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Once again, it was the civil war that caused widespread opium addiction, (to treat wounded soldiers on both sides) and continuing and growing problems thereafter.
You're so ignorant on this issue it's embarrassing to say that I've agreed with you on other issues in the past!

THE MYTHICAL ROOTS OF U.S. DRUG POLICY: SOLDIER'S DISEASE AND ADDICTION IN THE CIVIL WAR
The historical record shows, however, that Soldier's Disease is a fanciful reconstruction of the past by writers I 00 years or more after the Civil War. There was not, to my knowledge, a single mention of Soldier's Disease, Army Disease, or any other sobriquet referring to addicted veterans, until a half -century after the Civil War; not one addict was noted in any writing or statistic compiled during or immediately after the Civil War; and reports of addicted veterans who began using during that War are only rarely mentioned throughout the rest of the 19th Century.
Soldier's Disease is a modern creation that has very little to do with the facts of 19th Century drug use. Rather, it is an idea which fits, which shores up, modern drug policies. It is an assertion about what opiates are supposed to do, applied to a past situation.

There was not, to my knowledge, a single mention of Soldier's Disease, Army Disease, or any other sobriquet referring to addicted veterans, until a half -century after the Civil War; not one addict was noted in any writing or statistic compiled during or immediately after the Civil War; and reports of addicted veterans who began using during that War are only rarely mentioned throughout the rest of the 19th Century. Soldier's Disease is a modern creation that has very little to do with the facts of 19th Century drug use.

NICE find!

You're so ignorant on this issue it's embarrassing to say that I've agreed with you on other issues in the past!

You think finding some screed written by a Libertarian to justify modern drug usage is compelling? I assure you it's not. Everywhere I look I see Libertarians writing these historical revisions in an effort to normalize drug usage.

The Queers do the exact same thing. To hear them tell it, every famous person in History was queer, and it used to be accepted by society.

In a previous argument on this subject, I had some "legalize drugs" advocate trying to tell me that drug interdiction was all about racism. He even provided quotes to prove his point.

Turns out the quotes were made up bullsh*t which originated from some Pro-Drug kook who wrote a book in the 1990s.

History revision is utterly common among pro-drug advocates.