Morphine's Post-Civil War: A Case Study

The earliest form of painkillers was first created in the 16th century where people used laudanum or opium prepared in alcoholic solution as pain relivers. In the early 19th century, people extracted morphine from old opium poppy plants and this form of painkiller was most commonly used in the American Civil War. As Morphine was found to be very addictive, chemists in the 1870s produced heroin that did not turn out to be a success as it was proved to be more addictive than morphine. Many other synthetic opiates such as Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet were produced respectively in 1984, 1995 and 1999. However, these synthetic opiates could only be given if prescribed by a doctor as they could also be addictive. There were also other options of

The opium culture was already rampant before the CIA began their secret war in Laos, but the agency also facilitated the trade. A correspondent for Christian Science Monitor reported in 1970 that the CIA “is cognizant of, if not party to, the extensive movement of opium out of Laos.” A pilot also told the reporter that “opium shipments get special CIA clearance and monitoring on their flights southward out of the country.” One former CIA agent stationed in Laos, Anthony Poshepny aka “Tony Poe,” went on the record many years later. He said, “It was all a contractual relationship, just like bankers and businessmen. A wonderful relationship. Just a mafia. A big organized mafia.”

The history of opioids in America provides a reoccurring theme riddled with misuse, abuse, and addiction. One could even go as far as to call it a timeless theme, as the same problems that affected the past still stand steadfast today. It all started in 1806 with the isolation of Morphine by chemist Friedrich Sertürner (Acock, 1993). Soon after its creation, this analgesic opiate became the primary treatment in the United States for various medical ailments including pain, anxiety, and respiratory problems (Acock, 1993). Acock (1993) reveals that opioids were widely used during the Civil War, with numbers reaching up to ten million opioid pills for the Union Army alone. Morphine was essentially the cure-all on the battlefield. The result

Today there are many different drugs in circulation. Those drugs are not always used properly or legally. Opioids present a contradiction in legal history along with pharmaceutical history. Opioids have a long history, starting with the creation of heroin, as a cough suppressant. Since then the federal government and FDA have stepped in to remove heroin from the public and come up with new medicines that seem to mimic the effect of heroin but be safe enough to sell on a public scale. Unfortunately even as medicines are made for public use, these medications are still proven to be prone to addiction and even overdose. These FDA approved opioids are gateway drugs to heroin. There is a pattern among those

In “The Army Disease: Drug Addiction and the Civil War” written by Johnathan Lewy, he has concluded that the Civil War and the use of hypodermic syringes were the foundation of what led to the events of 21st century drug addiction, as well as one of the first events for the current mass drug addiction in America.

Drugs first surfaced in the United States in the 1800s. After the Civil War opium become very popular and was used medicinally. Following opium was cocaine which was also used as a health remedy but near the end of the 19th century opium and cocaine abuse peaked and local governments began to prohibit opium dens and importation. In 1914 the first federal drug policy, the Harrison Narcotics act, is passed and drugs are no longer seen as harmless remedies. The act aggressively regulated the manufacturing of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and morphine. During the 50’s more federal drug policies were passed and drugs began to become more criminalized. The 60’s saw a rise in counter-culture and substances such as marijuana and LSD saw widespread use. The demand for drugs skyrocketed in the 1960s. In 1971 President Nixon declared drug abuse America 's number one enemy and proclaimed that we must wave a all out offensive. After President Nixon declared the War on Drugs in 1971, the United States has spent more than a trillion dollars on this failing policy that not only has had no effect on the amount of drugs being used in the United States and has increased the number of people incarcerated on drug charges from just 50,000 to over half a million, but also has helped fuel drug cartels and foment violence and death through overdoses from uncontrolled drug potency and turf wars between street gangs.

If you have been working in EMS for longer than a week you will probably already know the epidemic that America is facing. The epidemic that I am referring to has no discrimination and anyone can fall victim to it. If it hasn't already destroyed your family in some way then you are one of the lucky few.

Imagine going through all the pain in surgery and infections. Medicine during the Civil War can be compared to today’s medicine. For instance the surgical instruments, infections, where surgeries took place and where they take place now, sanitized and unsanitized tools and equipment. Today’s infections have changed greatly over time due to the change in sanitary conditions and the equipments surgeons use today.

