The history of American drug laws have not been as cut and dried as one might think. Most of our first drug laws were rooted in misunderstanding and prejudice rather than a feeling of helping those in the throes of an addiction.
Today, our drug laws stem from the 1970 Comprehensive Drug Abuse Act, which removed state regulation of existing drug laws and allowed the federal government (under the Food and Drug Administration and the newly formed Drug Enforcement Administration) complete control over drug laws and enforcement. President Nixon officially declared a "war on drugs," a war that now costs the federal government billions yearly, and yet, by most estimates, drug usage continues without halt in the black market.
The History Channel's Hooked: Illegal Drugs and How They Got That Way takes us through America's obsessions with drugs, from 19th century opium and cocaine addictions up to modern day problems with LSD, amphetamines, and ecstasy. Hooked shows us how preconceived (and often wrong) racial and ethnic prejudices formed many of the first laws banning drugs like heroin, morphine, and cocaine in the early 20th century, and how immigration issues in Depression-era America outlawed marijuana.
Hooked starts out by describing how marijuana becomes a drug of choice during Prohibition. While alcohol was illegal, many decided to use legal drugs like marijuana to get high, and unlike modern times, this was a completely acceptable drug that was readily available throughout America. In the midst of the 1930s, as American jobs became scarce, many Southwestern border states became upset with Mexican workers who crossed the border seeking jobs that Americans needed. Along with them came their drugs, such as marijuana. White politicians in these border states saw an opportunity: outlaw pot and kick them out, securing jobs for American workers.
By the time marijuana is outlawed in America, the first major wave of Federal propaganda and control over drug laws takes hold. Thousands of acres of "weeds" (once used agriculturally to produce hemp) are destroyed, and Americans are turned into criminals for smoking marijuana.
Our drug laws banning opiates such as heroin and morphine also came from a place of prejudice. In cities like San Francisco at the turn of the century, migrant workers coming from China to work on the railroad brought with them opium and new cultural acceptance of the drug. The white majority, however, enacted local laws to try and block opium, thinking that this might draw out Chinese workers that they saw as a nuisance. In the American south, cocaine was seen as the drug that made African American men become violent in the streets, which created new racial prejudices. Politicians, seeing an opportunity, outlawed cocaine as a way to reinforce racial inequality in the early 20th century American south.
Article comments
1 - Stupid
What the? Theres no mention of how LSD was unfairly demonized. People need to understand what LSD is and what it does. It isn't some pleasure drug like heroin and cocaine. Please understand this.
2 - Kevin Eagan
This is a review. Go watch the DVD if you want to find out more about LSD.
3 - Stupid
Oh trust me. I know more then enough about LSD. It's most of the ignorant population that needs to know.
4 - Jim
Is the purpose of the film to educate the public on the history of US drug policy development or encourage discussion on the effectiveness of current drug policies?
5 - Connie Parsons
great web site...I would like to know the narrator on the program Hooked:Cocaine...she is great but the credits go by too fast to get her name....please help...thanks
6 - Macario Mejia
It is good to know the facts and history about drugs, not what the polticians and media tells us about the drugs.
7 - Douglas Mays
I did watch this series as it aired. Quite fascinating. The politics of drugs. The dispensing of heroin in th early days was interesting. Doctors of the time having to basically get permits to dispense individual doses, sometimes needing to cross state lines to obtain permits. Then taxing it.
Repair our economy, legalize marijuana. Harmless tonic. Many medical uses.
blah, blah, blah...a well done series worth watching...
best,
DM
8 - Christopher Rose
This series seems to have omitted to mention the role of many US corporations in the banning of marijuana.
The fact is that there are many useful products produced from hemp/marijuana, from fabrics to rope, and chemicals companies wanted marijuana banned so as to allow them to sell their products. The high that the weed produces was used as a scare tactic to line their own pockets.
9 - Kim
According to IMDB the narrator is Barbara Rosenblat
10 - John Meissner
According to IMDB, the narrator for the last three (Herare Barbara Rosenblat, but there is no indication who the narrator of the first one (marijuana) was. It sounds like Lynne Thigpen, but I can't find anything that say who it is.
11 - Rosenblat
Yes, I narrate all 4 parts.
Barbara Rosenblat
12 - Mike Yanoschak
Great review, great DVD. Apparently a relative of mine, Tom Yanoschak, had something to do with this DVD. After watching the special on the history channel i saw Tom Yanoschak in the credits, and a special thanks to the Yanoschak family. Does anyone know what part my family and/or unkown relative had to do with this?