Entitled to Addiction?: Pharmaceuticals, Race, and America's First Drug War

Area of Science:

• Social History
• History of Medicine
• Drug Policy Studies

Background:

• Examines the early 20th-century American drug wars through the lens of pharmaceutical addiction.
• Challenges the notion that pharmaceutical drug addiction is a recent phenomenon.

Observation:

• Pharmaceutical addiction, encompassing narcotics, sedatives, and stimulants, was historically more prevalent than illicit drug use.
• Access to psychoactive pharmaceuticals was framed as a medical entitlement during the Progressive Era's racialized reforms.

Findings:

• The drug control regime created by these reforms offered insufficient consumer protection (via the FDA) and excessive policing (via the FBN).
• Both consumer protection and punitive policing are interconnected outcomes of the era's drug market development.

Implications:

• Understanding historical pharmaceutical addiction is crucial for contemporary drug policy.
• The Progressive Era's drug market, segregated by race and class, provides a historical precedent for understanding current drug control issues.