Effective Drug Control: Toward A New Legal Framework

taking, especially in providing it to our foreign charges. 101 The vocal opposition of
Bishop Brent and Wilbur Crafts proved to be decisive in preventing the U.S. from
reinstituting the Spanish opium monopoly in the Philippines.
In 1905 Congress ordered that all Filipinos be prohibited from obtaining opium
for any non-medical purpose and that all legal sales of the drug would be prohibited by
1908. 102 This policy set a powerful precedent and had long-term implications. Even
though American officials acknowledged that “prohibition of opium smoking in the
Philippines does not in fact prohibit,” 103 Congress was nevertheless disposed to support
outright prohibition and the United States established itself as the world leader in the area
of international narcotics control. 104
Opium and Tension With China
By 1900 China was outwardly expressing deep concern about foreign interference
and about opium use by its people, culminating in the Boxer Rebellion, which was the
strongest manifestation of Chinese nationalism and anti-imperialism to date. 105 President
Roosevelt even considered deploying troops to China to protect American investments. 106
However, this international crisis provided a unique window of opportunity that was
seized upon by the fledgling American anti-drug movement.
Bishop Brent urged President Roosevelt to help China in its battle against
opium. 107 U.S. efforts in the Philippines had been considered a success and inspired hope
that it may serve as a successful model elsewhere. Bishop Brent and Reverend Crafts
called for an international meeting between the United States, Japan and the other
powerful nations with interests in the Far East, and President Roosevelt agreed with this
approach, eventually convening the Conference of the International Opium Commission
in Shanghai in 1909. 108
Along with Bishop Brent and Reverend Wilbur Crafts, the third major seminal
figure in the development of American drug policy was an ambitious, Washington, D.C.
doctor named Hamilton Wright, who had some knowledge about opium and “Oriental”
cultures. The State Department had appointed Wright to the American delegation to the
Shanghai Opium Conference. Dr. Wright began many years of tireless work that
eventually earned him the informal title of “father of American narcotic laws.”
By calling and convening an international meeting on the Chinese opium trade,
the United States was again holding itself out as a world leader on the issue of drug
policy, and Hamilton Wright believed the U.S. should serve as a model for other nations
by enacting its own “exemplary” opium laws. 109 Ironically, the U.S. itself had no laws
limiting the use, sale or manufacture of products containing opium and coca, so to save
face in advance of the international opium conference, Wright worked with Secretary of
State Elihu Root and others to remedy this situation before the meeting, helping to secure
the enactment of national opium prohibition. 110
The 1909 Opium Exclusion Act
The Opium Exclusion Act was the first federal drug prohibition law, passed
quickly just as the Shanghai Opium Conference was convening as a message of U.S.