Drug Abuse In America

The history of drugs in America go so far back, it was considered the dawn of history. It seems as though we always found ways to feel good. It started with the Indians, and Egyptians preparing opium from the opium poppy, and they even recommended this for crying babies. 15 centuries later ancient Greece used a form of fermented honey to help people have visions, essentially known know as hallucinations. Around the time of 1200 CE Incas would bequeath coca leaves to pay for goods they received. In 1492 sailing became a big deal, and the American continent became ideal for drug development. Once the new world was found tobacco leaves became prominent in England, it eventually became controlled, and taxed. Tobacco became a pretty pricey addiction, …show more content…
6) In the mid-1800s early surveys show that 22,000 were addicted to medicinal opiates, and 92,000 were addicted to smoking opium. (David Musto p.950) They eventually seemed to gain some type of control, because they enforced very strict antinarcotic laws until World War I. This abuse continued to plague America with morphine, heroin, and cocaine. “In 1860 “cocaine” was isolated in pure form, but there isn’t any significant report of its use until 1883 when Dr. Theodor Aschenbrandt, a German military physician, secured a stable supply and issued it to the Bavarian soldier during maneuvers, noting the beneficial effect of suppressing fatigue.”(Dept. of Drug Addiction P. 1) The 19th century seems to have been a dope fiends fantasy, the opium abuse continued on well pass the 18th century. “Terms such as ‘weak ego functioning,’ ‘defective superego,’ and ‘inadequate masculine identification’ demonstrate the 1950 American viewpoint of drug abuse and addiction.”(Dept. of Drug Addiction P. 2) Drugstores, grocery and general stores sold …show more content…
In the 1970’s amphetamines became the drug of choice, and became popular for losing weight, and people that needed help staying up, and energy. Eventually laws became stricter, and doctors were not permitted to prescribe as often. 1980’s methaqualone, and barbiturates seemed to help people with sex, and sleep. These were both abused for the high you felt when taken with other things such as alcohol. Both heroin and cocaine continued, as well as a few new drugs. One was ecstasy and the other was crack. Although drug abuse programs were more prevalent, it didn’t seem to have a lasting effects. “Between 1980 and 1984, first-time cocaine users averaged 1.3 million per year, by 1994, that number dwindled to 533,000, in 1995, 5,000,000 Americans confessed to smoking marijuana on a frequent basis, in 1996, the Office of Drug Control Policy detected an increase in heroin use among youth and young adults, between 1992 and 1993, 5.5 percent of pregnant women per year took some form of illicit drug” (History of drug abuse and addiction rehabilitation 2015, p3). The end result being, many crack babies being born, and turning parts of American into dead

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