Why was the possession of cocaine legal back in the day and illegal now?

Why was the possession of cocaine legal back in the day and illegal now?
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Why was the possession of cocaine legal back in the day and illegal now?
Throughout the 19th century, the trade of most opiates and cocaine was unregulated by governments and was commonly found laced in foods, drinks, and beverages. For example, Vin Mariani, a wine sold across France wand United States, contained 7.2 milligrams of cocaine per ounce and was popular with customers in 1863. The renowned Coca-Cola beverage too was usually spiked with 60 milligrams of cocaine. Introduced in 1886, cocaine became popular due to the invigorating and euphoric effects it invoked on its consumers. Cocaine was also laced in chocolate bars, patented the medicine, tonics and toothache cures (Gootenberg, 1999). Cocaine was used by medical practitioners as an anesthesia in patients during surgical procedures and was also used to treat other addictions though eventually it proved to aggravate the addiction. Sigmund Freud, who was among the first people to popularize the drug claiming it cured depression and sexual impotence, had other benefits. This resulted to its perpetuation through the silent film era and was taken up by Hollywood. The use of cocaine in the United States was eventually high with more than a million users. This paper seeks to examine “why the possession and usage of cocaine in the United States was legal before 1914 and illegal now.” In attempt to respond to the question, several examples, as well as concepts are clearly provided and explained from a broad point of view.
Over the years, the use of plants for medication and religious purposes has been commonly practiced. The Coca plant is a good example of plants that have been in use for various purposes. Evidently, cocaine is derived from the Coca plant. The South Americans and Philippines were using the plant as a religious herb. It is worth noting that its use first emanated in 300BC when the Incas who lived in the Andes used it. They used to chew the Coca plant so they could stimulate their heart and breathing rates to help them endeavor climbing into the thin air of the Andes Mountains. When Spain conquered the Americas, they stumbled upon the herb being used by the natives and had tried to abolish it. However, after noticing that the slaves in the gold mines functioned well under its influence, they supplied it to the slaves regularly, and they exported it out of the Philippines and Americas (Gootenberg, 1999).
Evidently, through research, the increased use of cocaine in the United States reached its pinnacle when US took Philippines from the hands of Spanish colony. The US government, in a bid to raise revenue to build a government for the Philippines and provide education, reinstituted a policy instituted by Spanish government in Philippines. They allowed the Chinese to continue processing the opium at a contract fee granting a leeway for William Howard Taft the then civil Governor to amass the funds. The effects of cocaine use started to become apparent in its users who exhibited signs such as psychotic behaviors and a rise in crime and violence was evident. Even close friends to Sigmund Freud developed these symptoms, and some died due to overdose. Coca Cola resolved to ban the substance from its beverages but maintained the coca flavor in the drinks. Despite its apparent side effects, the use of cocaine still continued and was sold over the counters in US retail shops. Ways of taking in cocaine were explored from injection, smoking, sniffing, and crack (Madge, 2001). Sniffing of the drug was more popular in by 1905 until 1910 when casualties due to nasal damage started to be common. A medical literature was also written on the bad effect of sniffing cocaine prompting a shift to injections.
However, due to damage of peripheral capillaries because of injections and some mild fear of needles by some users, smoking cocaine in the form of crack was invented. By the time the United States was starting to tighten the noose on cocaine use, cocaine hydrochloride was being sold in the amphetamine black market as a whit powder that was mixed with a flammable solvent such as ether which when lighted, evaporated with the cocaine and smoked. However due to its physical dangers of causing fire and burns, the cocaine use evolved to crack. Crack involved making of Freebase cocaine using a solution of baking powder, which allowed it to evaporate at low temperate. Thus, it could be smoked in a heated pipe. Prices of cocaine dropped with the introduction of crack opening the doors for an epidemic of cocaine addiction in America (Lowinson & Robert, 2004).
Tough regulations on cocaine was initiated in 1903, when America legislated a law that required proprietors of cocaine to label the content and amount of the drug laced in medicines, foods, drinks and beverages. In 1906, the enacted law of Pure Food and Drugs Act stipulated on the requirements of labeling before rendering drugs and foods shelf worthy. The regulations limited the number of people who could prescribe medications with such drugs. For instance, the law stipulated that only doctors were freely allowed to prescribe medicines with cocaine and other narcotics. Such regulations were imposed in order to curb the spread and consumption of such drugs in the global society. Apart from the regulations, different ways of controlling the spread of the drug were enacted, such as heavy fines. In other words, heavy taxation was imposed on cocaine products and other opiates in a move to discourage its use. Heavy fines were also incurred on those druggists, manufactures, wholesalers, and retailers who were not transparent on their cocaine and opiates records and labels in their products. After some time, it was established that some doctors were being complicit in selling cocaine and other narcotics to addicts at a fee thus exacerbating the problem (Spillane, 2000). Those who were caught were tried in court and sentenced.
However, these laws had been defeated severally and foiled by in the earlier attempts to enact it by manufactures up until it amassed requisite public concern. This came when the southern United States, after recovering from the civil war, amassed enough men in Congress and Democrats picked up the reigns in the House of Representatives. David Fosters Bill, formulated by a Republican, which was chiefly aimed at curbing marijuana use was later adopted and altered by Francis Harrison, a Democrat, to include opiates and cocaine. The bill took into perspective views of the National Drug Trade Conference and political interests of the South, who did not want interference with their local laws (Musto, 2013). Southern US wanted to retain the status quo where white authority superseded that of blacks, perpetuating racial segregation, and depriving Negros of voting rights.
To avoid imposing the law on the South, Harrison used propaganda war to bring its influence to the South. Some of the concerns of cocaine that were raised during the post Civil war era was that the drug caused the black community to become rebellious and enabled them to organize themselves into groups to clamor for equal civil rights. This era had been rife with crime and violence, and the United States political class took advantage of these circumstances to wage war against cocaine. Propaganda was disseminated that Negroes, who were the majority in the southern parts of the nation were increasingly becoming malcontent and violent due to addiction to cocaine (Streatfeild, 2003). They also claimed that cocaine caused the black males to become sex-crazed and made them rape white women and that it boosted their gun marksmanship.
There was also a mirthful myth that prevailed about cocaine giving Negroes supernatural powers. This period too, in the United States, was marked by increasing immigrants even from Asia. Most imp...