As Colorado governments ponder regulation of medicinal
marijuana, a glance backward shows how we got to this point.
Once upon a time all drugs were legal, there was no Drug
Enforcement Agency and a million people were not behind bars on
drug charges. Drug laws initially were, at least in part, an
attempt to rebuke minorities. The Chinese, probably the hardest
working people in 19th century Colorado, were the target of some
of the first laws that took aim at opium. The Chinese quarters
were centered on the alley between Market and Blake from around
17th to 21st streets. This place, known as Hop Alley, housed
many of the city's opium dens where some would get "hopped up"
on the poppy plant product. During the Anti-Chinese Riot of
Halloween 1880, rioters and looters justified themselves by
claiming that the Chinese, who did much of Denver's laundry,
housekeeping and gardening, were "dirty" heathens who smoked
opium. Psychoactive drugs were originally legal and common in
Colorado, including opium derivatives such