Organized Collections
Committees on Drug Addiction, Drug Addiction (Advisory), and Drug Addiction & Narcotics, 1928-1965
[The following history of the National Research Council committees examining various problems of drug addiction was adapted from an account produced by the Research Council’s Division of Medical Sciences in 1969.]
The roots of the National Research Council’s various committees on drug addiction, dependence and narcotics reach back to a Committee on Drug Addictions established in 1921 by the Bureau of Social Hygiene, Inc., of New York City. The objective of this group was to combine professional and lay educational programs in the use and abuse of narcotic drugs with efforts to stimulate the search for agents with little or no addiction liability that might be substituted for opium derivatives in medical practice.
The Bureau soon realized its limitations in the promotion of research and, in 1929, invited the Division of Medical Sciences of the National Research Council to assume responsibility for this endeavor. The Division appointed its own Committee on Drug Addiction which developed plans for a coordinated program of chemical, pharmacological and clinical investigations. The Committee was instrumental in establishing and supporting a chemical laboratory at the University of Virginia and a pharmacological laboratory at the University of Michigan with funds provided by the Bureau of Social Hygiene and the Rockefeller Foundation. The Committee also enlisted the cooperation of the US Public Health Service Narcotics Hospital at Lexington, Kentucky for the clinical study of compounds produced and characterized by these two laboratories. Over a period of eleven years, several hundred morphine-related compounds were prepared and tested. A few came to clinical trial but only one, Metapon, was ever marketed.
In 1938, the Public Health Service established a Division of Chemotherapy at the National Institutes of Health, and in 1939 the National Research Council agreed to transfer the programs at the Universities of Virginia and Michigan to this new unit. The Research Council committee continued to serve in an advisory capacity.
The Advisory Committee on Drug Addiction was relatively inactive during the Second World War, but was reconstituted in 1947 as the Committee on Drug Addiction and Narcotics. In 1965, its name was again changed, this time to the Committee on Problems of Drug Dependence. The new name was intended to reflect its broader interest in all types of drugs that produce dependence.
It immediately became evident to the Committee on Drug Addiction and Narcotics that the wartime success of German laboratories in producing new synthetic, morphine-like analgesic agents, including meperidine and methadone, was stimulating a lively response from the pharmacological industry in the United States. The anticipated flood of new drugs threatened to overwhelm the limited resources of the hospital at Lexington and urgently called for the development of methods for the screening of drugs to identify those that were of considerable promise. An appeal was made to the industry, and thirteen firms responded with funds that helped the Committee initiate two projects. The first, undertaken at the Harvard Medical School, was concerned with the clinical evaluation of the analgesic effectiveness of new drugs submitted to the Committee. The second, at the University of Michigan, was for the development of a regimen for the assay of the dependence liability of these drugs in monkeys.
In making its awards, the Committee critically evaluated the design of each study and its pertinence to the overall objective of the program. It assigned new drugs to appropriate laboratories, and, on the basis of the cumulative data on any given drug, decided whether the toxicological, pharmacological and clinical results justified screening for drug dependence first in the monkey, at the University of Michigan, and, on the basis of these results, in man at the Drug Addiction Research Center, PHS, at Lexington, Kentucky. Only when information from all of these screening stages was obtained and evaluated would the Committee submit to the Food and Drug Administration, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, and the World Health Organization recommendations with respect to the national and international control of traffic in the drug in question.
The records of the National Research Council’s Committee on Drug Addiction, Advisory Committee on Drug Addiction, and Committee on Drug Addiction and Narcotics cover the years 1928-1969 and contain correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, and other materials, spanning approximately six feet.
