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Opium Smoking
Opium and cocaine is brought to the United States by Chinese immigrants. -
Drug Advertisement
The Sears and Roebuck catalog offers a syringe and small amount of cocaine for sale for $1.50. -
The Harrison Narcotics Act
This law, before the creation of the Drugs Enforcement Agency, is known to be the first regulate entire classes of drugs, like Opium. This time period also marks a shift in the perspective of drug addiction by the general population from something that is medically-based to something completely abnormal, even criminal. -
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West Coast drugs become cut off
The US temporarily got cut off drug trafficking wise from Europe and Asia and how Mexico took that as an opportunity to provided up to 90% of the drug supplies to the states. -
Marijuana Tax Act of 1937
Pressure from Americans in the Southwest lead to the implementation of an Anti-Mexican law by the U.S. Department of Treasury that was motivated by both racial and class elitism. -
Methadone
Methadone was approved by the FDA in 1947 to help treat addiction and approved for official use in 1972 . There are 27 methadone clinics in Phoenix alone. -
The DEA
Nixon signs into order the Drug Enforcement Agency to fight the war on drugs in the United States. The first agency to deal with drug crimes was the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 1915. It passed through many agencies before landing with the DEA in 1973. -
Anti Drug Abuse Act
Millions of dollars are provided to create DEA Crack teams and tasks forces to reduce crack trafficking. -
El Chapo
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman begins leading the Sinaloa Federation, which is one of the most well known Mexican drug cartels. -
Arizona High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) is established
Law enforcement and community members come together to lessen drug trafficking and drug use in Arizona. This leads to the creation of the HIDTA by congress. Arizona's branch has seized 1 billion dollars in drugs as of 2019. -
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Drug Related Sentencing
95% of all drug sentencing in Arizona for this time period is from drug trafficking. Only 5% of drug sentences were for drug possession. -
Marijuana Seizures
42% of marijuana seized is at the Arizona Mexico border. It is one of the primary areas that marijuana enters the United States. -
Phoenix drug kingpin Martin Gonzalez Sentenced
Phoenix DEA seizes 5,000 pounds of marijuana during the investigation. Martin was responsible for the packaging of drugs in Phoenix and distribution to other states. He was originally arrested in Mexico and extradited to the US in 2006. -
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Fentanyl
The number of drug offenders that traffic fentanyl increased 435.4% in the US from 2018-2022. -
House Bill 2486
Magic Mushrooms or Psychedelic Mushrooms are now receiving $5 million in funding to be studied in Arizona for the purposes of exploring its medicinal purpose. Although psilocybin is still federally illegal, states such as Oregon and Colorado have or are planning to make them recreationally legal.