Contextualizing drug use and pharmacological harm in the United States: a socio-historical overview

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to navigate through the socio-historical modulations in American tolerance for different psychoactive substances, and propose a theoretical synthesis formed by two vanguard philosophical doctrines, objectivism, and constructivism. Our approach is grounded on the analysis of social historical context and objective harms that have influenced drug use tolerance in the United States based on key historical events such as: heavy drinking at the dawn of nineteenth century, the establishment and repeal of prohibition, late nineteenth century opiate and cocaine tolerance followed by early twentieth century prohibition, post-prohibition drug concerns such as marijuana prohibition in the 1930s, heroin concerns and medical depressant use in the 1950s, poly-drug use in the 1960s, crack cocaine use in the 1980s, and finally modulations in tolerance for peyote use. Evidence supports the notion of drug harms reduction for the privileged, and criminalization of drug use by marginalized groups. Over long spans of history, however, more objectively harmful drugs are rejected, while drugs that can be used regularly without serous dysfunction are tolerated and normalized. We argue that a framework of social status and pharmacological harm can account for the vacillating policy responses that have emerged to different drugs at different times. Our approach informs the role of socio-cultural conflict in drug policy development and infuse the need for empirical research on the effect of socioeconomic positioning on attitudes of medicalization and legalization of marijuana and opioid policy in contemporary America.