Drug Legislation in the 20th Century

By 14bakcam

  • Pure Food and Drugs Act

    This act prohibited interstate commerce of adulterated or misbranded foods or drugs. Modifications have since changed it. Drugs are defined as "any substance or mixture of substances intended to be used for the cure, mitigation or prevention of disease. The act refers specifically to alcohol, cocaine, morphine, opium, heroin, marijuana, and others. Each package was required to have the name of the drug and the quantity, but as long as it was true there was no regulation as to what could be sold.

  • Opium Exclusion Act

    This act banned the importation, possession, and use of opium, becoming the first federal law to ban the non-medical use of a substance. This law did not regulate medicine with opium in it.

  • 1912 Sherley Ammendment

    This ammendment to the Pure Food and Drugs Act outlawed false theraputic claims on labels of "medicine". (I could not find the specific date this went into effect.)

  • Harrison Act of 1914

    The Harrison Act was a tax law that required "all persons who produce, import, manufacture, compuond, deal in, dispense, or give away opium or coca leaces, ther salts, derivatives, or preperations" to register annually, pay a fee, and use an order form provided by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
  • Period: to

    Prohibition

    Prohibition made illegal the sale, production, and transportation of alcohol. During this time there was a massive rise in organized crime as gangs produced, ran, and sold alcohol.

  • Jones-Miller Act

    This act more than doubled the maximum penalties for dealing with illegally imported drugs to $5000 and ten years in prison. It also stated that the possession of illegally obtained cocaine or opioids was grounds for conviction.

  • Marijuana Tax Act

    This act made it illegal to possess or sell marijuana without first paying the tax. This put it under the same amount of control as cocaine and opioids.

  • Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

    This act required that a new drug must be tested for toxicity by its manufacturer BEFORE it was sent to market. Manufacturers had to submit an application for the new drug, andhad to include full reports of the investigations which were made to see if the drug was safe for use. The act also states that the labels give accurate instructions for use, or state that the drug can only be perscribed by a doctor.

  • Boggs Amendment

    This established mandatory minimum sentences for drug and narcotics violations, with no paroles or suspended sentences for repeat offenders.

  • Narcotic Drug Control Act

    This act had the toughest penalties yet for violations, Any offense except for first-offense possession was required to result in a jail term, with no suspended sentence, probation, or parole allowed. It even allowed for the death penalty on people dealing to minors.

  • Kefauver-Harris Amendments

    This required that companies seek approval of any testing being done on humans before the trials are conducted. It also required that advertisements for prescription drugs contain a summary of adverse reactions to the drug.

  • Drug Abuse Control Amendments

    This act brought amphetamines and barbituates, which were legal prescription drugs, under the same control as opioids, cocaine, and marijuana. Hallucinogens such as LSD were also added to the list, and all three were described as dangerous drugs.

  • Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act

    This law restarted drug control policies with a clean slate, based on current research and rational approaches to balancing public health and law enforcement issues. One part of the act gave increased funding to what is now the Department of Health and Human Services for research, treatment, and prevention. It also created the DEA to oversee drug enforcement. It did away with mandatory minimums and introduced 5 schedules of controlled substances.

  • Orphan Drug Act

    This act offers tax incentives and exclusive sales rights for seven years to any company developing a drug for rare disorders afflicting no more than 200,000 people.

  • Anti-Drug Abuse Act

    This act stiffened penalties for selling drugs and reinstated the mandatory minimum punishement with sentences without parole. Congress specified amounts that if they were exceeded, a tougher trafficking charge was applied.

  • Prescription Drug Marketing Act

    This act made it harder for pharmaceutical companies to give free samples to physicians after congress heard testimony about how shipments were being diverted.

  • Amendment to the Anti-Drug Abuse Act

    This law restricted the sales of firearms, the chemicals used to make drugs, and aircraft registrations. It also required banks to report all transactions of $10,000 or other suspicious activities. The death penalty was also reinstated for drug related murders.

  • Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act

    This act broadened tjhe definition of dietary supplements to include herbs and herbal extracts in addition to vitamins, minerals, and proteins.

  • FDA Modernization Act

    This act allowed companies to distribute information to doctors about other, less researched, uses for approved medication.