Injured veterans in the mid-1800s would become hooked because they were treated with morphine to help dull the pain of early medical procedures. The Bayer Co., manufacturers of the household brand Bayer aspirin, started producing heroin in 1898, and the effects were so immediate that it was considered a cure-all medicine. It was rushed to shelves. Heroin use spread greatly in popularity during the following decades. Back in the days of early pharmaceuticals, there wasn’t much of an option regarding effective pain management. The drug’s effects seemed too good to be true. It was used to treat everything from headaches to muscle spasms to heavy

Around the 1900’s the United States was being flooded with multiple feelings, which created an ongoing battle between tension and morals. These conflicts contributed to what is known as the “noble experiment”, which involved alcoholic products. These continuing conflicts left the population feeling unstable. Instead of dealing with these problems at hand our nation decided to turn to the state for a helping hand. Struggling with a mass immigration increase and the rise to industrialism and capitalism was hard enough on our own, but we also had to somehow stabilize the nation’s social order to prevent further social conflicts. Due to slightly failing on stabilizing our social order our nation’s society decided to campaign against alcohol and start the nation’s first narcotics war. By doing this it was believed that the overall rate of corruption, violence and crime would decrease and solve our social problems. Looking back on history, the way things occurred shows that this time it was more than a slight fail.

Opium use during the 17th and 18th century the use of opiates was positive and no one saw the harmful effects it could bring. Morphine, heroin, and oxycontin were widely used for helping with pain. In the turn of the 19th century people were having concerns of the side effects of these opiate drugs as well as the health risks that these drugs were bringing about. These drugs were highly addictive and once people were hooked onto the opiate it was very hard to get them off and this was leading to deaths and this was scaring people. Eventually in the 20th century the government saw the risks involved with legal drug use and they started putting regulation over the opiates. They would make the drugs illegal and if people were caught using they

Native Americas seem to have many recreational drugs and seem to have a great time using them. Every tribe uses different drugs and smokes different plants. The main few are Tobacco, Peyote, Coca Leaf, and Salvia. In the article 7 Crazy Native American Drugs , "This drug was apparently so powerful that many tribes saw it as a portal into the world of the Gods.While traditionally used in ceremonies, peyote saw a spike in popularity during the Native American Church movement in the 1800’s." On the other hand the Coca Leaf was not a powerful recreational dug and was used with tea and other drinks on the daily. When we look at modern times we see the use of Marijuana and it has become approved by the US government for recreational use.

Opiates, otherwise known as prescription painkillers, have become an enormous problem in the United States. Addiction, overdoses, and death are only a few of the problems caused by opiates. Painkillers can be prescribed to help lessen chronic pain, pain from surgery, pain from serious accidents, or pain from terminal diseases. Opiates are highly addicting and have become highly abused in the United States in the past few years. Prescription painkillers need to be banned in the United States because of the dangers they bring to the patients to whom they are being prescribed. The FDA needs to become more involved in the awareness of how dangerous these drugs are and place a ban on them.

The focus in the video Heroin and the War on Drugs, is to address the most efficient recorded path to defeat drug addiction; which is identifying drug addiction as a national health issue. With drug addiction being directly related to crime, former president Nixon first approached the drug epidemic with tough penalties that resulted in no documented reduction change and resources being wasted. After, different approaches were being tested such as methadone; resulting in “overdose deaths went from 70 deaths a year to 4. The crime rate at a monthly bases was cut in half in that period of time.” stated L. DuPont. Next approach that was tested was clean needle exchange which produced “Baltimore’s HIV rate plummeted.”. Although, the video stated

Starting in 1914 the U.S introduced the first probation acts that prohibited the consumption of Opiates and Cocaine with the Harrison Narcotics act of 1914 Later this act was amended to include marijuana. This Act was the first use of federal criminal law in the United Sates to attempt to deal with the nonmedical use of drugs (wisegeek). The war of drugs started primarily in the 1971 when Nixon declared the war on drugs. He dramatically increased the size and presence of federal drug control agencies (Drug Policy). With the first major organized drug imports from Columbia from the Black Tuna Gang based in Miami, Florida Columbia was quickly growing into a drug superpower able to feed America’s growing addictions.