Opium
Related: drugs - Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1821)
Key dates: 1909 (prohibition in the US) - Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1821)
Opium in the 19th Century
There were no legal restrictions on the importation or use of opium in the United States until the Opium Exclusion Act of 1909 prohibited its importation. Other important legislation included the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914. Before this time, medicines often contained opium without any warning label. U.S president William Henry Harrison was treated with opium in 1841. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium#History_of_opium [Mar 2006]
Harrison Narcotics Tax Act
The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was an American law that regulated and taxed the production, importation, distribution and use of opiates. The act was proposed by Francis Burton Harrison of New York and was approved on December 17, 1914.
"An Act To provide for the registration of, with collectors of internal revenue, and to impose a special tax on all persons who produce, import, manufacture, compound, deal in, dispense, sell, distribute, or give away opium or coca leaves, their salts, derivatives, or preparations, and for other purposes." --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Narcotics_Tax_Act [Mar 2006]
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