- Opium comes from opium poppy plants native to Turkey; cocaine comes from the coca plant found in South America. Both produce a feeling of euphoria (an artificial high) but have long-term health consequences when abused.
- In 1874 the city of San Francisco banned the smoking of opium except in the Chinatown district.
- In its earliest legislation on narcotics in 1890, Congress placed a tax on opium and morphine.
- Following the discovery of heroin in 1898, heroin addiction skyrocketed over the next several years.
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