The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws

National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws is a non-profit, unincorporated association commonly referred to as the U.S. Uniform Law Commission. It consists of commissioners appointed by each state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the United States...

 developed the Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act in 1934 due to the lack of restrictions in the Harrison Act of 1914. The act was a revenue-producing act and, while it provided penalties for violations, it did not give authority to the states to exercise police power regarding either seizure of drugs used in illicit trade or punishment of those responsible.

Harry J. Anslinger

Harry J. Anslinger

Harry Jacob Anslinger held office as the Assistant Prohibition Commissioner in the Bureau of Prohibition, before being appointed as the first Commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics on August 12, 1930.Anslinger held office an unprecedented 32 years in his role...

, a member of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics

Federal Bureau of Narcotics

The Federal Bureau of Narcotics was an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury. Established in the Department of the Treasury by an act of June 14, 1930 consolidating the functions of the Federal Narcotics Control Board and the Narcotic Division...

, campaigned and lobbied for passage of the Uniform State Narcotic Act. The draft of the act was submitted to the American Bar Association

American Bar Association

The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...

 at its meeting in Washington

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 in 1932, and it was officially approved by that body and sent to various states the following year. The purpose of the act was to make the law uniform in various states with respect to controlling the sale and use of narcotic drugs. The Commissioners on Uniform State Laws intended to effectively safeguard and regulate narcotic drugs throughout all of the states.

Initially, only nine states adopted the uniform state statute

Uniform Act

In the United States, a Uniform Act is a proposed state law drafted by the U.S. Uniform Law Commission and approved by its sponsor, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws ....

. President Roosevelt supported adoption of the Act in many more states in a message on Columbia radio network in March 1935. Anslinger launched a nationwide media campaign declaring that marijuana causes temporary insanity. The advertisements featured young people smoking marijuana and then behaving recklessly, committing crimes, killing themselves and others, or dying from marijuana use. The propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

 campaign was a success and all states signed on.

Background

Prior to 1890, laws concerning opiates were strictly imposed on a local city or state-by-state basis. One of the first was in San Francisco in 1875, where it became illegal to smoke opium outside of opium dens. It did not ban the sale, import or use otherwise. In the next 25 years, different states enacted opium laws ranging from outlawing opium dens altogether to making possession of opium, morphine and heroin without a physician's prescription illegal.

The first Congressional act that levied taxes on morphine and opium passed in 1890. From that time on, the federal government has had a series of laws and acts directly aimed at opiate use, abuse, and control. These are outlined below.

Pure Food and Drug Act

The Pure Food and Drug Act

Pure Food and Drug Act

The Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906, is a United States federal law that provided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicines...

 was created in 1906 to prevent the manufacture, sale

Sale

Sale may refer to:* Sales * Sale, discounts and allowances in the prices of goods, such as:**Fire sale, a drastic discount in prices**Loan sale, a sale under contract of all or part of the cash stream from a specific loan...

, or transportation of adulterated, misbranded, poisonous, or deleterious foods, drugs

DRUGS

Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows are an American post-hardcore band formed in 2010. They released their debut self-titled album on February 22, 2011.- Formation :...

, medicines, and liquors. If caught, the punishment included fines and prison time.

Smoking Opium Exclusion Act

The Smoking Opium Exclusion Act of 1909 banned the importation, possession, and use of "smoking

Smoking

Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them...

 opium

Opium

Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...

." The act became the first federal law

Federal law

Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join together in a federation, surrendering their individual sovereignty and many powers to the central government while...

 to ban the use of non-medical substances; however, the act did not regulate opium

Opium

Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...

-based medications.

The Harrison Act

The Harrison Act, also known as the Harrison Narcotic Act, was passed in 1914.
It was the first measure to control narcotics trafficking. The act approached control through a revenue path—requiring those who transported, sold, or possessed narcotics to report it to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and to pay taxes. The Harrison Act limited opium availability to only small amounts as prescribed by doctors, who were required to register and pay taxes on the amounts they prescribed.

Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court

Supreme court

A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...

 ratified the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Act in Webb et al., v. United States and United States v. Doremus, then again in Jin Fuey Moy v. United States, in 1920, holding that doctors may not prescribe maintenance supplies of narcotics to people addicted

Addiction

Historically, addiction has been defined as physical and psychological dependence on psychoactive substances which cross the blood-brain barrier once ingested, temporarily altering the chemical milieu of the brain.Addiction can also be viewed as a continued involvement with a substance or activity...

 to narcotics. However, it does not prohibit doctors

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 from prescribing narcotics to wean a patient

Patient

A patient is any recipient of healthcare services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, veterinarian, or other health care provider....

 off of the drug

Drug

A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...

.

It was also the opinion of the court that prescribing narcotics to habitual users was not considered “professional practice” - hence it was considered illegal for doctors to prescribe opioids for the purposes of maintaining an addiction. It can be argued that today’s addiction medications are not intended to maintain an addiction but to facilitate addiction remission. In which case, this opinion of the court should not preclude practitioners from prescribing buprenorphine

Buprenorphine

Buprenorphine is a semi-synthetic opioid that is used...

 or methadone

Methadone

Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic and a maintenance anti-addictive for use in patients with opioid dependency. It was developed in Germany in 1937...

 to patients suffering from an addictive disorder.

Heroin Act

The Heroin Act was passed in 1924. The act prohibited the manufacture, importation, and possession

Possession

In law, possession is the control a person intentionally exercises toward a thing. In all cases, to possess something, a person must have an intention to possess it. A person may be in possession of some property...

 of heroin, including the medicinal use of the drug

Drug

A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...

.

Narcotic Drug Import and Export Act

The Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act

Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act

The Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act was a 1922 act of the 67th United States Congress. Sponsored by Sen. Wesley L. Jones of Washington and Rep. John F. Miller of Washington, it established the Federal Narcotics Control Board to tightly oversee the import and export of opiates....

 was enacted in 1922 to assure proper control of importation, sale, possession, production, and consumption of narcotics.

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms

"The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is a unique law enforcement agency in the United States Department of Justice that protects our communities from violent criminals, criminal organizations, the illegal use and trafficking of firearms, the illegal use and storage of explosives, acts of arson and bombings, acts of terrorism, and the illegal diversion of alcohol and tobacco products."

The bureau decided they needed a uniform law in order to help keep control over illegal activity. Therefore, the Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act was established.

Necessity

The Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act in 1934 was implemented due to the lack of restrictions in the Harrison Act of 1914. The act was a revenue-producing act and, while it provided penalties for violations, it did not give authority to the states to exercise police power regarding either seizure of drugs used in illicit trade or punishment of those responsible.

The purpose of the act was to make the law uniform in the various states with respect to controlling the sale and use of narcotic drugs. The Commissioners on Uniform State Laws intended to effectively safeguard and regulate narcotic drugs throughout all of the states.

Drafting the Law

The first tentative draft was prepared and submitted by a committee of commissioners in conjunction with Dr. William C. Woodward, Executive Secretary of the Bureau of Legal Medicine and Legislation of the American Medical Association, in 1925 at the commissioners meeting. The chairman of the committee established the first draft, but never presented it in the meeting. The first draft included the following definitions:

• "Cannabis indica" or "cannabis sativa" shall include any compound, manufacture, salt, derivative or preparation thereof and any synthetic substitute for any of them identical in chemical composition.
• "Habit forming drugs" shall mean coca leaves, opium, "cannabis indica" or "cannabis sativa".

There was not an explanation in the committee report or in the proceedings about the inclusion of cannabis under the prohibited or regulated drugs; therefore, the draft was recommitted for further study.

The second tentative draft was modified and presented in 1928. The draft, again, was not discussed at the conference but recommitted for further study.

After discussing the problems with the previous draft, two third drafts were submitted and presented in 1929, but both were recommitted for further study. The second third tentative draft was the first draft to remove cannabis from the definition of “habit forming drugs” and to include only a supplemental provision for dealing with the drug.

The chairman of the committee on the Uniform Narcotic Drug Act, Judge Deering, insisted on further research due to the inability to consult with the newly created Bureau of Narcotics. At this time the bureau was without a commissioner, but shortly afterward, Anslinger was appointed to the position.

