America's first war on drugs

Established by and for the Chinese, the first opium dens in the US sprung up in San Francisco's Chinatown during the 1840s and 1850s. It could be purchased in five-ounce tins for around eight dollars and the opium dens provided bunks and rugs to relax on while smoking, as well as equipment if a person did not possess their own. Opium was easily accessible in San Francisco and California even when they outlawed the substance in 1878 and 1881, respectively. By then, it had also spread east into New York, Chicago, St Louis
and New Orleans and its popularity boomed during the 1880s and 1890s, which coincided with the rise of the temperance movement. To crack down on the addictive habit, the federal government under Theodore Roosevelt passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, which required any 'dangerous' or 'addictive' drugs to appear on the label of products. Three years later, the Smoking Opium Exclusion Act banned the importation of opiates used purely for recreational use