Azərbaycan Tibb Universiteti Əczaçılıq fakültədi xarici dillər kafedrası History of drug 521A4-B

Azərbaycan Tibb Universiteti

Əczaçılıq fakültədi xarici dillər kafedrası

History of drug

521A4-B

Tələbə:Lüzme Sarıyıldız

Müəllimə:Ç.N.İsmayılova

History of drug

First synthesized in 1887, the stimulant amphetamine became popular in 1920s in the medical community, where it was used for raising blood pressure, enlarging the nasal passages, and stimulating the central nervous system. Abuse of the drug began during the 1930s, when it was marketed under the name Benzedrine and sold in an over-the-counter inhaler. During World War II, amphetamines were widely distributed to soldiers to combat fatigue and improve both mood and endurance, and after the war physicians began to prescribe amphetamines to fight depression. As legal usage of amphetamines increased, a black market emerged. Common users of illicit amphetamines included truck drivers on long commutes and athletes looking for better performance. Students referred to the drug as "pep pills" and used them to aid in studying.

The earliest references to the practice of injecting amphetamines (particularly methamphetamine) occurred during the 1950s, but the practice did not spread until the 1960s. In 1962 a crackdown on San Francisco pharmacies which sold injectable amphetamines drew national attention to the problem of amphetamine "mainlining." and led to the emergence of underground production facilities referred to as "speed labs". While many of these labs, primarily located on the West Coast, were small "Mom and Pop" operations, the amphetamine trade was historically dominated by outlaw motorcycle groups. Amphetamine use began to decline in the 1970s, due to increased public awareness of its dangers, as well as FDA scheduling of the drug.

During the 1990s, the popularity of crystal methamphetamine, a smokable form of methamphetamine commonly referred to as "ice", began to increase in the United States. In addition to the traditional local "mom and pop" labs, in 1995 Mexico-based trafficking groups began to enter the methamphetamine market and now dominate the trade. In the 1990s, clandestine "Mom and Pop" labs have sprung up throughout the Midwestern United States, and as a result the Mexican traffickers have also targeted the region. There are two current basic profiles of methamphetamine users: students (both high school and college) and white, blue-collar and unemployed persons in their 20s and 30s

Cocaine is derived from the coca plant native to the Andean highlands of South America. Pure cocaine was first isolated in the mid-nineteenth century, but its effects weren't recognized in the medical world until the 1880s. In 1883, Dr. Theodor Aschenbrandt, a German army physician, prescribed cocaine to Bavarian soldiers during training to help reduce fatigue. In July, 1884, Sigmund Freud published Uber Coca, a hymn of praise to the drug which, along with "Vin Mariani," a coca wine manufactured by a Corsican chemist, helped lead to the drug's popularization in Europe. In 1886 John Pemberton of Atlanta, Georgia began to market "Coca-Cola," a syrup derived from coca leaves and African kola nuts. The same year Dr. William Alexander Hammond, the Surgeon-General of the U.S. Army endorsed the medical use of cocaine at a meeting of the New York Neurological Society. Throughout the early 1900s unregulated medicinal "tonics" were sold containing ingredients including cocaine and opium. By 1902 there were an estimated 200,000 cocaine addicts in the United States, and by 1907, U.S. coca leaf imports were three times their 1900 levels. Hundreds of early Hollywood silent films depicted scenes of drug use and trafficking.

Crack cocaine is a free-based form of cocaine made by cooking cocaine powder, water, and baking soda until it forms a solid that can be broken down and sold in individual "rocks." Crack cocaine first appeared in large cities such as LA, Miami, and NY around 1985. Where cocaine was expensive to purchase, crack could be bought at affordable prices and became prevalent in working class and poorer neighborhoods. Crack cocaine was highlighted by the media in the controversy surrounding the 1985 death of college basketball star Len Bias, who at the time was thought to have died from an overdose of crack cocaine (although later it was discovered that Bias had in fact overdosed on powder cocaine).

LSD was accidentally discovered and ingested by Dr. Albert Hofmann, a Swiss chemist working for Sandoz Laboratories, who found himself embarking on the first LSD "trip" in history in 1943. Soon after Hofmann's initial experimentation with LSD, he provided samples of the drug to psychiatrists at the University of Zurich for further testing into possible uses. In the 1950s, the U.S. military and CIA researched LSD as a possible "truth drug," which could be used for brainwashing or inducing prisoners to talk. However, after military interest in LSD waned in favor of other drugs, the psychiatric community began to research and issue reports on the drug's possible therapeutic capabilities for psychotic, epileptic, and depressed patients.

Non-therapeutic use of LSD increased throughout the late 1950s and 1960s. Among the first groups to use LSD recreationally were research study participants, physicians, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals who later distributed the drug among their friends. Prior to 1962, LSD was available only on a small scale to those who had connections in the medical field, as all the LSD was produced by Sandoz Laboratories, in Basel Switzerland, and then distributed to health professionals. However, the drug was not difficult to produce in a chemical laboratory. The formula could be purchased for 50 cents from the US patent office, and the LSD itself could be stored inside blotting paper. Soon a black market for LSD in the US emerged.

Marijuana cultivation began in the United States around 1600 with the Jamestown settlers, who began growing the cannabis sativa or hemp plant for its unusually strong fiber that was used to make rope, sails, and clothing. Until after the Civil War, marijuana was a source of major revenue for the United States. During the 19th century marijuana plantations flourished in Mississippi, Georgia, California, South Carolina, Nebraska, New York, and Kentucky. Also during this period, smoking hashish, a stronger preparation of marijuana derived from the dried resin of the plant, was popular throughout France and to a lesser degree in the US.

Between 1850 and 1937 marijuana was widely used throughout United States as a medicinal drug and could easily be purchased in pharmacies and general stores. Recreational use was limited in the US until after the Mexican Revolution of 1910, when an influx of Mexican immigrants introduced the habit. The Volstead Act of 1920, which raised the price of alcohol in the United States, positioned marijuana as an attractive alternative and led to an increase in use of the drug. "Tea pads," where a person could purchase marijuana for 25 cents or less, began appearing in cities across the United States, particularly as part of the black "hepster" jazz culture. By 1930 it was reported that there were at least 500 of these "tea pads" in New York City alone. During the Great Depression as unemployment increased, resentment and fear of the Mexican immigrants became connected to marijuana use. Numerous research studies linked marijuana use by lower class communities with crime and violence. In 1937, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act which criminalized the drug. From 1951 to 1956 stricter sentencing laws set mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related offenses. In the 1950s the beatniks appropriated the use of marijuana from the black hepsters and the drug moved into middle-class white America in the 1960s.

Opiates were popular in the United States throughout the 19^th century, particularly among women. Tonics and elixirs containing opium were readily available in drugstores, and doctors commonly prescribed opiates for upper and middle class women suffering from neurasthenia and other "female problems." Chinese laborers who came to work on U.S. railroads in the 1850s and 1860s brought with them the practice of opium smoking. While a San Francisco city ordinance passed in 1875 banned smoking opium within city limits, by the turn of the century opium dens were commonplace throughout the nation. In the l890s, tabloids owned by William Randolph Hearst published stories of white women being seduced by Chinese men and their opium to invoke fear of the "Yellow Peril."