The United States has had over a century of experience in trying to regulate, tax, as well as to control the dispensation and importation of narcotics – so defined in this particular act as being coca-based as well as opium-based drugs; in which, a fair judgment through a century of this type of regulation and subsequent legislation, so enacted, reflects that America has essentially failed in its mission to successfully and constructively deal responsibly with narcotic abuse on behalf of its citizens. The very purpose of such regulation so passed in 1914, and thereupon subsequently enacted, was for the government to make sure that first of all, the distribution of narcotics was only done through authorized medical authorities, in which, those medical authorities would thereby be compelled to keep accurate records reflecting the distribution of those narcotics so being prescribed to those patients determined to have a need for such, so that those patients, would thereby deal with their pain management in a responsible and medically approved fashion.
So then, it is fair to say, that America has been well aware of the dangerous potential abuse and the thereby the implicit peril of all those medicines and drugs that have been determined to be narcotics in their nature; but somehow, despite this knowledge, has failed to come up with an efficacious plan that first of all deals successfully with the unauthorized distribution and usage of such; in which, further, we so find, that this government has also failed to deal, often enough, with those medical authorities and druggists that clearly have prescribed and distributed far too much of these regulated narcotics, to “patients” that do not have a compelling or legitimate need for this medicine, and then have compounded that error in recent times, by basically treating narcotics as a drug in which the lust for profit by the authorized manufacturers and distributors of such, trumps any sensibility or proper regulation, whatsoever.
The effectiveness of a good law, really comes down to how it is dealt with in the reality of the situation as it so transpires in the real world. When it comes to the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914, the precursor to further laws such as the Controlled Substances Act, we do so find, that despite the governmental recognition of not only the dangers of narcotic usage in regards to dependency, as well as the undesirable side effects, so of, from the continual usage of these narcotics, is that this all seems to be ignored, in the belief, that pain relief, above all, should be the guiding light; while also effectively ignoring the fact that many of those that claim that they are in “pain,” are really essentially seeking to procure a prescription to an addictive drug that provides them with a desirable euphoric feeling.
It is befuddling to believe that somehow, this government was hoodwinked by powerful pharmaceutical corporations into believing that somehow, that today’s narcotics, were fundamentally different than yesterday’s narcotics, and thereby the addiction or potential abuse of such substances, would not re-occur; when the proof that these narcotics being subsequently abused, was fairly in evidence, from the get go, for all those that would care to look, but decided, instead, to hold their tongue, because in this nation, money and profit, is more highly valued, then the good health or protection of its citizens.