Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act which created mandatory sentences for drug related crimes. Later amendments established a “three strikes and you’re out” policy, requiring life sentences for repeat drug offenders and possible death penalty for “drug kingpins.
Marinol, created by Unimed, is a synthetic form of THC used for nausea and vomiting in cancer patients being treated with chemotherapy. It was also approved to treat anorexia associated with AIDS.
New Mexico passes the Controlled Substances Therapeutic Research Act. In the following years, more than 30 states passed similar legislation.
As part of a lawsuit in 1978, NIDA began supplying cannabis to patients whose doctors applied for an IND application and received approval from the FDA.
The NIDA became the sole administrator to contract to grow cannabis (marijuana) for research purposes and the only legal source for cannabis in the US.
BNND and ODALE are merged to form the US Drug Enforcement Agency
In a press conference, President Nixon said “America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse.”
The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) created five schedules to classify substances. Marijuana was placed in Schedule Ⅰ, which are drugs “classified as having a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted, safe, medical use in the United States. (United States Drug Enforcement Administration, n.d.)
In the late 1960’s there was a growing concern about the increasing use of marihuana and other drugs. In response, reorganization of the government was done and the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs was formed.
Dr. Mechoulam, a professor in Jerusalem, is the first to identify THC as the main psychoactive component of cannabis. He is also the first to synthesize THC.
