Habit Forming : Drug Addiction in America, 1776-1914

Habitual drug use in the United States is at least as old as the nation itself. Habit Forming traces the history of unregulated drug use and dependency before 1914, when the Harrison Narcotic Tax Act limited sales of opiates and cocaine under US law. Many Americans used opiates and other drugs medically and became addicted. Some tried Hasheesh Candy, injected morphine, or visited opium dens, but neither use nor addiction was linked to crime, due to the dearth of restrictive laws. After the Civil War, American presses published extensively about domestic addiction. Later in the nineteenth century, many used cocaine and heroin as medicine. As addiction became a major public health issue, commentators typically sympathized with white, middle-class drug users, while criticizing such use by poor or working-class people and people of color. When habituation was associated with middle-class morphine users, few advocated for restricted drug access. By the 1910s, as use was increasingly associated with poor young men, support for regulations increased. In outlawing users' access to habit-forming drugs at the national level, a public health problem became a larger legal and social problem, one with an enduring influence on American drug laws and their enforcement. "Habit Forming explores American drug dependency from 1776 to 1914-the era when drug sales were largely unregulated-as well as Americans' growing understanding of addiction and attitudes toward habituated people; most commentators were white and middle-class, and their prevailing views, influenced by racism and classism, shaped policy. Domestic opiate use grew rapidly in the nineteenth century. Many white, middle-class women used morphine to treat pain or insomnia, enjoyed its pleasurable effects, and became addicted. Many users could hide their habit, and domestic habituation-the era's term for "addiction"-received limited attention before 1867". Sommario fornito dall'editore Cover Halt Title Habit Forming Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Note on Terminology Introduction Part I: Hidden Drug Use in America 1. American Use of Opiates, 1776–​1842 2. American Drug Use Quietly Escalates, 1842–​1867 3. The Vogue for Hashish, 1832–​1884 Part II: Learning from a World of Users 4. The Global Context, 1774–​1862 5. Habitual Opiate Use in Great Britain, 1821–​1877 6. The Drug Trade and Habitual Use in China, 1804–​1881 Part III: An Open Problem 7. American Opium Dens, 1850–​1910 8. A Public Problem, 1867–​1905 9. Federal Regulation Begins, 1875–​1914 Conclusion: The Hydra Emerges Notes Bibliography Index