COMMITTEE ON DRUG ADDICTION, 1928-1941 (Location: Mezzanine G-4-1)
Series 1: Administration
Series 2: Files of the Committee on Drug Addiction
Series 3: Financial Records
Series 4: Government Agencies
COMMITTEE ON DRUG ADDICTION, Advisory, 1941-1947 (Location: Mezzanine G-4-2)
Series 1: Records of Committee on Drug Addiction, Advisory
Series 2: Financial Records
Series 3: Government Agencies
COMMITTEE ON DRUG ADDICTION & NARCOTICS, 1947-1965 (Location: Mezzanine G-4-2 & 3)
Series 1: Committee Correspondence Files
Series 2: Committee Meeting Minutes
Series 3: Alphabetical & Miscellaneous Subject Files
Series 4: Correspondence with Drug Manufacturers
Series 5: Financial Files
Series 6: Government Agencies
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COMMITTEE ON DRUG ADDICTION, 1928-1941
Location: Mezzanine G-4-1
Fellowships: 1931-1939
Institutions Associations Individuals: American Medical Association (AMA): General: 1929-1932
Institutions Associations Individuals: Bureau of Social Hygiene: Committee on Drug Addictions: Report of Activities 1921-1928: 1928
Institutions Associations Individuals: Bureau of Social Hygiene: Committee on Drug Addictions: Termination of Activities: 1928-1930
Institutions Associations Individuals: General: 1935-1939
Legal Matters: Patents: Policy re Committee on Drug Addiction Patents: Conference on Disposition of Narcotics Patents: Jt w Committee on Patent Policy: 1936-1937
Legal Matters: Patents: Policy re Committee on Drug Addiction Patents: Conference on Disposition of Narcotics Patents: 1933-1938
Legal Matters: Patents: Small L F: Ethers of Morphine & Dihydromorphine & Their Respective N-oxides: 1936-1938
Legal Matters: Patents: Small L F: Ethers of Morphine & Its Dihydrogenated Derivative & Methods of Production: 1935-1936
Legal Matters: Patents: Small L F: Morphine Derivatives & Processes for Their Preparation: 1933-1938
Legal Matters: Patents: Small L F & Fitch H M: Nuclear Substituted Derivatives of Morphine Series & Methods for Their Preparation: Foreign Patents: German: 1937-1939
Legal Matters: Patents: Small L F & Fitch H M: Nuclear Substituted Derivatives of Morphine Series & Methods for Their Preparation: Foreign Patents: General: 1936-1939
Legal Matters: Patents: Small L F & Fitch H M: Nuclear Substituted Derivatives of Morphine Series & Methods for Their Preparation: US: 1937-1939
Publications: 1931-1939
Series 2: Files of the Committee on Drug Addiction
Appointments: Members: 1928-1938
Assistance to Outside Investigators: Anthropoid Experiment Station: 1934-1937
Assistance to Outside Investigators: Fourneau E: 1936-1937
Assistance to Outside Investigators: General: 1934-1938
Beginning of Program: 1928-1929
Conferences: 1936
End of Program: 1941
Final Report & Collected Reprints 1930-1941: 1941
Grantees: 1929-1939
Grantees: Geiling E M K: 1940-1941
Grantees: Hamlin E: 1940
Grantees: Wright C I: 1940-1941
Meetings: Minutes: 1933-1939
Meetings: Minutes: 1930-1932
Meetings: Minutes: 1929
Miscellaneous Papers: 1930-1940
Policy: 1929-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Chemical Synthesis: U of Virginia: Establishment of Research Unit: 1929
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Chemical Synthesis: U of Virginia: Preparation Reports: 1930-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Chemical Synthesis: U of Virginia: General: 1930-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Chemical Synthesis: Yale U: 1929-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Beginning of Program: 1931-1932
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Conferences: 1940
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Conferences: 1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Conferences: 1938
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Conferences: 1936
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Conferences: General: 1940-1941
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Leavenworth Penitentiary Annex: 1932-1934
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Marine Hospital: 1938-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Massachusetts Dept of Public Health: Pondville Hospital: 1934-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Massachusetts Dept of Public Health: General: 1938-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Massachusetts General Hospital: 1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Middlesex County Sanitarium: 1934-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: New York: Proposed: 1932
