Does anyone remember this Ronald Reagan quote? “I now have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast." Much has been written about the origin and evolution of the War on Drugs in this country. Most people don't realize that the War on Drugs actually dates back to the nineteenth century, when states enacted broad measures to protect consumers from dangerous medicines and poisons. However, there is a theory that racism was often at the heart of the motivation to criminalize these substances. Heroin was the first pharmaceutical to fall from favor. Chinese immigrants came to the United States for jobs in railroads and mines. These immigrants brought a tradition of smoking opium-based products (such as heroin) in the evenings to relax. Settlers accused the Chinese of stealing their jobs and the resentment evolved into false claims that Chinese me...