This is a history of drug prohibition in the United States.
1800s
During the 19th century, "there was virtually no effective regulation of narcotics in the United States". Statutes regulating the sale of narcotics had been passed by several state governments, and opium smoking was outlawed in numerous American municipalities, though these legislation were "only sporadically enforced". Such loose restrictions led to roughly 300,000 drug addicts in the U.S. by the turn of the century. The rate of opiate addiction increased from about .72 addicts per 1,000 people to a high of 4.59 per 1,000 in the 1890s.
Efforts to regulate the sale of pharmaceuticals began around 1860, and laws were introduced on a state-to-state basis that created penalties for mislabeling drugs, adulterating them with undisclosed narcotics, and improper sale of those considered "poisons". Poison laws generally either required labels on the packaging indicating the harmful effects of the drugs or prohibited sale outside of licensed pharmacies and without a doctor's prescription. Prominent pharmaceutical societies at the time supported the listing of cannabis as a poison.
1900s
In 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act required that certain specified drugs, including alcohol, cocaine, heroin, morphine, and cannabis, be accurately labeled with contents and dosage. Previously, many drugs had been sold as patent medicines with secret ingredients or misleading labels. Cocaine, heroin, cannabis, and other such drugs continued to be legally available without prescription as long as they were labeled. It is estimated that sale of patent medicines containing opiates decreased by 33% after labeling was mandated.
1911: United States first Opium Commissioner, Hamilton Wright argues that of all the nations of the world, the United States consumes most habit-forming drugs per capita. Massachusetts also becomes the first U.S. state to criminalize marijuana on April 29.
1913: The American Medical Association created a propaganda department to outlaw health fraud and quackery. In the same year, California outlawed cannabis.
1914: The first recorded instance of the United States enacting a ban on the domestic distribution of drugs is the Harrison Narcotic Act of 1914. This act was presented and passed as a method of regulating the production and distribution of opiate-containing substances under the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, but a section of the act was later interpreted by law enforcement officials for the purpose of prosecuting doctors who prescribe opiates to addicts.
1919: Alcohol prohibition in the U.S. first appeared under numerous provincial bans and was eventually codified under a federal constitutional amendment in 1919, having been approved by 36 of the 48 U.S. states.
1925: United States supported regulation of cannabis as a drug in the International Opium Convention. and by the mid-1930s all member states had some regulation of cannabis.
1930: The Federal Bureau of Narcotics was created. For the next 32 years it was headed by Harry J. Anslinger who came from the Bureau of Prohibition as did many of its initial members.
1932: Democrat Franklin Roosevelt ran for President of the United States promising repeal of federal laws of Prohibition of alcohol.
1933: Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is repealed. The amendment remains the only major act of prohibition to be repealed, having been repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1935: President Roosevelt hails the International Opium Convention and application of it in US. law and other anti-drug laws in a radio message to the nation.
1937: Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act. Presented as a $1 nuisance tax on the distribution of marijuana, this act required anyone distributing the drug to maintain and submit a detailed account of his or her transactions, including inspections, affidavits, and private information regarding the parties involved. This law, however, was something of a "Catch-22", as obtaining a tax stamp required individuals to first present their goods, which was an action tantamount to confession. This act was passed by Congress on the basis of testimony and public perception that marijuana caused insanity, criminality, and death.
1951: The 1951 Boggs Act increased penalties fourfold, including mandatory penalties.