President's Advisory Commission on Narcotics and Drug Abuse

Despite the passage of punitive federal regulations in the 1950s, the use of drugs was becoming more common in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

While rates of use would become much higher in the 1960s and 1970s, astute observers noticed in the 1950s that drug use was growing. As some began to question the legalistic approach to drug control that prevailed prior to the 1960s, politicians like President John F. Kennedy looked for alternative solutions.

Several new drug laws were passed throughout the 1960s that were designed to decrease illicit drug use through prevention and treatment programs, drug trafficking control, and closer monitoring of legal drug manufacturing. Many of these [Page 667]laws implemented recommendations issued by the President's Advisory Commission on Narcotics and Drug Abuse.