Deck 3: A History of the War on Drugs

Question 1

An example of a current Schedule I drug, as defined by the federal Controlled Substances Act, is:

A) morphine.
B) all of the amphetamines.
C) LSD.
D) cocaine.
E) methadone.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The first psychoactive substance that American states attempted to control was:

A) opium.
B) marijuana.
C) heroin.
D) alcohol.
E) none of the above.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

During the 1920s and 1930s, in the years following the Supreme Court ruling on the Harrison Act (1914), which was rendered in 1919, the number of addicts who were arrested on drug charges:

A) decreased.
B) increased.
C) remained the same.
D) fluctuated wildly and erratically from year to year.
E) remained unknown.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Between the 1970s and the 1980s, the federal budget devoted to drug treatment:

A) increased.
B) decreased.
C) remained stable.
D) fluctuated wildly and randomly from year to year.
E) was unknown.

Question 5

During the course of the nineteenth century-that is, from the early 1800s to the late 1800s-the rate of narcotic addiction in the United States:

A) increased.
B) decreased.
C) remained the same.
D) fluctuated wildly and erratically from year to year.
E) could not be estimated.

Question 6

Between 1979 and 1989, the percentage of the American public naming drug abuse as the nation's most serious problem:

A) increased.
B) decreased.
C) remained stable.
D) fluctuated wildly and randomly from year to year.
E) remained unknown.

Question 7

Historians estimate that the number of narcotic addicts in the United States prior to 1914 was about:

A) 3,000.
B) 30,000.
C) 300,000.
D) 3 million.
E) 30 million.

Question 8

Which of the following drugs was included in the Harrison Act yet was not a narcotic or opiate?

A) heroin
B) marijuana
C) morphine
D) amphetamine
E) cocaine

Question 9

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 was originally designed to:

A) address drug research and rehabilitation.
B) stamp out all illicit drug abuse.
C) increase the power and reach of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
D) transfer authority of drug enforcement to the state level.
E) decriminalize the possession and sale of all then-illicit drugs.

Question 10

The primary impact of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 was to:

A) establish categories or "schedules" of controlled substances.
B) decriminalize the possession of marijuana.
C) establish treatment centers for narcotic addicts.
D) remove cocaine from the list of narcotic drugs.
E) relegate the authority to enforce the drug laws to the states.

Question 11

The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937:

A) was designed to raise revenue for the federal government by taxing marijuana transactions.
B) was declared unconstitutional shortly after its enactment.
C) was a state law that was passed in a few states but vetoed in most of them.
D) effectively banned all possession and sale of marijuana products.
E) is still in effect and currently results in most of the marijuana-related arrests in the United States.

Question 12

Prior to the Harrison Act, most narcotic addicts were:

A) African American.
B) medical addicts.
C) heroin injectors.
D) also marijuana smokers.
E) predatory street criminals.

Question 13

The earliest legislation designed to reduce or eliminate a substance that is currently illegal was aimed at:

A) heroin.
B) methamphetamine.
C) marijuana.
D) opium.
E) cocaine.

Question 14

The following development did not take place in the nineteenth century:

A) the discovery of the addicting properties of opiates.
B) extraction of morphine from opium.
C) extraction of heroin from morphine.
D) invention of the hypodermic syringe.
E) the isolation of cocaine from coca leaves.

Question 15

During the course of the 1980s-that is, from 1980 to the end of 1989-the number of prisoners incarcerated in state penal institutions:

A) increased.
B) decreased.
C) remained the same.
D) fluctuated wildly and erratically from year to year.
E) none of the above.

Question 16

Which of the following categories in the population was more like to politically and ideologically support the Volstead Act (passed in 1919), which imposed a national prohibition on the sale of alcohol?

A) Anglo-Saxons (as opposed to persons whose ancestry stemmed from eastern and southern Europe)
B) Catholics (as opposed to Protestants)
C) immigrants (as opposed to native-born Americans)
D) urban residents (as opposed to rural and small-town dwellers)
E) members of the working class (as opposed to farmers and the middle class)

Question 17

The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906:

A) addressed false claims about the contents of patent medicines on the product's label.
B) outlawed the sale of patent medications that contained opium.
C) outlawed the sale of patent medications that contained cocaine.
D) outlawed the sale of patent medications that contained marijuana.
E) none of the above.

Question 18

The first fully enunciated "war on drugs" was launched by President:

A) Woodrow Wilson in 1918.
B) Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932.
C) Harry Truman in 1946.
D) Richard Nixon in 1971.
E) Jimmy Carter in 1978.

Question 19

Which of the following was the most common ingredient in a number of nineteenth-century soft drinks?

A) Ecstasy (MDMA)
B) marijuana
C) cocaine
D) heroin
E) methamphetamine

Question 20

The British waged two Opium Wars against China in order to:

A) abolish the sale of opium in China.
B) legalize and continue the opium trade in China.
C) set up addiction treatment clinics in China.
D) abolish a tax on the sale of opium.
E) none of the above.

Question 21

Likewise, between the 1960s and the 2000s, public opinion on and legislation attempting to control drug use have exhibited something of a roller-coaster pattern. Describe that pattern, identifying the time periods when these changes took place.

Question 22

Why has legislation against most illicit drugs been a success in that it remains in place and more or less enforced? (Most persons incarcerated in federal prisons, and about a third in state prisons, were convicted for violating the drug laws.) In contrast, laws against the sale of alcohol were a failure in the sense that they were repealed. Why the difference? Explain what social forces brought about the success of one and the failure of the other.

Question 23

Racism and ethnic prejudice played a role in the three most important pieces of antidrug legislation passed during the twentieth century-the Harrison Act (1914), the Volstead Act (national alcohol prohibition) (1919), and the Marihuana Tax Act (1937). Describe what role race and/or ethnic prejudice played in the passage of each of these acts.

Question 24

National alcohol prohibition did not simply spring forth, fully formed, in 1920. It emerged out of social, cultural, and political processes that brought it into being. What were the most important of these processes, and why did they put their stamp on prohibition legislation? And what were the social, cultural, and political forces that took place during the 1920s and early 1930s that brought about the demise of Prohibition?

Question 25

Which president was tougher on drug users-Nixon or Reagan? Why? Justify your answer.

Question 26

What were the Opium Wars? Why were they fought? Who won? What were the outcomes of these wars? What is the general category of world developments or forces to which the Opium Wars belong?

Question 27

Why control drug possession and distribution at all? Why not legalize all drugs? Is drug legislation purely and simply a function of bias against pleasure or the people who use certain psychoactive substances or the fact that certain substances (such as alcohol and tobacco) have been widely used and socially institutionalized for longer periods of time than others (such as marijuana and cocaine)? Or are there objective factors related to harm that have guided lawmakers in passing legislation that attempts to control the use of certain substances more than that of others?

Question 28

It is said that Prohibition (1920-1933) was a disastrous failure. In what ways did Prohibition fail, and in what ways was it a success?

Question 29

During the 1800s and early 1900s, the trajectory of public opinion with respect to tolerance versus condemnation of recreational drug use (including alcohol consumption) and opposition to it, versus support of legislation banning and attempting to control it is an up-and-down affair. Summarize that trajectory, locating approximate time periods when both the "ups" and the "downs" took place.

Question 30

Which comes first-the chicken or the egg? We see a time-ordered relationship between the use of psychoactive substances, both legal and illegal, and public opinion favoring drug legislation. Which is the cause-the use or public opinion favoring more restrictive legislation? Justify your argument.