This article originally appeared in the Summer 1983 edition of
Caliber. What group of currently illegal drugs did affluent,
middle-age women in 19th century America widely favor? What
drugs were also used in teething syrups for babies and as a cure
for alcoholism? And what drugs were banned, not because of any
demonstrated health hazard, but because of a congruence of
special interests and anti-Chinese racism? And what drugs were
first banned by the national government, not as a result of any
conditions in this country, but in response to obscure
international events occurring half way around the globe nearly
a century ago? The answer is the opiates: heroin, morphine, and
opium. Of all illicit drugs, heroin has the most vicious
reputation. Even many of those favoring the legalization of
marijuana and other "soft" drugs blanch at the prospect of a
free market in heroin. The estimated half million heroin users
presently within the United States are viewed, in the words of a
1962 Supreme Court decision, as a pla