The American Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control

Front Cover
Oxford University Press, Apr 22, 1999 - Psychology - 432 pages
The American Disease is a classic study of the development of drug laws in the United States. Supporting the theory that Americans' attitudes toward drugs have followed a cyclic pattern of tolerance and restraint, author David F. Musto examines the relationz between public outcry and the creation of prohibitive drug laws from the end of the Civil War up to the present. Originally published in 1973, and then in an expanded edition in 1987, this third edition contains a new chapter and preface that both address the renewed debate on policy and drug legislation from the end of the Reagan administration to the current Clinton administration. Here, Musto thoroughly investigates how our nation has dealt with such issues as the controversies over prevention programs and mandatory minimum sentencing, the catastrophe of the crack epidemic, the fear of a heroin revival, and the continued debate over the legalization of marijuana.
 

Contents

The American Disease
1
Diplomats and Reformers
24
The Harrison Act
54
The Search for Cures
69
State and Local Narcotic Control
91
The Federal Assault on Addiction Maintenance
121
The Narcotic Clinic Era
151
The Troubled Twenties
183
Marihuana and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics
210
Federal Support of the Medical Approach
230
The Return of Drug Toleration 19651985
245
Renewed Efforts at Control 19861997
273
The Dynamics of Narcotic Control
294
Notes
301
Index
391
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1999)

David F. Musto, M.D., a well-known authority on drug abuse, is Professor of Child Psychiatry and the History of Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine.

Bibliographic information