#60: Why are Drugs Illegal Anyway?

Drugs were not always illegal in the USA. For a good deal of our history you could walk into your local pharmacy and buy cocaine, heroin or cannabis right off the shelf, without a prescription. But something changed around the turn of the century (1900), and by the 1930s the War on Drugs was in full swing. Opium was outlawed by associating it with Chinese immigrants. Cannabis was outlawed by associating it with Mexican immigrants. Cocaine was outlawed by associating it with Black men. ...