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Public Health Service Hospital: Lexington: Symposium on Drug Addiction: 1936
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Public Health Service Hospital: Lexington: General: 1932-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: U of Michigan Hospital: 1935-1938
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Clinical Studies: Walter Reed General Hospital: 1937-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Drugs: Dihydrodesoxymorphine-D (Desomorphine): 1934-1937
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Drugs: Dilaudid: 1932-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Drugs: Dolantin: 1940-1941
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Drugs: Metapon (Methyldihydromophinone): Commercial Development: 1940-1941
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Drugs: Metapon (Methyldihydromophinone): Commercial Development: 1937-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Drugs: Metapon (Methyldihydromophinone): General: 1938-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Drugs: Studies: Proposed: 1937-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Fellowships: E R Squibb & Sons: 1932-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Fellowships: Mallinckrodt & Co: 1933-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Fellowships: Merck & Co: 1933-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Pharmacologic Testing: U of Michigan: Establishment of Research Unit: 1929-1930
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Pharmacologic Testing: General: 1930-1938
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Progress Reports: 1934-1938
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Progress Reports: 1930-1933
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Provision of Drugs to Research Units: 1929-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Reports: Studies on Drug Addiction: 1937-1938
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: Transfer of Chemical & Pharmacologic Work to US Public Health Service (USPHS): 1938-1939
Projects: Development of Nonaddictive Analgesics: General: 1932-1938
Projects: Education of Physicians: Jt w American Medical Association (AMA): Articles on Indispensable Use of Narcotics: 1929-1932
Projects: Education of Physicians: Jt w American Medical Association (AMA): Indispensable Use of Narcotics: Compilation: 1931
Projects: Effects of Drug Addiction on Chimpanzees: Jt w Anthropoid Experiment Station: 1933-1934
Projects: Surveys of Literature: Chemistry of Opium Alkaloids: Small L F: 1929-1936
Projects: Surveys of Literature: Pharmacology of Opium Alkaloids: Hatcher R A: 1929-1931
Projects: Surveys of Literature: Pharmacology of Opium Alkaloids: Krueger H Eddy N B & Sumwalt M: Parts 1 & 2: 1941 & 1943
Projects: Surveys of Literature: Pharmacology of Opium Alkaloids: Manuscript: Hatcher R A: 1931
Projects: Surveys of Literature: Pharmacology of Opium Alkaloids: U of Michigan: 1940
Projects: Surveys of Literature: Pharmacology of Opium Alkaloids: U of Michigan: 1931-1939
Projects: General: 1930-1936
Reports: 1940-1941
Reports: 1933-1939
Reports: 1929-1932
Requests for Support: Bureau of Social Hygiene: 1929-1933
Requests for Support: Rockefeller Foundation: 1940-1941
Requests for Support: Rockefeller Foundation: 1931-1939
Requests for Support: General: 1932-1939
Statement of Program & Work in Progress: 1930-1931
General: 1940-1941
General: 1929-1939
Finance: Funds: Grants: Bureau of Social Hygiene: 1929-1932
Finance: Funds: Grants: Rockefeller Foundation: 1931-1939
Finance: Funds: Grants: General: 1932-1939
Agencies & Departments: Treasury: Public Health Service: Bureau of Narcotics: 1930-1938
Agencies & Departments: Treasury: Public Health Service: Conference on Investigation of US Narcotic Drug Requirements: Aug 1930
Agencies & Departments: Treasury: Public Health Service: Division of Mental Hygiene: 1930-1936
Agencies & Departments: Treasury: Public Health Service: General: 1929-1939
Agencies & Departments: General: 1931-1939
Congress: Acts: Creation of Bureau of Narcotics within Department of Treasury: 1930
