ABSTRACT
Public perceptions of drugs and drug abuse have shifted dramatically over the past 200 years. Twice, Americans have accepted and then rejected drugs in our society. Understanding these striking historical swings helps us understand our current reactions to drug use. The United States’ recurrent enthusiasm for recreational drugs, and the resulting campaigns for abstinence, present resounding problems for public policy makers as well as for the public they serve. Because the peaks of these episodes occurred about a generation apart, citizens rarely have an accurate picture (much less a recollection) of the latest wave of drug use. Criminologist David Musto argues that fear and anger have been the primary causes of society’s intolerance for drugs, and such emotions have distorted public memory so grotesquely that it becomes useless as a point of reference for policy formation [1] . The lack of knowledge concerning our earlier encounters with drugs impedes the task of establishing a workable public policy toward dealing with the problem.
