Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Narcotics Acts

Background

Control over, and prevention of, the distribution and usage of narcotic drugs has been a major priority of the federal government and the various state governments since the early part of the twentieth century. Notwithstanding these efforts, statistics on the use of narcotics in the United States remain startling. According to statistics from the U.S. DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION, between 10,000 and 24,000 metric tons of marijuana were available on American streets. This is in addition to large quantities of other forms of narcotics, including: 260–270 metric tons of cocaine, 110–140 metric tons of methamphetamine, and 13–18 metric tons of heroin.

According to the National Household Drug Survey on Drug Abuse, conducted by the SUB-STANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, 55.6 percent of respondents...