Congress: Acts: Establishment of Two Narcotics Farms: 1928
International Relations: League of Nations: Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium & Other Dangerous Drugs: 1940
International Relations: League of Nations: Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium & Other Dangerous Drugs: 1936-1939
International Relations: League of Nations: Conference on Limitation of Manufacture of Narcotic Drugs: 1931
International Relations: League of Nations: Health Section: Examination of Dihydrodesoxymorphine-D: 1936-1937
International Relations: League of Nations: Health Section: Opium Assay Commission: 1937-1938
Municipal Governments: Middlesex County Sanitarium: 1935
State Governments: Commissioners on Uniform State Laws: Uniform State Narcotic Law: 1932
State Governments: Massachusetts: Department of Public Health: 1934-1935
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COMMITTEE ON DRUG ADDICTION, Advisory, 1941-1947
Location: Mezzanine G-4-2
Series 1: Records of Committee on Drug Addiction, Advisory (dark blue labels)
Appointments: Members: 1941-1945
Beginning of Program: 1941
Projects: Production & Distribution of Metapon: 1940-1946
Reports: 1942-1947
Requests for Advice & Drugs: Demerol: 1942-1944
Requests for Advice & Drugs: Manufacture of Desomorphine: 1942
Requests for Advice & Drugs: General: 1941-1947
General: 1941-1946
Series 2: Financial Records (green label)
Grants: American Cancer Society: 1946
Series 3: Government Agencies (red label)
General: 1940-1947
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COMMITTEE ON DRUG ADDICTION & NARCOTICS, 1947-1965
Location: Mezzanine G-4-2 & 3
Series 1: Committee Correspondence Files (dark blue labels)
Committee on Drug Addiction & Narcotics:
1960-1961
1955-1959
1950-1953
1947-1949
Activities [Excerpts from Division of Medical Sciences Annual Reports]: 1952-1954
Cameron-Eddy Correspondence: 1961-1965
General Reprints: 1954-1962
Liaison Representatives: 1960
Meetings: 21 Jun 1957
Meetings: General: 1954-1965
Membership: 1960-1964
Membership: 1959
Membership: May E L: 1961-1966
Memoranda: 1960
Name Change: Proposed: 1965
Relationships: Bureau of Narcotics [Controversy re Charge to Committee]: 1959
Report: Narcotics & Medical Practice: Joint with American Medical Association: 1963
Reports Submitted to Committee: Summaries: 1955-1959
Resolution: Applicability of Civil Commitment to Treatment of Addicts: 1960
Resolution [on Treatment]: Joint with American Medical Association: 1962
Special Drug Reports from Dr Eddy to Mr Grove: 1964
General: 1961-1965
General: 1950-1960
Committee on Problems of Drug Dependence: Cameron-Eddy Correspondence: 1966-1967
Committee on Problems of Drug Dependence: History: 1969
Committee on Problems of Drug Dependence: General 1966-1967
Series 2: Committee Meeting Minutes (violet labels)
Committee on Drug Addiction & Narcotics: Meetings:
27th: Minutes: Feb 1965 (Houston)
26th: Minutes: Feb 1964 (Washington)
25th: Minutes: Volumes I: Feb 1963 (Ann Arbor)
25th: Minutes: Volume II: Feb 1963 (Ann Arbor)
24th: Minutes: Jan 1962 (NY)
24th: Minutes: Addenda: Jan 1962 (NY)
23rd: Minutes: Jan 1961 (NY)
23rd: Minutes: Addenda: Jan 1961 (NY)
22nd: Special: Minutes: Apr 1960 (Washington)
21st: Minutes: Jan 1960 (Philadelphia)
21st: Minutes: Addenda: Jan 1960 (Philadelphia)
20th: Minutes: Jan 1959 (Washington)
19th: Minutes: Mar 1958 (Washington)
18th: Minutes: Jan 1957 (Indianapolis)
17th: Minutes: Jan 1956 (Washington)
16th: Minutes: Sep-Oct 1955 (Bethesda)
15th: Minutes: Jan 1955 (Lexington)
14th: Minutes: Oct 1954 (Rensselaer, NY)
13th: Minutes: Jan 1954 (NJ & NY)
12th: Minutes: Nov 1953 (Boston)
11th: Minutes: Jan 1953 (Lexington)
10th: Minutes: Jun 1952 (Ann Arbor)
9th: Minutes: Jan 1952 (Washington)
8th: Minutes: Jun 1951 (Washington)
7th: Minutes: Jan 1951 (Washington)
6th: Minutes: Mar 1950 (Washington)
5th: Minutes: Nov 1949 (Washington)
Conference with Representatives of Drug Manufacturers: Jul 1949 (Washington)
4th: Minutes: Oct 1948 (Lexington)
3rd: Minutes: May 1948 (Washington)
2nd: Minutes: Jan 1948 (Washington)
1st: Minutes: Oct 1947 (Washington)
Series 3: Alphabetical & Miscellaneous Subject Files (white labels)
“C” Miscellaneous: 1963-1964
“D” Miscellaneous: 1965-1966
“F” Miscellaneous: 1965-1966
“G” Miscellaneous: 1964-1966
