Deck 2: A History of Drug Control

Question 1

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) unknown

Answer 1

B

Question 2

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

Answer 2

B

Question 3

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 3

D

Question 4

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

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

Question 5

Which of the following was the most common ingredient in a number of 19^th century soft drinks?

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

Question 6

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 of the drug laws to the states

Question 7

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 8

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) remains unknown

Question 9

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) effective 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 U.S.

Question 10

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

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

Question 11

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 12

Historians estimate that the number of narcotic addicts in the U.S.prior to 1914 was about:

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

Question 13

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

A) medications
B) alcohol
C) opium
D) marijuana
E) cocaine

Question 14

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) cannot be estimated

Question 15

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 16

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 was originally designed to:

A) address drug research,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 17

Between 1986 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) remains unknown

Question 18

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) cocaine
D) methadone
E) LSD

Question 19

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 20

The first "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 21

Discuss some of the social changes,both nationally and world-wide,that have facilitated drug use during the past generation or so.

Question 22

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 23

This chapter opened with a news story the conclusion of which was that heroin use is common among middle class suburban teenagers.Is adolescent heroin abuse in America's middle class suburbs as widespread as this news report claims? Evaluate this claim in the light of the discussions presented in this chapter.

Question 24

Briefly summarize the different definitions of what a "drug" is.Which of these definitions are most relevant to the approach adopted in this book,and why?

Question 25

Why is the term drug abuse problematic,slanted,and inexact?

Question 26

What are some of the most important ways that legal drug use differs from illegal use? What are some of the ways that instrumental drug use differs from recreational use? Provide examples of each type.

Question 27

Considering the characteristics and effects of the substances that were introduced in this chapter,discuss why the possession and sale of some of them are legal,or legal under certain conditions,and others are completely illegal.

Question 28

Why are both the "essentialistic" (or "objectivistic")and the "constructionist" (or "subjective")definitions of what a drug is both relevant to a sociological consideration of drug use?

Question 29

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

Question 30

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 31

Is alcohol a drug? Discuss.

Question 32

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 33

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 34

Among the points made in the "Overview" section of this chapter,which one do you believe is the most sociologically important,and why?

Question 35

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.

Question 36

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 37

Racism and ethnic prejudice played a role in the three most important pieces of anti-drug 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 38

During 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 39

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 40

Advocates of drug legalization have argued that alcohol is American society's most harmful drug,and hence,fairness would dictate that if alcohol is legal,the currently illicit drugs should be legalized as well.In the light of some of the points the author made in this chapter,evaluate this argument.