Presidential Administrations Prior to Federal Drug Regulation

At the federal level, drug regulation in the United States did not really begin until the early 20th century (and especially the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act), which witnessed not only concerns with increasingly popular or available recreational drugs but with safety in medicinal drugs. A new professionalism had developed in the field of medicine, as it did in many fields during the Progressive Era, and beginning in 1899, the American Medical Association's Committee on National Legislation advised American governments (not just federal, despite the name) on matters of public health, acting as a lobbying group that could speak with the voice of professional authority. Prior to this time, the most persistent issues in federal drug policy were those pertaining to alcohol—primarily the taxation ...