Key differences between the production and use of alcohol, cocaine, opiates, and marijuana have led each to be prohibited in the United States at one point or another. In order to truly understand the rise and fall of alcohol prohibition, the continued prohibition of cocaine and opiates, and the slowly surfacing repeal of marijuana prohibition, multiple factors must be considered. The legal, medical, or ethical use of substances by themselves have little power to effect prohibition or permission. More powerful are the drug’s origin of use, evolution into an underworld substance, and affiliation to certain populations. These factors determine public opinion and, thus, the success or failure of prohibition. The popularity of certain
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On opium, “The family doctor prescribed it like any other medication” (Shcivelbusch 206). On cocaine, “it renews the vigor of the intellect and relieves mental exhaustion, rendering the flow of thought more easy and the reasoning power more vigorous,” as according to a Boston physician (Spillane 91). Both drugs were used, to phrase it collectively, as professional products. It was only after these claims were made and spread by word-of-mouth or advertisements, by successful medicine companies such as Bayer, that cocaine and opiates gained popularity within the United States (. Thus, there was not as much of a natural inclination towards opiate and cocaine use as there was towards alcohol use. Initial alcohol production and consumption grew out of a libertarian, capitalistic tendency to meet laissez-faire market demands. In conjunction to the almost forced popularization of these drugs, eventual underground use by minority factions led to a lasting prohibition. The underground use of alcohol, dominated by middle-class workers, upper-class youth, and the upper-class clientele of wealthy institutions encouraged underground use. In comparison, the asocial effect of opiate use, referenced by English literature of the nineteenth century and attributed to Chinese opium dens in America, caused an increased use of cocaine, which was much more of a socially graceful drug. Eventually, a more “deviant” identity of cocaine came about through use “by poorer blacks and the prostitutes, black and white” (Spillane 94). In addition, the bolder attitude of a new generation of young, urban African Americans and the perceived dangers of cocaine use by young children scared the majority of Americans. American voters, therefore, have little incentive to end the prohibition of these drugs,
On opium, “The family doctor prescribed it like any other medication” (Shcivelbusch 206). On cocaine, “it renews the vigor of the intellect and relieves mental exhaustion, rendering the flow of thought more easy and the reasoning power more vigorous,” as according to a Boston physician (Spillane 91). Both drugs were used, to phrase it collectively, as professional products. It was only after these claims were made and spread by word-of-mouth or advertisements, by successful medicine companies such as Bayer, that cocaine and opiates gained popularity within the United States (. Thus, there was not as much of a natural inclination towards opiate and cocaine use as there was towards alcohol use. Initial alcohol production and consumption grew out of a libertarian, capitalistic tendency to meet laissez-faire market demands. In conjunction to the almost forced popularization of these drugs, eventual underground use by minority factions led to a lasting prohibition. The underground use of alcohol, dominated by middle-class workers, upper-class youth, and the upper-class clientele of wealthy institutions encouraged underground use. In comparison, the asocial effect of opiate use, referenced by English literature of the nineteenth century and attributed to Chinese opium dens in America, caused an increased use of cocaine, which was much more of a socially graceful drug. Eventually, a more “deviant” identity of cocaine came about through use “by poorer blacks and the prostitutes, black and white” (Spillane 94). In addition, the bolder attitude of a new generation of young, urban African Americans and the perceived dangers of cocaine use by young children scared the majority of Americans. American voters, therefore, have little incentive to end the prohibition of these drugs,