1970-controlled-substances-act

My Linked Notes

• 2021-06-13
  

  I came back across this website this week when I read [[Higher than the Shoulders of Giants]]. This piece dives into a history of some of the most well known drugs - caffeine, alcohol, cocaine, hallucinogens - then uses that history to construct a (conspiracy?) theory that the [[1970 Controlled Substances Act]] was the monocausal event that led to all the diverging trends that began in 1970. The result is possible because "drugs are foundational technologies, like the motor, combustion engine, semiconductor, or the concept of an experiment. New drugs lead to scientific revolutions. Some of those drugs, like coffee, continue to fuel fields like mathematics and computer science, even some hundreds of years later."

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