We can't solve a problem without knowing its origin. To solve America's drug problem, we have to know the history of the drug war. The drug war did not start with Richard Nixon. It wasn't a Republican idea, or a traditional idea. The drug war was launched before the First World War by utopian Progressive Democrats. Woodrow Wilson signed the first federal drug law in 1914, the Harrison Act. It was intended as a weapon against opiate-using "Orientals." Some doctors supported it because it granted them a prescription monopoly. At first, the Harrison Act only increased the cost of opiates to users. But soon the doctors fell victim as well, as the Harrison Act was used to imprison pain doctors and even those who ran opiate-addiction treatment clinics. [continues 616 words]
The United States had no drug laws until 1914. Yet somehow our pioneering ancestors managed to build railroads across the continent, invent the airplane and electric light, and build the biggest economy in history. America before the Drug Enforcement Administration had no drug gangs, no drug violence, and low crime. Adult drug users just went to the drug store and bought drugs without drama. No one sold drugs in schools. There were no huge drug profits, no overseas terrorist drug lords, and no wrong-address SWAT team raids at 3 a.m. [continues 546 words]
The New Hampshire House has decided to legalize marijuana for cancer patients. HB 422 allows people with certain qualifying conditions, and with their doctor's recommendation, to use marijuana as a treatment. The bill was introduced by Lancaster Rep. Evalyn Merrick, a cancer survivor, and is sponsored in the Senate by Strafford Sen. Jim Forsythe. It would establish state-licensed alternative treatment centers to provide safe access to medical marijuana. The bill includes strict rules regarding public use, impairment, and driving under the influence. [continues 76 words]
