Narcotic Drug Act

Given the separation of the state and federal governments and the relative autonomy of each to legislate and enforce drug laws, efforts over the past century to address the drug problem in the United States have been met with varying degrees of consistency between these two bodies.

For example, with Congress's introduction of the Harrison Act in 1914, most states accepted a majority of this act's provisions restricting the sale and possession of cocaine and opiates. Still, however, the states were far from uniform in their definitions of what constituted a drug-related criminal offense and what the appropriate penalty should be. In order to address this lack of uniformity in drug-related legislation, the National Commissioners on Uniform State Laws were charged with the task of drafting uniform state laws that would bring the aims, legislation, and enforcement efforts of the federal and state governments into sync with one another. This independent commission was comprised of two members from each state who had been appointed by their governor and met annually to propose and review ongoing uniform legislation across a broad range of topics.

While the Harrison Act of 1914 provided greater restrictions on drug trafficking than did the previous Opium Exclusion Act of 1909 or the Pure Food and Drug Law of 1906, it was limited by the belief at the time that the federal government lacked the constitutional power to outlaw alcohol and drugs. As such, this act was enforced by the Internal Revenue Service and restrictions on narcotics were based around taxation as opposed to criminal punishment. Ultimately, the Harrison Act's system of taxation was replaced by the Uniform Narcotic Drug [Page 545]Act of 1932, which relied on criminal sanctions to restrict the sale and possession of narcotics.

Beginning in 1925, the commissioners began working alongside members of the American Medical Association who sought to create greater uniformity in drug laws so that physicians would better understand their obligations and rights pertaining to narcotics. It should be noted, however, that because public sentiment was weak for increased restrictions on narcotics, the commissioners did not approach this act as a priority that required rapid passage. As such, this legislation went through multiple drafts over the course of seven years. Included in the first draft of the Uniform Narcotic Drug Act presented at the commissioners' annual meeting in 1925 was a definition of “habit-forming drugs,” which included marijuana along with coca leaves and opium.

In 1928 the commissioners presented a second draft that was modeled very closely after the State of New York's model anti-drug legislation of 1927. The third draft, presented in 1929, removed marijuana from the list of habit-forming drugs. While the rationale behind the removal of marijuana from this list is not entirely clear, the fact that this act and all subsequent revisions were drafted without any scientific research on the effects of these substances suggests that this revision may have been rooted in sociopolitical factors as opposed to empirical considerations. With the creation of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930 and the appointment of Henry Anslinger as the first Commissioner of the Bureau, Anslinger joined the American Medical Association in working with the commissioners on subsequent drafts of the act. After collaborating on a fourth draft presented in 1931, the commissioners finally adopted the fifth draft in 1932, which allowed states flexibility regarding whether or not to include marijuana as a habit-forming drug.

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