Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act

From at least the 1920s through the 1960s, the criminal justice system served as the primary institution in the United States for dealing with alcoholics and drug addicts. Critics of this punitive approach proposed that addiction could be addressed better by a medical response model, but many authorities resisted and opposed this strategy. Nevertheless, on June 19, 1929, Congress unanimously passed the Porter Narcotic Farm Act, which led not only to the incarceration, but also to the medical treatment, psychiatric counseling, and vocational training of narcotic addicts at two federal treatment programs. In accord with the Porter Act, two hospital-based treatment programs were established by the U.S. Public Health Service, respectively, at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1935 and at Fort Worth, Texas, in 1938. The Porter ...