3. The United States establishes federal controls on drugs
In June, 1930, the United States Department of the Treasury established within its jurisdiction the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Its main purpose was the control of the distribution and use of opium, and it created several overseas offices to monitor and interdict international drug smuggling. Offices were established in Italy, France, Turkey, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere to that end. The Bureau of Narcotics was never large in terms of manpower, never exceeding seventeen agents, but they worked with the law enforcement authorities of their host countries to detect international drug smuggling and break up drug smuggling rings. It also was the first federal authority to determine that marijuana was a dangerous drug, a gateway to the use of narcotics, and as such was a threat and thus needed to be controlled as well.
In 1934 the United States enacted, with the support of the Bureau of Narcotics and President Roosevelt, the Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act. Its intent was to produce tax revenues to the United States Treasury from the sale of narcotics. When only nine states initially adopted the act, Roosevelt and the Bureau of Narcotics began an information campaign to garner popular support. The Bureau of Narcotics announced that smoking marijuana (spelled marihuana in the language of the act) led to temporary insanity. A widespread propaganda campaign linked marijuana with more dangerous narcotics. Teenagers in particular were depicted in the propaganda campaign, dying from the effects of marijuana, or being driven by its use into criminal behavior. Eventually all 48 states succumbed to the propaganda and adopted the act.