs, which alter the mind or behavior. Some psychoactive substances produce psychological ups and downs, depending on whether they are stimulants or sedatives. Others, called hallucinogens, produce psychedelic states of consciousness; Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and mescaline are examples of such drugs.
Marijuana is classified in a separate category. However, when Congress passed the Harrison Act of 1914 (Pub. L. No. 223, 38 Stat. 785), which imposed a tax on opium and cocaine, it was about to declare one of the two drugs illegal. Most efforts to limit drug use have focused on alcohol. The prohibition crusade of the abstinence movement culminated in the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act of 1920 (41 Stat. 305), which made alcohol illegal. Alcohol remained illegal until prohibition was repealed in 1933.
In addition to national efforts to monitor drug sales, international efforts are part of the war on drugs. These efforts include banning federal law enforcement officers at the U.S. border to prevent drugs from entering the country. The federal government has also sent DEA agents to other countries such as Bolivia and Colombia as part of a broader campaign to prevent the flow of drugs into the United States. In the 1980s and 1990s, the United States exerted diplomatic pressure on the governments of Bolivia and Colombia to persuade them to stop producing drugs in their countries. To continue receiving U.S. aid and government-guaranteed loans, foreign countries had to work with Washington`s anti-drug initiatives. In March 1996, President Bill Clinton ended this aid to Colombia due to a lack of cooperation. The distinction between legal and illicit drugs is a phenomenon of the twentieth century. During the nineteenth century, there was very little state control over drugs.
The federal government regulated the smallpox vaccine in 1813 (2 Stat. 806) and introduced certain controls through the Imported Drugs Act of 1848 (9 Stat. 237, repealed by the Tariff Act of 1922 [42 Stat. 858, 989]). But addictive substances such as opium and cocaine were legal; In fact, the latter remained a minor ingredient in Coca-Cola soft drinks until 1909. Heroin, discovered in 1888, was prescribed to treat other addictions. California began restricting opium in 1875, but widespread criminalization of the substance would not come for decades. Other drugs such as cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin are not legal. They are not subject to quality or price controls and the amount of active ingredient they contain is not constant. A person who uses illegal drugs can never be sure of the strength of the drug or what it actually contains.
Despite many changes, the shortcomings of the Pure Food and Drug Act prompted Congress to replace the law. In 1938, federal legislators enacted the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act (FFDC) (21 U.S.C.A. §§ 301 et seq.), which established the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the federal law enforcement agency. The FFDC exercised broad control over the domestic commercial market for medicines. Over the next two decades, the states and the federal government continued to criminalize non-medical and recreational drugs, and by mid-century the separation between legal and illegal drugs was firmly established.