Just for fun

December 17, 1914
Harrison Narcotics Tax Act: Congress passes the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act, which makes it illegal for anyone other than a medical doctor to distribute drugs like heroin, opium, morphine and cocaine.

From 1787, when the U.S. Constitution was adopted by the Constitutional Convention, till 1914, what are now illegal drugs weren't! Use of heroin, cocaine, and anything else was legal...
The Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) required only truth in labeling and banned adulterated food products and poisonous medicines.

1787-1914: 127 years. 57% of our country's current age.

It's less than clear to me that this version of Prohibition has been any more successful than the 18th Amendment was.
And this form of Prohibition is keeping organized crime alive - just like the 18th Amendment did!

I am reminded of this by our current Afghanistan mess. The only folks who are making money from the opium trade are our enemies. Our anti-opium policy precludes the nominally legitimate Afghan government from making money from the drug trade! (... and the opium trade is VERY lucrative! - our enemies can buy a LOT of weapons with their drug profits!)
Oh, yeah: opium is Afghanistan's ONLY cash crop.

For what it's worth: the violent Mexican drug cartels are also making a LOT of money from the drug trade... and using the $$$ to buy LOTS of weapons!

Has anyone published a more-or-less objective cost-benefit analysis of our anti-drug policy??? I have a hard time believing the benefits outweigh the costs. (I could be convinced by evidence, but I've not seen the study.)