After receiving suggestions from Commissioner Anslinger, the committee presented a fourth tentative draft to the national conference in September 1931. The section dealing with marijuana was identical to that included in the 1930 revised version of the third tentative draft. The national conference directed the committee to return the next year with a fifth tentative or final draft.

"The fifth (and final) tentative draft was adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on October 8, 1932. There were some major changes in the Uniform Act between the fourth and the fifth tentative drafts with regard to the regulation of marijuana. Although the marijuana provisions remained supplemental to the main body of the act, any state wishing to regulate sale and possession of marijuana was instructed to simply add cannabis to the definition of 'narcotic drugs,' in which case all the other provisions of the act would apply to marijuana as well as the opiates and cocaine

Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

. It appears that the change from a supplemental section to a series of amendments to the relevant sections of the act was preferred by the Narcotics Bureau. The only opposition to adoption of the final draft came from some commissioners who objected to tying the uniform state law to the terms of the federal Harrison Act. This last obstacle to adoption of the act was overcome by the argument that a number of states had already passed such legislation so that the federalism problem should not stand in the way; the act was adopted 26-3. These floor arguments at the national conference are a most important indication that no one challenged or even brought up the issue of the designations of the drugs to be prohibited. Moreover, this brief debate confirms the notion that the Act received very little attention of any of the Commissioners other than those sitting on the committee that drafted it."

Examination of the annual proceedings of the commissioners immediately suggests several conclusions about the drafting and proposal of the Uniform Narcotic Drug Act.

1. It was drafted in conjunction with the American Medical Association
   American Medical Association
   The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
   
    and after 1930, with Commissioner Anslinger of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics
   Federal Bureau of Narcotics
   The Federal Bureau of Narcotics was an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury. Established in the Department of the Treasury by an act of June 14, 1930 consolidating the functions of the Federal Narcotics Control Board and the Narcotic Division...
   
   .
2. It was not one of the more controversial uniform laws and it was given little consideration during the full meetings of the commissioners.
3. Impetus for the legislation, especially the optional marijuana provisions, came from the Bureau of Narcotics itself.
4. No scientific study of any kind was undertaken before the optional marijuana section was proposed.
5. The first three tentative drafts included marijuana within the general part of the act while the last two (including the one finally adopted by the commissioners) made marijuana the subject of a separate, optional provision.
6. The model for all the drafts of the uniform act was the 1927 New York State statute.

Accomplishments

The Uniform Narcotic Drug Act was designed to aid the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in carrying out its international obligations under the Hague Convention

Hague Convention

The Hague Convention may refer to:* Hague Conventions , among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in international law...

. The act diminished the growth and spread of the traffic in illicit narcotics by replacing the present inadequate and conflicting state laws. It utilized and called in to full exercise the powers that reside in the states alone, permitting prosecution in such cases as illegal possession, over which the federal courts have no jurisdiction.
Also the act made a necessary division of responsibility in narcotic law enforcement between the federal and several state governments. It was designed to coordinate enforcement machinery through mandatory cooperation of state with federal officers. In addition, it prohibited sales and transfers of narcotic drugs except under state licenses, to include manufacturers and wholesalers; a requirement solely within the power of the states.
Prohibit production of narcotic drugs within state borders, except by specific license and under strict regulation. Include within the definition of narcotic drugs those narcotics that may be prepared synthetically (such as tropococaine) as well as those directly derived from opium and coca leaves.
Provide for revocation of licenses for violations of the state narcotic law, making direct control of this phase of enforcement beyond the power of the federal government

Federal government

The federal government is the common government of a federation. The structure of federal governments varies from institution to institution. Based on a broad definition of a basic federal political system, there are two or more levels of government that exist within an established territory and...

.
Strengthen enforcement by making admissible as evidence what are normally privileged communications when they are used to procure unlawfully a narcotic drug.
Require the return of the unused portion of a narcotic drug to the practitioner when no longer required as a medicine by the patient.
Permit of prosecution in all cases of those obtaining narcotic drugs by fraud or deceit, and particularly in those cases where narcotics are obtained by means of false or altered prescriptions.

External links

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvSuRQP13Uc
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM_vLk1I6G4