“I” Miscellaneous: 1962-1965
“J” Miscellaneous: 1962-1966
“K” Miscellaneous: 1965-1967
“L” Miscellaneous: 1961-1967
“M” Miscellaneous: 1961-1967
“N” Miscellaneous: 1961-1966
“O” Miscellaneous: 1965
“P” Miscellaneous: 1962-1967
“R” Miscellaneous: 1963-1967
“S” Miscellaneous: 1955-1966
“U” Miscellaneous: 1961-1964
“W” Miscellaneous: 1951-1967
Abuse of LSD: 1966-1967
Alcoholism & Drug Addiction Research Foundation [Polaczek]: 1962-1967
American Medical Association (AMA): 1963
Foreign Correspondence: 1960-1967
Huntley H C [re Levoprome]: 1967
Quinn W F: 1963
Sadove M S: U of Illinois: 1961-1962
United Nations: European Office [Braenden]: 1960-1966
Varenne G: 1961-1966
World Health Organization [Halbach]: 1961-1966
Series 4: Correspondence with Drug Manufacturers (yellow labels)
A H Robins Co: 1961-1968
Abbott Laboratories: 1962-1967
Bristol Laboratories Inc: 1961-1967
Bristol-Myers Product Division: 1961-1966
Burroughs Wellcome & Co: 1965-1966
Charles E Frost & Co: 1961-1966
Chas Pfizer & Co: 1961-1965
CIBA Pharmaceuticals: 1961-1967
Edinburgh Pharmaceutical: 1961-1964
Endo Laboratories Inc: 1961-1967
Endo Laboratories Inc: For submission to Feb 1968 meeting: 1968
G D Searle & Co: 1961-1967
Geigy Research Laboratories: 1961-1967
Hoffman-La Roche: 1961-1966
J F Macfarlan & Co Ltd (Scotland UK): 1961-1963
Knoll Pharmaceuticals: 1961-1967
Lederle Laboratories: 1961-1967
Lilly Research Laboratories: 1960-1969
Macfarlan-Smith Ltd (Scotland UK): 1965-1966
Mallinckrodt Chemical Works: 1961-1966
McNeil Laboratories: 1962-1967
Mead Johnson Research Laboratories: 1961-1966
Merck & Co [Merck Sharp, and Dohme]: 1961-1967
Miles-Ames Research Laboratory: 1960-1966
National Drug Co: 1961-1967
Reckitt & Sons Ltd: 1964-1967
Riker Laboratories: 1961-1967
S B Penick & Co: 1961-1967
Schering Corp: 1961-1967
Smith Kline & French Laboratories: 1961-1967
Squibb Institute: 1961-1967
Sterling-Winthrop Research Institute: 1965-1966
Sterling-Winthrop Research Institute: 1961-1964
Strasenburgh Laboratories: 1960-1962
T H Smith [See Edinburgh Pharmaceutical folder]
Upjohn Company: 1962-1967
Vick Chemical Co: 1961-1967
Wallace Laboratories: 1961-1967
Warner-Lambert Research Institute: 1961-1967
Winthrop Laboratories: 1961-1967
Wm S Merrell Co: 1961-1967
Wyeth Laboratories: 1961-1967
Series 5: Financial Files (green labels)
Expenditures & Commitments: 1952-1966
Grantees: Aston R: 1963-1967
Grantees: Beecher H K: 1955-1965
Grantees: Beecher H K: 1953-1954
Grantees: Beecher H K: 1949-1952
Grantees: Bellville J W: 1961-1963
Grantees: Cass L J: 1958-1966
Grantees: Lee L E: 1954-1969
Grantees: Seevers M: 1950-1959
Grants: 1 Jul 1964 - 30 Jun 1965: 1965
Grants: 1 Jul 1963 – 30 Jun 1964: 1964
Grants: 1 Jul 1962 - 30 Jun 1963: 1963
Grants: 1 Jul 1961 - 30 Jun 1962: 1962
Grants: 1 Jul 1960 - 30 Jun 1961: 1961
Grants: 1 Jul 1959 - 30 Jun 1960: 1960
Grants: 1 Jul 1958 - 30 Jun 1959: 1959
Grants: 1 Jul 1957 - 30 Jun 1958: 1958
Grants: 1 Jul 1956 - 30 Jun 1957: 1957
Grants: 1 Jul 1955 - 30 Jun 1956: 1956
Grants: 1 Jul 1954 - 30 Jun 1955: 1955
Grants: 1 Jul 1953 - 30 Jun 1954: 1954
Grants: 1 Jul 1952 - 30 Jun 1953: 1953
Listing of Grants Awarded by Committee on Drug Addiction & Narcotics: 1950-1963
Series 6: Government Agencies (red labels)
Bureau of Narcotics: Advisory Committee to Commissioner of Narcotics: 1960-1961
Bureau of Narcotics: Drugs Disposal Committee: 1961-1965
Bureau of Narcotics: Title 21: 1961
Bureau of Narcotics: General: 1951-1965
Canada Food & Drug Directorate: 1962-1964
Japan-US Cooperative Science Program: Research on Narcotic & Drug Abuse: 1964-1965
Judicial Conference of DC Circuit: Committee on Laws Pertaining to Mental Disorders: 1964-1965
National Institute of Mental Health: Development of Chemical Test for Narcotic Excretion: 1960
National Institute of Mental Health: USPHS Hospital: Lexington: 1961-1967
National Institute of Mental Health: USPHS Hospital: Lexington: Fraser H F: 1961-1963
National Institute of Mental Health: USPHS Hospital: Lexington: Isbell H: 1961-1962
New York City: 1961-1966
New York State: 1961
President’s Advisory Commission on Narcotic & Drug Abuse: 1963
President’s Commission on Law Enforcement & Administration of Justice: 1966
Veterans Administration: Cooperative Study on Evaluation of Narcotics & Analgesics: 1962-1965
White House Conference on Narcotic & Drug Abuse: 1962
